Marvel’s event at Comic-Con 2022 shocked fans as Kevin Feige & Co. unveiled more details about the MCU roadmap than anyone expected. We got titles and release dates for Phase 5, and we learned about three Phase 6 movies: Fantastic Four, Avengers 5, and Avengers 6.
Also, Marvel released trailers for some of the upcoming MCU Phase 4 projects. And it showed off the first Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 trailers at the show.
Now that we know so much about Phases 5 and 6, we’re back to asking questions about what comes next, especially considering Marvel has plenty of surprises left. And Marvel is ready to answer some of those questions, like revealing what the first Fantastic Four movie will be about.
Mind you, some spoilers might follow below.
The limited Fantastic Four announcement
Fantastic Four is one of the most exciting MCU projects in development right now. But Marvel certainly took its time announcing a release date for the movie.
Kevin Feige first teased Fantastic Four at Comic-Con 2019, but he didn’t reveal the film’s director until mid-December 2020. Fast-forward to spring 2022, and Jon Watts left the project.
That was just a few days before the Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness premiere, which was the first MCU movie to include a Fantastic Four member. John Krasinski played the Reed Richards variant from Earth-838, and we all know what happened to him.
We have no idea if the actor will return to star in the main Fantastic Four movie.
Separately, we saw signs that Marvel was working on Fantastic Four. Specifically, work on the film’s score indicated that a Comic-Con or D23 Expo announcement was in the cards.
That Fantastic Four announcement came at Comic-Con, but Kevin Feige only dropped the movie’s release date. Fantastic Four will be the first title in MCU Phase 6, which will conclude with Avengers: Secret Wars.
What’s the first Fantastic Four movie all about?
Before Secret Wars, we’ll get Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. This means 2025 will be Marvel’s first year when two Avengers adventures hit theaters in a matter of months.
All that Avengers action might have eclipsed the Fantastic Four. But Kevin Feige talked about Marvel’s first Fantastic Four movie in subsequent interviews.
He told The Hollywood Reporter that Marvel will follow the same approach as Spider-Man. Fantastic Four will not be an origin story, just like Homecoming wasn’t an origin story.
“A lot of people know this origin story. A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before?” Feige said of Fantastic Four.
The executive added that the Fantastic Four launched the Marvel Comics universe back in 1961. Therefore, “we’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen,” he continued.
Feige did not reveal any specifics about Fantastic Four, unfortunately. We also still don’t have the name of the new director. And the cast remains a mystery. All we know now is it’s not an origin story and it will premiere on November 8th, 2024.
More Marvel coverage: For more MCU news, visit our Marvel guide.
