Marvel Phase 5 is kicking off this Friday with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hitting theaters and featuring the debut of Kang the Conqueror, who is to be the new Thanos-level baddie. This summer also aims to conclude the Guardians of the Galaxy saga as James Gunn makes his way permanently to the DC universe. As Kevin Feige confides that he has big plans for Peter Parker in the MCU, the studio head also says that the Fantastic Four will be a big pillar of the universe going forward, according to Deadline.
The Marvel Studios CEO recently told Entertainment Weekly, “Fantastic Four is the foundation for everything that came after in the comics. There’s certainly been versions of it [on screen], but never inhabiting the storytelling of the MCU. And that’s something that is really exciting for us.” Feige continues, “People will start to hear more about that soon. We plan on that being a big pillar of the MCU going forward, just the way they’ve been in the comics for 50 or 60 years.”
This will be the fourth incarnation of Marvel’s first family in live-action. The three originals came out to varying degrees of reception. The first is a notoriously cheaply made unreleased film only produced for the studio to keep the rights. The film became a cult hit when making the rounds as a bootleg before having an eventual official release. The second and most successful attempt had a star-studded cast, including the MCU’s own Chris Evans as Johnny Storm. The first movie from 20th Century Fox would see success and spawn a sequel introducing the Silver Surfer. And the last attempt was another notorious outing with the director, Josh Trank, and the studio butting heads over tone and vision with a troubled production that was very evident on screen.
A tease of the team in the MCU came in the form of a cameo from John Krasinski, who was a fan casting favorite, as he appeared as Reed Richards from an alternate universe in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This version would meet an untimely end, and Krasinski himself has said that Marvel has not called him up outside of the cameo, so the casting of family is still up in the air.