Once Marvel Studios started their ambitious Marvel Cinematic Universe, linking all their films in one world that culminated with The Avengers, executives and fans alike expressed disappointment so many major Marvel properties weren’t being treated with the same respect. 20th Century Fox has now taken a step to fix that mistake. Much as Joss Whedon is doing at Marvel, Fox has hired Mark Millar – the popular Marvel writer of stories like The Ultimates, Civil War, Old Man Logan and creator of Kick-Ass, Wanted and Nemesis – as the “creative consultant” on their upcoming films such as The Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Fantastic Four. Read more after the jump.

Coming Soon posted the press release (read the full thing below) but here are some of the major bulletpoints.

It says the move marks “an expanded commitment to some of its most important franchises” and confirms that Nemesis is still in development at the studio. Millar hints that he’s only working on those three films at the moment, but with The Wolverine already well into production, I’m not sure how much input he’ll have on that. I think this is more of an X-Men and Fantastic Four decision (which still mentions Josh Trank as the director) for now.

Millar is well-known for being one of the busiest men in the comic book business but he’s also extremely fan friendly. In that aspect, I see this hiring as great news for movie fans (maybe not comic fans, though, who already wait months for new Millar issues). Millar is a huge fan with a big mouth and will be privy to, and have influence over, some very cool properties. I think it’s likely he’ll be dropping more news than the studio would like. Plus his ideas are always pretty outside of the box and exciting so I’d imagine he wouldn’t sign off on something like Fantastic Four unless it’s the Fantastic Four he’d like to see as a fan.

What are you thoughts on Millar’s hiring?

Here’s the full press release from 20th Century Fox and Coming SOon including Millar’s thoughts on his new gig: