On Valentine’s Day, Marvel Studios revealed the cast, release date and new title for 2025’s The Fantastic Four via social media. Though the talented group of actors that were cast as Marvel’s First Family wasn’t truly a surprise (rumors had all four of them in the roles for months ahead of Marvel Studios’ announcement), the concept art that accompanied the reveal did hint at something very interesting about the film’s setting. Both the magazine being read by Ben Grimm and the portrait of him pre-cosmic ray incident seemed to indicate that the events of the film were going to be set in the 1960s, something that could be a bit problematic in the MCU’s Sacred Timeline. If the Fantastic Four had ben around since then, why had nobody heard of them? Why didn’t Hank Pym or Peggy Carter ever mention them? Now a new rumor about the Matt Shakman-helmed film might clear up all those problems.
According to insider Daniel RPK, Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four will be set in an alternate universe somewhere in the MCU’s Multiverse.
Should this rumor turn out to be accurate, it’ll certainly be controversial; however, it’s a wise choice by the studio as it gives the project room to breathe and truly set itself apart from other MCU projects. By simply setting it outside of the MCU’s 616-universe, Shakman has the creative freedom to completely ignore any and everything fans know, love and hate about the “Marvel formula.” Assuming this universe it not one that we’ve seen in the MCU so far, the characters don’t have to play by any of the rules or be painted into a corner by any of the stories told so far. The family of explorers can be allowed to explore new corners of the universe, just as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby intended.
Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four is currently set to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.
