Marvel Studios’ upcoming Fantastic Four reboot is easily one of the most discussed and theorized of the films on the MCU’s slate as everyone is eager to find out who’s going to be cast as Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben. With the movie still being formulated in top-secret behind locked doors, however, we practically have as much confirmed information about the project at this point as we did back when it was first announced four years ago, in the summer of 2019.
Still, if basking in the latest rumors surrounding the film is your thing, then have we got a doozy for you today. Grace Randolph of Beyond The Trailer has shared the latest supposed intel on Fantastic Four‘s casting and plot, including corroborating reports that Matt Smith is one of Marvel’s top choices for Mr. Fantastic. As for the story, Randolph claims that the movie will be set in the 1960s. If you’re wondering how the team will interact with the Avengers if they’re stuck in the past, however, here’s your answer: the gang will apparently get sent out of time “like Captain America.”
In other words, it sounds like Marvel may be interested in repeating the formula it used on Captain America: The First Avenger, which allowed for a period-set piece taking place in the 1940s before Steve Rogers ended up in the present-day, in order to assemble with Iron Man and co. in The Avengers. If this happens in Fantastic Four, we could perhaps expect a ’60s-set adventure before the First Family arrive in the 2020s ahead of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars.
The concept of a Fantastic Four flick set in the ’60s has actually been floated for years, ever since Ant-Man‘s Peyton Reed pitched the idea to Fox in the early 2000s. It’s a strong one, too, especially as it would hark back to one of the MCU’s best-ever origins stories from the halcyon days of Phase One. But we’ll just have to remain patient a while longer until we can find out if this really is the premise or not.
Fantastic Four is scheduled to stretch into theaters on May 2, 2025.