There has been some concern expressed by the Marvel fan community online that the upcoming Phases of MCU stories needs a bit more “star power” from the featured heroes to keep audiences engaged. Now that Iron Man, Black Widow, and Captain America have moved on – and with the expected exit of the Guardians of the Galaxy following their third movie – Marvel needs household name heroes on which to hand their hat. Spider-Man can only appear in so many movies (which we’ll immediately add to our ranked list of Spider-Man films). As Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) prepare to open up Phase 5, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige opened up about a team he expects to contribute enormously to the upcoming Marvel movie slate… and they sound fantastic.
Marvel Studios has been teasing the arrival of The Fantastic Four in the MCU for years now. Legal issues kept the team out of Kevin Feige’s hands for decades, leading to Fantastic Four productions that were detached from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and, quite frankly, not very good). Now we know that the team is coming, and is scheduled to arrive in theaters in their first MCU movie on November 8, 2024. But in speaking with EW about the upcoming Phases, Feige had this to say about Marvel’s First Family, and it will have FF fans salivating. Feige said:
The only other one in terms of me personally and my 23-year history is the Fantastic Four. We sort of talked about mutants and that whole aspect to the Marvel world, but Fantastic Four is the foundation for everything that came after in the comics. There's certainly been versions of it [on screen], but never inhabiting the storytelling of the MCU. And that's something that is really exciting for us. People will start to hear more about that soon. We plan on that being a big pillar of the MCU going forward, just the way they've been in the comics for 50 or 60 years.
As it should be. The Fantastic Four has been a major part of the Marvel comics universe since the very beginning. And there haven’t been many significant storylines, from Secret Wars to Secret Invasion, that didn’t involve the team. Introducing them (as well as the X-Men and the global community of mutants) instantly opens up so many doors for future MCU storylines. I can see how Feige and his squad will want to build off of the FF when moving forward.
The team’s leader, Reed Richards, already made his MCU debut… sort of. Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) met a multiversal version of Reed in this memorable scene:
But now the casting process will deliver official versions of Reed, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. And likely their nemesis, Victor von Doom. As for when we might hear something, Feige mentioned “soon.” Does that mean San Diego Comic-Con? A D23 event? Or just the day that Feige decides to reveal the news to the Marvel fan community, establishing the foundation for a decade of Marvel stories centered around the Fantastic Four? We’ll find out soon enough.
