Marvel Studios first announced plans to reboot the Fantastic Four in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic and Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts' decision to leave the project slowed things down, but The Fantastic Four is finally heading our way next year.
WandaVision's Matt Shakman will be at the helm, and a first-look promo image confirmed it takes place in the 1960s...and in another reality.
Fans had long wondered how Marvel Studios would go about introducing Marvel's First Family, with the prevailing theory being that they might have gained their powers during The Blip. Instead, they'll hail from another Earth altogether.
That doesn't mean they won't eventually make their way to a more familiar setting, of course.
According to The Cosmic Circus' Alex Perez, "The Fantastic Four are going to be key players in the Multiverse Saga and in Secret Wars. The film will also be a pivotal addition to the MCU and it’s going to showcase just how dangerous our Multiverse can get."
It's possible Galactus will now be a Multiversal threat and, if the team's world is destroyed by him or an Incursion, the door is open to them making a new home for themselves in the same reality as The Avengers.
We've previously heard that Avengers: Secret Wars will serve as a soft reboot for the MCU, meaning reality can be rewritten to make it so that the Fantastic Four - and X-Men - were always part of the (new) Sacred Timeline. That seems like the simplest way to add them to the world inhabited by heroes like Spider-Man and Captain America, anyway.
We'll have to wait and see, but it seems we're one step closer to Earth's Mightiest Heroes sharing the screen with the Fantastic Four...
Marvel Studios has announced that Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing) will lead The Fantastic Four cast. Julia Garner has also joined the reboot as Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer.
Recent additions to the cast include Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne in mystery roles, along with Ralph Ineson as the villainous Galactus.
Director Matt Shakman worked with both Avatar: The Way of Water co-writer Josh Friedman and WandaVision's Cam Squires on The Fantastic Four's screenplay, with Eric Pearson (Black Widow) recently coming on board for a final polish.
The movie is set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.