Marvel and Fox sharing?

It seems Marvel Studios and 20th Century Fox share the shape-shifting alien race known as the Skrulls. The aliens first appeared within the pages Fantastic Four making them a part of the Fox deal that included other Fantastic Four villains such as Doctor Doom, Galactus, and the Silver Surfer. However, the Skrulls were heavily featured in other Marvel comics, in particular, the Secret Invasion crossover event. This is similar to how the two studios share the rights to Scarlett Witch and Quicksilver. A confusing legal obstacle course that allowed Quicksilver to appear in X-Men Days of Future Past and Avengers Age of Ultron.

Speculation on whether or not the Skrulls were shared was seemingly put to rest recently when James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy tweeted.

Some specific Skrulls are at Fox. But the Skrulls as a whole are co-owned. - James Gunn

Character design of a younger Juggernaut from DOFP

Some comic book focused websites see this as an opportunity for Marvel and Fox to make amends and come to an agreement. Much like Marvel and Sony Pictures did, allowing Spider-Man to appear in Captain America Civil War. However, a precedent has already been set in the other case of shared characters I mentioned. When 20th Century Fox maliciously shoehorned Quicksilver into X-Men Days of Future Past. The scene in which Charles Xavier and Wolverine attempt to break Magneto out of his jail cell beneath the Pentagon was originally to feature a young Juggernaut. Allegedly Fox changed the scene to feature Quicksilver in the middle of production after they heard Marvel intended to introduce Quicksilver in a bonus scene after the credits of Captain America Winter Soldier and who would go on to have a minor role in Avengers Age of Ultron.

Despite what Matt Key said about supposed talks, which was brained out loud about in my Marvel Showcase entry, I think the rift between the two studios is too vast. They both have done some spiteful things and I think it'll be a race to get the aliens into their movie universes. Getting the general movie-going audience to associate the Skrulls with a particular franchise/movie studio before the other can. Marvel has a firm outline of phase 3, centered around the mad titan Thanos. The earliest the Marvel Cinematic Universe could feature the Skrulls as predominately as they deserve to be would be during phase 4, starting in 2020. Fox, on the other hand, seem to be aimlessly leaping from movie to movie, with no overarching direction or coherent timeline. Wolverine 3: The Wolvering is in production now, and Mister Sinister looks to be the antagonist in the next X-Men movie. After that no one knows. They do have untitled films locked into release dates in 2018. This could allow Fox to introduce the Skrulls first.

Perhaps the most well known event the Skrulls took part in was the far-reaching Secret Invasion. It appears Disney owned Marvel Studios holds the right to adapt the popular, year-long arc. So even if Fox did beat Marvel out of the gate, they wouldn't have a story to tell.

Galactus was a giant space cloud in Fantastic Four 2. Seriously, a giant space cloud.

During the Civil War event in the comics, the Skrull home world was devoured by Galactus. If Marvel were to adapt Secret Invasion as part of phase 4 this would be the first issue since Fox owns the film rights to the Eater-of-Worlds as seen above in Fantastic Four 2 Rise of the Silver Surfer. Easily fixed by omitting the event or replacing Galctus. As the title indicates the Skrulls secretly invade Earth, assuming others identities, looking for a new home...one they believe belongs to them anyway. The ruse is discovered when Wolverine kills Electra and the corpse reverts back into its alien physiology. Wolverine could also be replaced and Electra is a Daredevil character. Maybe the Skrulls could show up on the Netflix series. Marvel has four shows lined up on Netflix; Daredevil, Jesica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist leading into a team-up series, The Defenders. The Defenders has no premiere date set but if I were to guess, I'd say it'll be online sometime in 2018. The same as the untitled X-Men movie. It could be a photo finish.

Or will it be? The Kree, an opposing alien race have waged war with the Skrulls for many years across the galaxy. Culminating in another Avengers comics cross-over event the Kree-Skrull War. The Kree were central to the 2nd season of Marvel's Agents of Shield. The fourth season hasn't started production yet, and could easily include the Skrulls as early as this fall, or perhaps as a cliffhanger before their mid-season break this December. This would beat 20th Century Fox to the finish line.

This was all started by a tweet from James Gunn. Maybe he has plans and the Skrulls will show up in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2 in May 2017. Which would be earlier than anything Fox could produce. Unless they spitefully cram them into Wolverine 3, which is scheduled to come out in March, a couple months before Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2. Supposedly Fox is adapting the Old Man Logan storyline, where the Skrulls have no place, but knowing Fox they will jam them in somewhere just to claim they were first. Will it make sense? Of course not. Do any of Fox's mutant-filled movies make any sense?

Comic book nerds keep dreaming about Marvel and Fox making nice and sharing. I have my doubts. Not only that, I don't think Marvel needs Fox. I've said before the MCU is doing just fine without the X-Men or the Fantastic Four. The rumors spreading about a possible agreement stem from Fox executives and, X-Men and Fantastic Four actors expressing interest in working with Marvel and the Avengers actors. To me, this sounds like Fox is the one that needs Marvel. I may be in the minority of comic book nerds that don't want Marvel and Fox to reach an agreement, ever. Instead, I'd rather see Marvel get their rights back in full to the Fantastic Four. Solely for the villains such as Dr. Doom, Galactus, and the shared Skrulls. That would put an end to the inevitable squabbling over which studio pulled off the Skrulls better.

This is Galactus! He is not a giant space cloud.