Back in April, a rumor began to spread suggesting that director Bryan Singer would be wrapping up his time with the X-Men franchise following the release of X-Men: Apocalypse next year. It still hasn't been confirmed whether or not that's actually true, but the story did just get a new wrinkle. According to new sources, Singer is possibly being lured into making Fantastic Four 2 so that he can steer that franchise towards a crossover with X-Men.
Anonymous sources have told This Is Infamous that 20th Century Fox is working to get things in order so that they can start development of Fantastic Four 2 at the end of the summer, and part of that plan may include trying to get Bryan Singer to helm. Apparently the Josh Trank-directed Fantastic Four that will be coming out next month is "good enough" to build a bigger franchise on, and the studio wants to make sure a sequel is in proper hands as they work to try and create their own version of a Marvel Cinematic Universe. The idea is that Singer would be reunited with writer Simon Kinberg on the project - the two men having previously worked together on X-Men: First Class (both as producers) and on X-Men: Days of Future Past (as co-writers).
Fans will be quick to note that this wouldn't be the first time that Bryan Singer has left the X-Men franchise to try and make a movie featuring another major superhero. I am, of course, referring to the fact that he left X-Men: The Last Stand to go make Superman Returns, starring Brandon Routh. That experiment didn't turn out so well, as both projects wound up being disappointing compared to all the hype that had been built up around them.
That being said, Bryan Singer moving over to work on the Fantastic Four franchise certainly does make a lot of sense from a studio perspective. The filmmaker has had a big hand in getting the X-Men series back on track over the last few years, and if they really do want to build a larger on-screen superhero-filled world, there's really no person better to take the younger of the two big screen continuities and nurture it towards a big future.
In regards to the future of 20th Century Fox's comic book movies, we should be getting a lot more answers later this week, as the studio will be hosting a very special presentation at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday. It's unclear exactly what will be shown and/or announced during the event, but it's expected that we will walk away from it with a much clearer picture of how things are going to work moving forward. Fantastic Four 2 has already been penciled in for release on June 9, 2017, and it will definitely be big news to hear anything about its development - with or without Bryan Singer.
