Marvel has finally, after much speculation, dropped the first details on The Fantastic Four, and it has many wondering just where in the MCU timeline the new film will take place.
Where in the MCU Timeline Will Fantastic Four (FF) Take Place?
At the moment, there are very few details about the movie aside from the casting that was released alongside a very intriguing piece of artwork. That means we have no official information on the placement of the Fantastic Four film within the MCU, but based on what is available, we can speculate pretty easily that the new movie may not be set during the “current” MCU time period or even in the prime universe. Of course, with the multiverse that the MCU established in Loki and the current run of films, it is entirely possible for Marvel to set this film at any time in any world and call it a day.
So, let’s look at what we do know from the first look at the film via Marvel’s Valentine’s Day artwork. The image is decidedly vintage, not just in its Norman Rockwell-esque, slice-of-life style in which we see the entire Fantastic Four sitting around playfully chatting with each other but also in the look of the Fantastic Four itself. Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, The Human Torch, and Invisible Woman are all wearing takes on what appear to be their original costumes. A vintage-looking version of H.E.R.B.I.E. is also present, and the entire thing screams that it’s set someplace in the past. That could mean that the movie will act as a standalone origin film, set far into the MCU’s (1960s?) past.
Adding fuel to the ’60s fire is the Easter egg that was dropped in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Strange mentioned that the Fantastic Four charted in the ’60s, which many people took to be a joke about the real-life band, but it’s now clear that the hero’s quip may have a double meaning.
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Also of note is that the post introducing the cast referred to them as “Marvel’s First Family.” While the team has been known as that for a long time, being the first superhero team Marvel ever had, it’s hard to imagine them not being introduced to the MCU as some of the original superheroes.
We also know that the Fantastic Four do not exist in the current MCU timeline. That, of course, is because Marvel didn’t have the rights to them when it launched the MCU, so it couldn’t work them into films. It also feels like we would have heard about the first family of superheroes at some point, so it’s very hard to believe that the Fantastic Four will be set in the same universe as the main MCU storyline. The more likely scenario, given the events of Loki and the upcoming TVA-filled Deadpool & Wolverine, is that this Fantastic Four will be pulled into the main universe at some point.
Of course, this could all change, but right now, it appears that The Fantastic Four will function as a standalone story, disconnected from the current MCU timeline. Maybe we’ll get our first hint of a connection in a post-credits scene, much like The Marvels did for the X-Men.
And that’s where in the MCU timeline Fantastic Four (FF) will take place.
Fantastic Four hits theaters on July 25, 2025.
