It’s an all-new, all-different era at Marvel Studios. After years of being obnoxiously secretive, the studio has experimented with different methods of revealing news about upcoming projects. Whether the constant changing of titles of Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha All Along, the social media reveal of Hugh Jackman‘s return for Deadpool & Wolverine or the surprise Valentine’s Day cast announcement, or the April 4th reveal of concept art featuring the Human Torch which also launched an neat viral campaign for The Fantastic Four, the once taciturn studio has taken a new, more forthcoming approach to connect with fans as they try to rebuild their image.
Another new initiative taken by the studio to reach the fanbase is the launch of The Official Marvel Podcast. Perhaps in an effort to put the podcast on the map, Marvel came out swinging with its first episode by having Marvel Studios One Above All, Kevin Feige, launch the venture. And while the boss had quite a bit to say about the studio’s upcoming slate, he was most effusive about the long-awaited film, The Fantastic Four.
The co-host of the podcast came out swinging by asking Feige which upcoming project excited him most and after giving a typical Big Kev response, the head honcho changed gears and gave some surprising insight into The Fantastic Four.
“Well, you know, the corporate answer is: they’re all our babies and we love them all equally. And I’m very excited for Deadpool & Wolverine, and then Agatha All Along, and Captain America: Brave New World, and Thunderbolts with an asterisk, and the new Daredevil. And that’s true,” started Feige. “But if you want the real answer – if we’re trying to get real on this podcast,” he continued, “the answer is The Fantastic Four.“
First teased as an upcoming project at SDCC ’19, The Fantastic Four has had quite a journey to the start of production. Spider-Man trilogy director Jon Watts was originally attached to project but stepped away in 2022.
Collaborating with Jon on the Spider-Man films has been a true pleasure. We were looking forward to continuing our work with him to bring the Fantastic Four into the MCU but understand and are supportive of his reasons for stepping away. We are optimistic that we will have the opportunity to work together again at some point down the road.
-Kevin Feige on Jon Watts departure from The Fantastic Four, April 2022
Following Watts‘ departure, WandaVision director Matt Shakman boarded the project in August 2022. Shortly after, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer were hired to pen the first draft of the project, which has since seen Avatar 2 writer Josh Friedman and Marvel finisher Eric Pearson put in some work on it. Despite rumors to the contrary, Shakman has stayed the course while the project developed which, according to Feige, is now just a month away from finally getting underway.
“Matt Shakman, our Director who did WandaVision for us, is working on [The Fantastic Four]. He’s already moved to London, and we start filming at the end of July,” revealed Feige. “Funny story: we start shooting the Monday after Comic Con. The day after Comic Con is the first day of filming on Fantastic Four,” he added, perhaps teasing the studio’s presence in San Diego. Feige then expressed his excitement for the 2025 film.
“And I’m extremely excited by it, because I think those characters are mainstays… are legendary pillars of the Marvel Universe that we’ve never got to play with or explore in any significant way – apart from Multiverse Of Madness and a few fun teases – before, in the way that were doing in that film. So I’m extremely for that.”
-Kevin Feige, June 26 , 2024
While that amount of information alone from Feige would have been enough, Marvel’s Big Cheese took things one step further. When pressed by the co-host, Feige addressed fan speculation over the setting of The Fantastic Four, which fans believe will be a period piece–something which Feige directly confirmed before addressing another bit of speculation about the retrofuturistic setting of the film.
“Yes. Yes, very much so. It is a period, and there was another piece of art we released with Johnny Storm flying in the air making a 4 symbol, and there was a cityscape in the corner of that image, and there were a lot of smart people who noticed that cityscape didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know and the New York that existed in the ’60s in our world. And those are smart observations, I’ll say.”
-Kevin Feige, June 26, 2024
Rumors about the setting of the film have long had it taking place somewhere other than the MCU’s main 616 universe and while Feige stopped short of confirming those rumors, he certainly did nothing to shoot them down. Given Feige’s SDCC tease, it’s quite possible the cast of The Fantastic Four will make some sort of an appearance in San Diego and/or at August’s D23, providing fans with a little more information on what to expect.
As of now, The Fantastic Four is slated for theaters on July 25, 2025.
Leave a Reply