The bidding war between Disney and Comcast for Fox's entertainment platforms has taken another turn today (July 19) as Comcast has dropped its plan to buy the business – meaning that a Disney-Fox merger is looking more likely than ever.
Which means that it's also looking very likely that the X-Men will finally be able to one day reunite with The Avengers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
According to the BBC, Comcast has abandoned its bid for 21st Century Fox's film and television assets to focus on its bid for Sky instead.
Last month, Disney upped its bid for Fox from $52 billion to a huge $71.3 billion after Comcast outbid them and the US Department of Justice later approved Disney's new offer, provided that it sell off Fox's regional sports networks.
And now that Comcast has pulled out of the bidding war after refusing to raise its $66 billion offer, it leaves Disney's $71.3 billion offer as the sole bid for 21st Century Fox – and Disney CEO Bob Iger has said that he was "extremely pleased" by Comcast's announcement that it's dropping its bid.
"Our focus now is on completing the regulatory process and ultimately moving toward integrating our businesses," Iger added in a statement (via Yahoo).
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Here's hoping that "integrating our businesses" means that we'll be able to see Fox properties such as Deadpool and X-Men crossing over with the Disney-owned Avengers sooner rather than later, now that it looks like there's nothing left to stop this deal from going through.
This wasn't the only big announcement for Disney today either, as Lucasfilm confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con that it was bringing back Star Wars: The Clone Wars five years after its cancellation.
The animated series takes place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith and original executive producer Dave Filoni will return for 12 all-new episodes to premiere exclusively on Disney's upcoming streaming service, which will also launch a live-action Star Wars series.
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