Marvel’s The Fantastic Four is one of Marvel Studios' most secretive projects. Though the movie’s main cast has been revealed, with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bacharach, and Joseph Quinn in the lead, details about its settings, plot, and others are kept under lock and key. However, that changed after Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s film timeline, filming date, and more.
In a talk on The Official Marvel Podcast, Feige revealed that The Fantastic Four would start filming sooner than expected. The cameras will start rolling on July 29, a day after San Diego Comic-Con 2024 ends on July 28. Though it will take about a month before the production begins, director Matt Shakman has already moved to London to prepare.
“Our director, Matt Shakman has already moved to London, and we start filming at the end of July,” he said. “Funny story, we start shooting the Monday after Comic-Con. We start filming the day after on The Fantastic Four.”
The film and TV producer also addressed the theories surrounding the Marvel’s First Family’s leap into the MCU. After the studio released a couple of concept art and posters for the movie, there are assumptions that it will be set in the 1960s. Feige finally confirms this as true, though he only teased its possible multiverse story.
“It is a period,” he continued. “There were a lot of smart people who noticed that that cityscape didn't look exactly like the New York that we know, or the New York that existed in the '60s in our world. And those are smart observations, I'll say.”
That said, Feige can’t hide his excitement for The Fantastic Four, considering its characters are “legendary pillars of the Marvel Universe.” Though the MCU began in 2008, Marvel Studios only got its rights from 21st Century Fox after Disney acquired the entertainment company in 2019. As this will be the first time that it will explore the story of these Marvel mainstays, the Marvel boss expressed he’s “extremely excited.”
Where will The Fantastic Four be set?
Though Feige didn’t give much about The Fantastic Four’s setting, his comments are enough to create a theory that it may be set in another universe. After mentioning that the New York City featured in the Human Torch poster differs from the cityscape in the real world, showing a futuristic metropolis, it is highly likely that it will take place elsewhere in the multiverse and not on Earth-616.
Aside from the poster, Julia Garner's casting as Shalla-Bal's version of the Silver Surfer also gives credence to the multiverse theory. In the comics, Shalla-Bal is the only Silver Surfer in a series that takes place on an alternate Earth. That said, these are maybe enough hints that the movie may explore the multiverse before they join the main timeline. However, fans are advised to take this assumption with a grain of salt, as nothing is confirmed yet. In addition to Garner, Ralph Ineson has also been cast as Galactus, and the actor has nothing but praise for the movie's script, teasing to The Movie Dweeb that everything about the film will "all fit together."
But if The Fantastic Four were set in a new universe, this would explain their absence in the MCU. This will also expand the Multiverse Saga with the addition of an alternate Earth.
The Fantastic Four is set to release in cinemas on July 25, 2025.
