Okay, brace yourselves here. Like the last few entries, this presupposes that Marvel can work with Fox to bring the Fantastic Four into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as theyre working with Sony to bring Spider-Man in. Theres no room on Marvels Phase Three slate to put together a Fantastic Four film, so any new reboot would have to take place in Phase Four, which isnt set to start until 2020. However, the final film in Phase Three is Inhumans and the Inhuman royal family have significant ties to the Fantastic Four in the comics. You have to believe that Marvels long term fantasy game plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be to have every Marvel character theyve ever licensed out play a part in the MCU. So what if the Inhumans movie was to take place in the Fantastic Fours universe and guest star the Fantastic Four? What if Phase Four included an X-Men movie and a new Fantastic Four movie, set in their own separate universes? What if each of these three supposedly non-MCU films featured cameos from MCU characters and story arcs? What if the whole point of Phase Four was a collaboration between Fox and Marvel that saw the three separate universes collide and eventually merge in a mighty alternate universes conflagration, just as occurred in Marvels own recent Secret Wars storyline? If (big, big if) thats the ludicrously complex and long-running endgame here, then Marvel may have already begun sowing the seeds for it. Theyve licensed the Legion character to Fox for use on their FX Network. Legion is the son of Charles Xavier, a devastatingly powerful, mentally unstable mutant who, in the comics, changes the past to create a new universe. Meanwhile, Reed Richards and Sue Storms son Franklin is also an Omega-level mutant with the ability to warp reality and the Avengers Scarlet Witch has proven to have a similar ability herself. In this scenario Fox would still own and distribute the X-Men and Fantastic Four properties, just as Sony would the Spider-Man properties: only now, all storyline continuity would fall within the newly expanded Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wed have mutants in the MCU, the possibility of an X-Men Vs. Avengers flick and, front and centre, Marvels First Family. Just a thought. What do you think Marvel should do with the Fantastic Four? Share your hopes for Marvel's First Family down in the comments.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
