Kevin Feige, the Marvel Studios President and former X-Men associate producer, is finally bringing the Fantastic Four into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and this time, he’s doing it his way.
Thanks to the Disney-Fox merger, Marvel now has access to characters who were previously tied up in other studios’ rights, and Feige is taking full advantage of it.
The new film, Fantastic Four: First Steps, is already generating buzz with early projections expecting it to open between $100 million and $110 million domestically, making it Marvel’s biggest debut of the year.
Unlike previous iterations, this reboot is entirely under Feige’s creative direction, marking a fresh start for Marvel’s so-called "first family."
Looking back, the Fantastic Four have had a mixed history on screen.
Fox found moderate success with the 2005 and 2007 versions, which featured Chris Evans as Johnny Storm before his time as Captain America.
However, the 2015 reboot directed by Josh Trank failed to connect with audiences, earning just $167 million worldwide despite undergoing full reshoots.
Feige believes now is the right time to reintroduce the characters, telling Deadline, "Why Fantastic Four? Because it’s Marvel’s first family. It’s in the history of our characters; they deserve to be A-listers. They were A-listers in the comics."
"Every crossover movie we’ve made in the Infinity saga, Civil War, leading to Infinity War and Endgame, which is really the Infinity saga from the comics, the Fantastic Four were huge players in those comics and obviously we couldn’t do that then."
With the MCU branching out across interconnected series and films after Avengers: Endgame, Feige wanted this new chapter to stand apart. He’s making sure fans won’t need to catch up on previous plots or multiverse tie-ins before stepping into the theater.
“It’s a no homework required go-see-the movie,” he says. “It’s literally not connected to anything that was made before. It kicks off phase six.”
Reflecting on the journey to get here, Feige admits, “There were a lot of left turns and surprises that happened over the last seven or eight years. A positive one was to finally have those characters back and the X-Men.”
With a clean slate and a renewed creative vision, Fantastic Four: First Steps aims to honour the comic legacy while giving the franchise the major spotlight Feige believes it has always deserved.