A top Marvel Studios executive teased how the MCU's upcoming Fantastic Four reboot will bring something of a surprising story.
The first MCU solo story for Marvel's First Family continues to build considerable hype ahead of its early 2025 release, especially considering how popular the quartet is in the comics and on the big screen. And while casting for the movie is in the earliest stages soon, some key details have already gone public regarding the story that Marvel Studios will tell.
In Summer 2022, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed that the MCU's Fantastic Four wouldn't be an origin story, taking the same route as the Spider-Man franchise with fans well aware of the team's beginnings.
And with writing duo Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer in place for the script along with Matt Shakman taking on directing duties, story details will be a hot commodity for fans waiting to find out new information about what's happening.
Fantastic Four Will Surprise MCU Fans
When asked by Deadline whether the Fantastic Four or the X-Men will debut in the MCU first, Marvel Studios VP of Production & Development Nate Moore confirmed that it would be the Fantastic Four while noting that fans are "going be pretty surprised" by what Marvel Studios is doing with the reboot:
"Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four. We have Matt Shakman directing, who’s so talented and who did WandaVision for us, and I think people are going to be pretty surprised by what we’re doing."
Director Matt Shakman also spoke about the movie in February, comparing his work on this movie to his time working in the Star Trek franchise.
He noted how they "both were launched in the ’60s" and that they were both "about optimism and looking to the stars and technology," expressing his excitement to dive into the family aspect of the team's adventure:
"It’s really a family there and to be able to go back and tackle something that I truly love, and they’re very similar in some ways: they both were launched in the ’60s at the same time, they’re both about optimism and looking to the stars and [how] technology can solve everything, and they’re about family too — the family you have, the family you make. So they’re aligned in many ways and speak to my heart and equally, so I’m excited to be working on ‘Fantastic Four.'"
He called the opportunity to direct Fantastic Four "too hard to pass up," explaining how much he looked forward to rejoining the Marvel family after his work on WandaVision:
"But movies have different journeys and momentums and and schedules are a little bit mercurial, and so when the ‘Fantastic Four’ opportunity came up, it was just too hard to pass up, and to go back home to Marvel, a place that I worked on ‘WandaVision’ at, with those people who are wonderful collaborators."
What Surprises Will Be in Fantastic Four?
Marvel Studios is surely looking to put its own stamp on the Fantastic Four after three previous live-action movies from 20th Century Fox featured the team's adventures over the past 20 years. But the big question now is what exactly those surprises will be.
This could come in the form of a brand new villain that the First Family has never faced on screen before, especially with Kang the Conqueror already in play and teases already laid out for their main foe, Doctor Doom.
On top of the villain will be the fact that this will be the team's first time existing in a universe alongside the rest of the Avengers, particularly as they prepare for their biggest stories yet in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. This alone will allow them the opportunity to work with a larger team of Marvel characters they've never shared the screen with before while prepping for some truly world-threatening events in the future.
And as fans wait patiently for the movie's core team of actors to be introduced, the story that they'll tell will be an equally exciting prospect before Phase 6 opens.
Fantastic Four will debut in theaters on February 14, 2025.
