The MCU’s Fantastic Four movie officially has a release date set for November 8, 2024. More than 18 months after the film was first announced to be in development during Disney Investor Day 2020, this new outing is now the lead-off hitter for Phase 6 as the MCU moves towards an all-out Multiversal war.
After three solo movies from 20th Century Fox that ranged from “OK for the era” to “universally hated,” Marvel Studios has a golden opportunity to bring Marvel’s First Family into the same universe as Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. But considering how much anticipation is building for their introduction into the MCU, many are wondering – could the Fantastic Four arrive before their own solo movie?
One character is already been introduced , John Krasinski’s Mr. Fantastic alongside the Illuminati in this year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While it is still not confirmed on Krasinski’s casting as the MCU’s Earth-616 version of Reed Richards, he became the first Fantastic domino to fall in terms of the team transitioning to Marvel Studios from Fox.
Marvel Studios knows how to introduce characters very well before giving them the main character plot.
Sam Wilson did it before becoming Captain America and Loki did it in the Thor trilogy before his solo Disney+ series. But there is one specific example of a movie that brought not one, but two, future leading men into the MCU in non-headliner roles: 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.
This epic threequel gave fans their first taste of the late Chadwick Boseman’s King T’Challa, who was one of the most important pieces of the story behind Chris Evans’ Captain America and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man before his time in Black Panther. In an even smaller role was Tom Holland, who finally brought Peter Parker to the MCU a year before he took on his first solo movie with Spider-Man: Homecoming.
With these two heroes having been set up to play key roles in future MCU stories, Marvel Studios opened the gates for the audience to familiarise before giving the characters their own franchise. This opens up the possibility for Marvel to do the same thing with the Fantastic Four, especially since Feige confirmed that their own movie will not be an origin story.
Looking at that theory, here are four projects that Marvel Studios could use to introduce the MCU’s take on the Fantastic Four.
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP QUANTUMANIA: FEB 17, 2023
Marvel Studios will have an opportunity to fully explore the Quantum Realm more deeply than ever in Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly’s third Ant-Man movie, appropriately subtitled Quantumania. With some major plot points and story details coming into this massive threequel, there could be an easy door through which the Fantastic Four could enter for their MCU debut.
Also of note is that this movie’s main villain, Kang the Conqueror, has some notable ties to the Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards in the comics. Kang is also known as Nathaniel Richards, the core version being a 31st-century descendant of Reed, which Marvel Studios could easily use to add more drama and excitement to that hero/villain relationship in future movies.
LOKI SEASON 2 : 2023
First and foremost is the fact that the team has an important connection to Jonathan Majors’ He Who Remains from Season 1, as the original Kang, Nathaniel Richards, is a descendant of Fantastic Four team leader Reed Richards. That Variant confirmed that he was a version of a 31st-century scientist just as Nathaniel was in the comics, lending credence to that relationship being in place for the MCU as well.
Additionally, this show fully explored the concept of alternate universes, leading to the idea that the Fantastic Four might be stuck somewhere out in the vast and unexplored Multiverse. Kang could potentially be keeping them trapped and out of the “Sacred Timeline” as a part of his plan for Multiversal domination, and Season 2 may give the God of Mischief the opportunity to find them as he tries to help the Time Variance Authority fix Season 1’s mess.
THE MARVELS : JULY 28,2023
The Fantastic Four are well-known for spending plenty of time both on Earth and traveling through the cosmos, very similarly to The Marvels‘ leading character, Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers has had a few appearances in the comics next to Marvel’s First Family, which could end up potentially coming to fruition on the big screen as well.
On top of those obvious points, there is still the unanswered question about whom the “aerospace engineer” is from WandaVision, which could still turn out to be Reed Richards if Marvel goes that route with Monica. After so much theorizing during that Disney+ show, there’s no way to predict if it will happen, but there’s also no way to definitively deny that Reed and his crew could show up with that connection still in play.
THUNDERBOLTS : JULY 26,2024
The Thunderbolts and Fantastic Four aren’t teams that would usually be associated with one another, one being a team of secretive super villains working for the government and the other being…well, the Fantastic Four. But there’s one important aspect to both of their releases that could line Marvel’s First Family up for an appearance in this unique outing – the Sacred MCU Timeline.
All we can do is wait and speculate as we do before any Marvel movie drops.Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four will release in theaters on November 8, 2024.
