Disney is currently in negotiation to buy Fox Studios, who own the film rights to several characters from the Marvel comic books. This deal was not completed in time to include any Fox characters in the first Infinity War movie, but may be done in time for the 2nd film. The script for that movie has already been written and many of the scenes already filmed, but if Marvel suddenly has the opportunity to drop the Fantastic Four or the Silver Surfer into the next Infinity War movie, they might be willing to do some re-writes and re-shoots.
The probability that Silver Surfer makes some appearance in Infinity War is not exactly 0%. We have seen Fox and Disney make side deals for characters before; most notably, they traded the rights to Negasonic Teenage Warhead (who appeared in Deadpool) for Ego the Living Planet in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2. So there could have been a side deal in this case for one or two characters to crossover, but certainly not the whole catalog. There may be a 10% chance we see the Silver Surfer in the first movie.
The second Infinity War movie is coming out in May 2019, so there is a limited amount of time to get the deal done before it's too late to make significant changes. It's unlikely that Disney's lawyers are under pressure to expedite the deal quickly specifically so they can squeeze extra characters into this one blockbuster franchise that already faces the problem of too many heroes to fit into a single story. They aren't speeding up the takeover process just to get the Silver Surfer more screen time. The cast list for Infinity War is huge, so it's not like they need the Silver Surfer to make it work.
These will be two of the largest grossing films in studio history, with or without the Fox rights. From a pure story telling perspective they don't need the Fox characters. If anything, adding more heroes will dilute the performances of they ones they already have. That being said, if Disney does buy Fox, they will certainly be launching new Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer franchises. These reboots might be more successful if those heroes make an appearance in the flagship movies. That is the monetary incentive to squeeze them into Infinity War, because they are unlikely to affect IW's box office take.
If we do see Fox characters in the 2nd movie (which could include X-Men), it will not be in major roles. We may get brief cameos just to say hello to the Marvel studios family, but do not expect any of them to play major roles or significantly affect the plot. The Silver Surfer is the most likely Fox property to appear given the significant role he played in the comic book version, but there may be some desire to get the X-Men involved depending on how they are going to fit into Marvel's plans.
It should be noted, one of the greatest rivalries from the comic books that we have not seen on the big screen due to rights issues is Wolverine Vs Hulk. They fought multiple times in some classic stories, and something I'd love to see in a stand alone movie. We probably wouldn't see them fight in Infinity War, since all mankind will be fighting in harmony against Thanos. But it wouldn't be out of the question for Wolverine to show up in the fight against Thanos in a minor role.
Here's another fun question; is there any amount of money that Disney could offer to Hugh Jackman to get him to reprise the role of Wolverine? I'd love to see him in crossover roles.
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