Marvel’s Fantastic Four: Everything We Know About The MCU Super Team’s Debut

As WandaVision bring it Marvel Cinematic Universe excitement for Disney Plus, you might be wondering about the upcoming movies. We know the Fantastic Four is coming to the MCU from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige verified name the superteam at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 after parent company Marvel Disney has the rights in his Fox takeover.

Then Feige released a major update for the Disney Plus event last December – the studio is making a new Fantastic Four movie, and it will be directed by Jon watts (Director of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Far from home and their more to come).

This movie is still in the early stages of production, but a band member may have been yelled at episodes 5 and 6 by WandaVision. Let’s take a look at who the Fantastic Four are, the cast and possible release date, and go through the cinematic history of the characters (ugh).

The basics

In a practical way, the intro to the animated series from the 90s describes the origins and powers of the team in a very catchy way.

You’re welcome. Now that you are touching your feet, let’s go over the basics. The team first appeared in 1961’s Fantastic Four No. 1, by late comic book legends Stan lee and Jack Kirby. This essentially kicked off the Marvel Comics universe, as the couple co-created the Avengers and the X-Men soon after.

The first issue sees Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm soar into space in an experimental rocket. They are bombarded with cosmic radiation (which is a real thing), giving them an array of cool superpowers (not a real thing).

• Reed can stretch his body into just about any shape and takes the code name Mr. Fantastic. He’s also super smart.
• Sue can become invisible and create powerful force fields. She goes through Invisible Girl first, but later changes her to the more dignified Invisible Woman. Also Reed’s fiancée.
• Johnny can cover his body in flames, control fire, and fly. Known as the human torch. He’s Sue’s brother, and his slogan is “Flame on!”
• Ben transforms into a rock monster – taking the name with super strength and stamina. Is angry at first, but mellows over time. Glorious slogan: “It’s time to clobber!” he is pretty awesome.

They battle the Mole Man in this debut issue, but soon attract a gallery of thugs that includes the Skrulls (who joined the MCU in Captain Marvel), Namor the Angry Sub, who engulfs the planet Galactus and his herald the Silver Surfer, Kree jerk Ronan the accuser, and Negative Zone ruler Annihilus. But a villain overtakes them all.

Loss

Doctor Doom, also known as Victor Von Doom, was Stan Lee’s favorite villain because he is the ruler of his home country, Latveria. First appearing in 1962’s Fantastic Four # 3, he was Reed’s college rival and ignored his advice regarding a flaw in a machine he was working on. The resulting explosion marred Doom’s face, and he began to wear a signature mask to hide his disfigurement.

Like Reed, Doom is a super smart scientist. With his mask, he forged advanced armor, which fills the post left after Tony Stark’s spell at Avengers: Endgame. He has a bunch of lookalike robots – Doombots – that can take the chute for him when the heroes beat him.

In addition to his scientific abilities, Doom is a powerful wizard, so he could face Dr Strange too much. In the comics, he achieved ultimate power in the 1985 and 2015 Secret Wars storylines – he’s one of the few villains worthy of taking on the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is no guarantee that Doom will actually appear in the first MCU Fantastic Four, but he’s so cool and iconic that he should appear in some form or another.

In 2017, Legion creator Noah Hawley said he was working on a Doctor Doom movie, but it’s likely that plan was shelved or changed when Disney bought Fox. In early 2020, he expressed hope that his script matched Marvel Studios’ plan for the character, but noted at the time that he hadn’t heard anything.

Foundry

There is no word on the cast yet, but fans have long called for Officeby John Krasinski to play Reed and Edge of tomorrowEmily Blunt is Sue. The actual husband and wife once played an on-screen couple in 2018 A quiet placeSo it would be great to see them bring that momentum to the MCU.

Release date

You’ll have to be patient, as this movie doesn’t have a release date yet. Marvel’s schedule of upcoming movies and shows for 2021 and 2022 is already packed, and Watts is still working on the third MCU Spidey adventure. It will likely be 2023 before Fantastic Four hits theaters.

Previous films

The first attempt to bring the team to the big screen came in 1994, The Fantastic Four, which involved B-movie legend Roger Corman. It was an origin story for the characters, but never published – it’s kind of like the Star Wars Holiday Special Marvel movies – but there are conflicting stories as to why. If you’re curious it’s on YouTube and not that bad.

The team’s first real film release was in 2005, Fantastic Four, directed by Tim Story, with a future Captain America Chris Evans like Johnny. Jessica Alba played Sue, Ioan Gruffudd was Reed, and Michael Chiklis played Ben. Doom was played by Julian McMahon and that origin story was disappointing. It came out the same year as Batman Begins, and Fantastic Four seemed like a throwback to the dumbest superhero movies.

That didn’t stop him getting a sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, in 2007. This movie brought in the awesome Silver Surfer (played by Doug Jones and voiced by Laurence Fishburne), but still wasn’t great. . He is also infamous for describing Galactus as a cosmic storm rather than his traditional comic book form.

The franchise was rebooted in 2015, with director Josh Trank at the helm. This movie had a great cast – Miles Teller as Reed, Kate Mara as Sue, Michael B. Jordan as Johnny, Jamie Bell as Ben, and Toby Kebbell as Doom – but it turned out to be a joyless mess. Since then, Trank has said he has no interest in directing any other Marvel or DC films.

Hopefully Marvel Studios’ attempt, whenever we see it, finally gives the Fantastic Four the cinematic release they deserve. We trust Feige.