Execs Say 'Fantastic Four' Comic Cancellation Was Unrelated To The Movie

As fans patiently wait for something, anything official about Josh Trank's Fantastic Four, we start to focus on other things. Like the new origin of Doctor Doom. Or the fact Marvel Comics cancelled all Fantastic Four comics and has been generally touchy with the characters for the last few years.

The prevailing thought was that Marvel Comics canceled the FF comics on purpose to spite the people who were making the film. That they didn't want to help promote the film at all for 20th Century Fox, which will be releasing the new movie and handles the rights. Extreme conspiracy theorists wondered if canceling the comics would hurt the film, Fox would give up the rights, and the Fantastic Four could magically jump into Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Turns out, as you might have expected, that's 100% not the case. The Chairman and CEO of Fox, Jim Gianopulos, said as much in a recent interview and you can read his quotes about the Fantastic Four cancellation conspiracy below.

The official Fantastic Four cancellation conspiracy quote come from a longer roundtable discussion with several high powered studio heads done by the Hollywood Reporter. Comic Book, however, noticed this quote. When asked if the Fantastic Four comics were cancelled because of the movie, Gianopulos said the following:

No, I don't think so. I don't know how that decision came about. The comic was not a huge seller. The Fantastic Four is a very established group of characters, and the film is awesome. Yeah, I think...I don't know how that played into their decision, but it wasn't...the book wasn't selling as well as others.

And then to add even more truth to that statement, the CEO of Disney Alan Horn (Disney owns Marvel, so basically he's in charge of Marvel) added:

Fully independent decision, by the way, I didn't even know about it. I mean, honestly, we don't even [shrugs his shoulders].

Now can you trust these two powerful men? I think so. If Marvel really pulled a vindictive move like that, you'd imagine Gianopulos would have been honest about it. And Horn's almost oblivious reaction to the insinuation is telling as well.

So, that pretty much puts a fork in any Fantastic Four cancellation conspirary. Now, if Fantastic Four is so "awesome," like Gianopulos says, when are we going to get a peek? Maybe Night at the Museum 3 next month?