Marvel recently announced the return of the Fantastic Four after the first family of superheroes spent years without their own series. At the time, Marvel cited low sales as the reason for canceling the title that launched the Marvel Universe itself. However, former Fantastic Four writer Jonathan Hickman said, “I think it’s pretty common knowledge at this point that Marvel isn’t publishing Fantastic Four because of their disagreement with Fox” while speaking to Newsarama in 2017. With the FF back in the Marvel fold, does this mean our “Fantastic Phase Four” theory is confirmed? Today’s Nerdist News is going cosmic to find the answers!
Join host and third alternate Human Torch, Jessica Chobot, as she takes us for a ride in the Fantasticar to bring everyone up to speed. But first, we’re revisiting some of the steps Marvel took to bury the FF and the X-Men during their extended feud with Fox. Fortunately, there’s nothing quite like a multi-billion dollar merger deal to settle old scores. The Disney and Fox merger may not be finalized, but there’s very little standing in their way.
Even before rumors about Disney’s acquisition of Fox were common knowledge, it seemed like placing the FF in the Marvel Cinematic Universe was the natural next step after audiences rejected the previous live-action Fantastic Four movie. Sony and Marvel’s deal did a lot to revitalize Spider-Man, and the FF could surely use the help as well.
Marvel’s Kevin Feige has said several times that the next batch of films are going “cosmic.” Having the Fantastic Four back means the entire Marvel cosmos is fair game, from the Silver Surfer, Galactus, Annihilus, and more. There’s so much story potential to mine from the FF that the X-Men could conceivably skip Phase 4 altogether before becoming the focus of Phase 5 a few years later. Aside from Deadpool, the X-Men could probably use a rest before getting a MCU reboot.
What do you think about the Fantastic Four’s possible role in the MCU’s Phase 4? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!
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Images: Marvel
