Out of the blue on Valentine’s Day, Marvel Studios decided it was time to confirm the casting on its upcoming The Fantastic Four movie, which also shifted its release date to July 25, 2025. Fans immediately reacted to the casting news, but also speculated that because of the LIFE Magazine in Ben Grimm’s hands, that the story would be set in the 1960s. New MCU Reed Richards Pedro Pascal solidified that rumor with the hashtag #AllYouNeedIsLove on his IG post… a Beatles song released in 1967.
Immediately, we began to wonder, “If The Fantastic Four were a thing in the 1960s (no pun intended), then where have they been this whole time in the MCU? Why no mention of them?” Well, there are explanations. The FF might be part of a different universe – as we know the Marvel Multiverse is a serious thing with which to be reckoned. There are also plenty of cosmic excuses as to where the Fantastic Four have been: On a mission to far off galaxies, or stranded in the Negative Zone. But if Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four starts off in the 1960s, there are two things I basically can predict will happen by the end of the movie, and one of them will address a lingering question that has bothered the MCU faithful.
The Fantastic Four may start in the past, but they’ll end up in the present-day MCU.
There’s no way that Marvel Studios is introducing Marvel’s First Family just to leave them in the past, where they’re unable to interact with Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, and all of the heroes of the modern-day MCU. The Fantastic Four suffered the same issue that Spidey did when he belonged only to Sony. In the previous Fantastic Four movies, we were able to see a few characters (like Silver Surfer and Doctor Doom) that were licensed to 20th Century Fox. But substantial crossover wasn’t permitted, and Marvel absolutely isn’t going to make that mistake again by leaving the FF in the 1960s, sacrificing their ability to play alongside the rest of the toys in Marvel’s sandbox.
So, somehow, over the course of The Fantastic Four, our main characters are going to time warp to the present day. Or, shift from their existing universe to our own… similar to the way that Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) shifted into an alternate universe where Beast (Kelsey Grammer) told her she now existed in a world that exists parallel to her own.
Thanks to the tools introduced throughout Phases 4 and 5, travel between dimensions and multiverses is downright common in the MCU. I’m not sure how it will happen, but I’m confident The Fantastic Four will arrive in our present day by the end of their movie, just like how Captain America (Chris Evans) woke up near Times Square at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger.
And what will happen when The Fantastic Four arrive in modern-day New York City?
I think they will buy Avengers Tower, and turn it into the Baxter Building.
Here’s a hat tip to my friend Brandon Davis over at ComicBook.com. He has dedicated years to trying to get someone at Marvel Studios to confirm who purchased Avengers Tower. We saw the building being emptied out by Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) in Spider-Man: Homecoming. And as far as we could tell, that building has remained vacant.
There have been guesses as to who might buy the building, with Norman Osborn being a frequent mention. But when The Fantastic Four arrive in modern-day New York City, I think it’s a no brainer that the building that once housed Stark Industries and later served as an HQ for The Avengers becomes the famous resting spot for the FF.
It’s not that the Fantastic Four are becoming the new Avengers. In fact, I think an iteration of The Avengers still will form in time for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, or the eventual Avengers: Secret Wars. One of the upcoming Marvel movies also might be a Young Avengers film, as so many members of that team have been introduced. But heading into Phase Six and beyond, both the Fantastic Four and the X-Men are going to be focal points of Marvel’s storytelling, and so establishing them at the heart of MYC makes total sense. And the Baxter Building is every bit as important to the mythology of the FF as HERBIE the robot… who also was featured in that first sketch!
What do you think? Are both of these developments inevitable? What are some of your hopes for The Fantastic Four? We have been tracking this movie’s development for a long time, and have been through casting rumors, director changes, script issues, and more. Now that the cast has been confirmed, it feels like full steam ahead, but we’ll know for sure once production officially gets underway.
