Marvel’s First Family are homeward bound.
Earlier this month, Disney and Fox reached a so-called mega-merger that will see the Mouse House gain control of 21st Century Fox, who originally secured exclusive film rights to the X-Men and Fantastic Four in the ’90s. Now, those costumed crusaders are circling back to Marvel as part of a $52.4 billion deal.
Of course, there are all sorts of complications that arise with bringing the X-Men into the MCU – given that franchise’s messy continuity and timeline on the big screen – but with the Fantastic Four it’s very simple. Just put the characters back where they belong already, right?
After all, Fox has never known what to do with the property. The 2005 movie and its sequel aimed to replicate the bright, all-ages tone of the comics and ended up skirting Batman & Robin levels of camp and cheese. Then, the 2015 reboot ended up being even worse by trying to “Nolanize” the characters but failing miserably. What Fox should have done is pitch the Four the same way that Marvel does all their properties: fun and accessible to everyone but grounded in character.
Whether that’s the direction they’ll head in now that they’re back home remains to be seen, but thanks to editor extraordinaire Alex Luthor, we at least have some idea of what a Fantastic Four film in the MCU might look like. As he so often does, the talented YouTuber has cut together a trailer for how he imagines the gang’s debut in the franchise could turn out, and we’ve gotta say, it’s very exciting.
Using footage from previous cinematic outings featuring the Four, along with many, many other movies, it’s an epic tease of what may await us in a few years’ time. Not to mention the blue Marvel Studios logo at the start is a nice touch. Of course, it’s hard to say whether the eventual reboot will turn out to be anything like what Luthor’s imagined, as Marvel hasn’t announced their plans for the Fantastic Four just yet. But if it does resemble what we have here, you certainly won’t hear any complaints out of us.