Well, Marvel has finally confirmed it. That’s right, we’re finally getting another Fantastic Four movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We Marvel fans have been asking for this for a long time and now, it’s finally coming. But no, John Krasinski and Emily Blunt were not confirmed as Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Heck, I kind of want it to happen. How fitting would it be to have a real-life married couple to play the most popular superhero husband and wife in Marvel Comics? I’d say those are perfect roles for both of them.
But let’s talk about the upcoming Fantastic Four movie for the MCU. I’m beyond excited for this. For one, the Fantastic Four is the first superhero team of Marvel. In fact, they’re considered to be Marvel’s first family. With Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic as the leader and genius of the group, along with his wife, Susan Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, they were a legit married couple fighting crime together. Add on Susan’s brother, Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch as the reckless hotshot of the group, and Reed’s best friend, Ben Grimm, aka The Thing, the big, orange rock-skinned muscle of the group, the Fantastic Four were one of a kind superhero team. That’s because they weren’t just random, superpowered beings coming together to fight evil. These four heroes were a family.
Now if they’re that important to Marvel and comics in general, they should’ve had a great movie by now, right? Wrong! Very, very, and very unfortunately wrong. Let’s do a little recap of the history of the Fantastic Four in movies. The first one came out back in 1994. To be honest, I never saw it, nor do I intend to. I saw one clip and I don’t think I even finished it. If I ever want to waste some time and give that movie a shot just to see how bad it is, then I’ll just maybe watch it. However, I don’t plan on it anytime soon.
Now the 2005 movie with Jessica Alba I did watch and I remember it quite well. It didn’t get the greatest critical reception, but I found some enjoyment in it. It had heart and laughs and it actually developed all four members as a happy, dysfunctional family. However, there was very little action. As an origin story, it worked, but as a superhero movie, it fell kind of flat. I liked Ioan Gruffudd, I liked Chris Evans, and I really loved Michael Chiklis as The Thing. Oh, and Jessica Alba was actually my first celebrity crush. Needless to say, I loved her as Susan Storm.
When the sequel came along, I was hoping they’d up the ante with the action. Actually, it was a big step down. Silver Surfer looked cool, but didn’t do much, and that big fart cloud that was Galactus… that just wasn’t Galactus. Rise of the Silver Surfer was disappointing for many people, hence the reason why a third movie was never made.
Well, that didn’t stop Fox from another origin story attempt for the Fantastic Four. That tremendously awful 2015 Josh Trank movie is one of the worst superhero movies ever made. I watched it once and I barely made it through. Compared to the 2005 movie, Josh Trank’s cast just looked like they wanted to bail out as soon as possible and collect their checks. Their origins were rushed and they didn’t even get a chance to be properly developed. And that final battle scene gave me a headache. When that film ended, I had little hope for the future of the Fantastic Four in movies.
It quickly became clear to me that the only way we’d get a good Fantastic Four movie is if it was under the banner of the MCU. I mean, come on, they made an Ant-Man movie a freaking blast. With everything the MCU has done over the years, I have high hopes that they would give us a worthy Fantastic Four movie. The best way for them to do that is to not give us another FF origin story. Seriously, we’ve had three FF origin story movies and none of them lived up to our expectations. And the last one was total dumpster juice, so that should be enough incentive to not give us another FF origin story movie.
So if the MCU Fantastic Four won’t be another origin story, what exactly will it be? I’m a guy that likes hearing fan theories, and when it comes to the Fantastic Four, there’s no shortage. I remember reading one in particular that really stood out to me and it theorized how the team might enter the MCU. In short, it has everything to do with the Quantum Realm. We’ve already seen how it works in the Ant-Man movies and in Avengers: Endgame. You know what? When it comes to these sort of things, it’s really just wacky, comic book science. That stuff is always crazy, but in the world of comics, anything can happen.
Back to the fan theory. I read this a while ago, but it stuck with me. Imagine this, all four members of the team have been stuck in the Quantum Realm since the 80’s. If that’s the case, then they would be older people in the current timeline. However, what if the Quantum Realm actually kept them younger all that time? What if Reed Richards was a young and gifted scientist during the 80’s and actually worked alongside Hank Pym and Howard Stark? He could’ve been Hank’s protege or maybe a rival and they could’ve researched the Quantum Realm together, which explains why him and his family could’ve gone in there in the first place.
Now why would they appear to still be younger people when Janet Van Dyne grew older? That would be all weird comic book science or just the doing of Reed Richards. The man always has some insane gadget somewhere. I like this theory because it means the Fantastic Four will already technically exist in the MCU. There will be no origin story, no wasted time on having them figuring out how to use their powers, and if they already know people like Hank Pym, they’ll already have connections. That would quickly establish them as major players in the MCU and put them in a position where they can easily assist the Avengers.
I like the theory and if Marvel goes this route, they can introduce them in the next Ant-Man movie. I’m guessing the next Ant-Man movie will explore the Quantum Realm even further and Hank Pym just might find some old friends lurking in there. He finds them, rescues them from the realm, and that sets them up for their (hopefully) first good live-action movie. Plus, Kang the Conqueror is primarily an FF villain. If he’s going to debut in the next Ant-Man movie, the Fantastic Four won’t be far behind.
What are your thoughts, Marvel fans? All I know is that I’m super stoked for the Fantastic Four to be joining the MCU. This is one cinematic universe that won’t stop expanding and that’s a great thing.
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