Now that multi-million dollar movies and streaming services are the preferred way to absorb superhero content, the popularity rankings have shifted dramatically. It's almost hard to recall a time before Iron Man and Rocket Raccoon were big names, but some former legends have lost some of their iconography. The Fantastic Four is a great example, but they have the chance to return to the top.
Fantastic Four will be the second entry in Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's set to come out in 2025, directed by WandaVision director Matt Shakman. After three tragic attempts to make a movie out of the beloved hero team and over 15 years of hype, the MCU's efforts will need to be something special.
Introduce the Team as New Heroes With an Origin Story
The most obvious way to reintroduce The Fantastic Four would be to deliver a newly updated version of their classic comic book origin story. Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm are civilian astronauts who take an unauthorized test flight into outer space. While there, all four are bombarded with cosmic rays that fundamentally change their physical makeup. Unlike most comic book heroes, but much like everyone in the MCU, they do nothing to hide their superpowers. Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch, and The Thing immediately become celebrity crime fighters and set up a base in New York City.
A proper origin story set in the near future of the MCU has upsides and downsides. The cinematic universe already has a ton of working superheroes, most of whom are known to the public and many of whom are in New York City. Four new heroes probably wouldn't make much of a splash in a world that vividly remembers Thanos. The big question fans will be asking if The Fantastic Four were always around would be why they didn't participate in any of the series' previous big events. On Earth-838, Reed and the rest of the team evidently existed when Thanos attacked to help save the day. Even if they didn't have powers, where was Reed Richards during the many scientific emergencies of Earth-19999? That's a pedantic question, but it's the kind of loose end big franchises always have to tie up. They can answer, depict their previously off-screen efforts to help out, and only give them superpowers in the modern era, but there's another solution that might be even more appealing.
Use Time Travel to Explain Why They Were Missing
Fans naturally associate The Fantastic Four with the 1960s. It's the era that introduced the characters, but almost everything about their backstory and presentation fits that decade better than this one. Their reckless desire to enter space immediately mirrored that of the United States in the Space Race. Their hero names are definitely a little outdated by modern standards. Their family is explicitly modeled on the traditional 50s nuclear family that would've been staples of sitcoms and Norman Rockwell paintings. The Fantastic Four would immediately feel at home in the sixties, Marvel would get to do another period piece, and the necessary time travel would be easy to explain.
Marvel loves to tell fish-out-of-water stories. Thor on Earth, Stephen Strange in Kamar Taj, and Captain America in the modern day, there are a ton of great examples of characters experiencing new worlds for the first time. The Fantastic Four could begin in the sixties and travel through some cosmic portal to wind up in the modern day. This would allow their old-school values to conflict with the ways of the future, it would set them apart from most other superheroes, and the time travel angle would give them a new way to become famous again. Imagine a post-credits scene in The Marvels or Captain America: New World Order in which the hero is informed of some sort of space debris rocketing towards Earth. The heroes lead it in for a safe landing, only to discover it's a shockingly well-preserved 60s space shuttle. Once they pop open the hatch, they find four astronauts believed missing in action. It's a huge media event, introducing The Fantastic Four to the world with a bang, setting them up as celebrities, and exciting the audience for their real introduction.
Whichever way Marvel handles the characters, there's always a way to tie up loose ends. The Fantastic Four could be time travelers or modern superheroes with a bit of old-fashioned flair. Fans are already excited to see the characters return to the big screen as part of the largest media franchise in the world. The Fantastic Four has so many unique elements to bring to the MCU. It'll be the beginning of a new era, and a great way to kick that off would be a callback to a classic one.