If you've already been collecting your FF and X-keys, now is the time to watch the fireworks because Kevin Feige has given the early workings of a time frame for the franchises entering the MCU.

If there's any one person who can affect the comic market single-handed, it's Feige. This week he put out the word that Marvel Studio's planning phase for the Fantastic Four and the X-Men could officially begin in the next six months.

According to multiple news outlets, Feige made it clear that nothing concerning the Fox properties and the MCU is official at the moment. However, he was quoted as saying that it looked "very, very good" as far as including the FF and X-Men in the ever-expanding cinematic universe.

As far as that six months he mentioned, he's not saying that the characters will start appearing in the MCU in six months but that Marvel Studios/Disney could start officially developing movies featuring these characters after about six months. In other words, aside from maybe an Easter egg or a cameo, the X-Men and the FF are not going to enter the MCU until I'd guess 2020 or later.

All that being said, this is still exciting news for fans, collectors, and investors alike, and it's going to cause an immediate spike in the already-booming X-Men and FF markets. In fact, this development could be enough to shelter those X-Men #101s from the box office bomb in the making, Dark Phoenix, which is still on the slate for next June despite the new management.

Ever since the story first broke that Disney was in the works to purchase Fox and all its film properties, the X-Men have experienced the biggest boon from that announcement. While the Fantastic Four are the godparents of the modern superhero, the X-Men have overtaken them in terms of popularity over the past couple of decades.

As a fan of both franchises, I'm interested to see how Marvel Studios incorporates these new characters into their universe, though I'm concerned that there will be too much slapstick injected into the stories, but I digress. From a collector's standpoint, I'm going to be watching specific key issues over the next year.

The greatest impact will be on two mainstays, Wolverine and the Silver Surfer. I gave a rundown of four Silver Surfer keys to watch in yesterday's "Silver Surfer Investments," and I'll soon be following up with a few more Surfer keys. Now that we're getting tantalizingly close to him getting an onscreen reboot (and maybe then we can all pretend Rise of the Silver Surfer didn't happen), his key issues will be among the hottest of 2019.

 

 

I dare say bigger than the addition of the Surfer is Wolverine. He's been Marvel's cash cow for years, and The Incredible Hulk #181 is such a market behemoth that it already has its own gravitational pull.

Ever since he's been resurrected in the comics, we've seen all his major key issues on the rise, and this will only send them into the stratosphere. The moment Marvel announces an official casting choice for the MCU Wolverine (sorry to disappoint you, Hugh Jackman fans, but he's not going to reprise the role), the average fan won't be able to afford even his first cameo appearance. For more information on those Wolverine keys, check out "The Wolvie-xplosion."

Certainly, the Surfer and Wolverine keys are pricey already, but even with the high values, these are going to prove to be solid investments if you act now. If you've got your keys, the fun part will be sitting back and watching the market.