Thomas Roach on whether The Fantastic Four belongs in the Marvel Cinematic Universe….
Time and again fans beg for the rights to their properties to be returned to Marvel Studios in order for all the characters to exist in the same universe, but frankly this won’t happen any time soon. X-Men, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man are all situated at other studios so Marvel can’t touch them. Whilst there is an argument that Marvel don’t need or want these properties back, one of them would seem to suit the MCU really well.
The Fantastic Four belongs to Fox and a movie of the same title is due for release next year starring Miles Teller as Mister Fantastic, Kate Mara as the Invisible Woman, Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch and Jamie Bell as the Thing. Whilst there has been a great deal of criticism aimed at the reboot, with some fans hoping that it will fail, it may actually turn out okay. It already has a planned sequel for 2017, and Fox won’t let it go.
This is a real shame as over any other property The Fantastic Four would be most suitable for the MCU. With the introduction of the cosmos in Guardians of the Galaxy and the exploration of alternate dimensions in Doctor Strange it would have been fitting for characters whose stories have involved both of these to be introduced.
For those of you who don’t know it was the introduction of The Fantastic Four in 1961 that gave birth to so many of the iconic heroes that we love today. Stan Lee created the Fantastic Four as he was going to get out of the comics industry but his wife told him to write whatever he wanted against his bosses’ permission. The result was the Fantastic Four, which was a hit and led to the creation of Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, Iron Man and most of the iconic characters from Marvel. As the MCU appears to have the most speed to their franchise, surely the originals should be featured?
Not to say that Marvel desperately needs the characters back at all, but if Fox is expanding their comic universe through the X-Men it is likely that the Fantastic Four will be included alongside them. They are out of place alongside the X-Men in my opinion, and would be more suitable in the MCU.
If next year’s The Fantastic Four does end up failing, then perhaps the rights may be sold back to Marvel. It would certainly not be too late to introduce the Fantastic Four into the MCU. As these characters are somewhat more A-list in the Marvel Comics line up they could reinvigorate the MCU. They do really belong in the MCU, but I have doubts that they will leave Fox anytime soon.
So, for those fans who want to see the characters returning back to Marvel, boycott The Fantastic Four next year. But frankly too many people will be curious, so the film will make money; even if it’s terrible, if it makes money it will still get a sequel, and the rights to Fantastic Four won’t be going anywhere.
Thomas Roach
Originally published October 10, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
