There was much speculation about whether the MCU’s The Fantastic Four movie would be a period piece after its first piece of artwork was revealed. The poster certainly did evoke a certain ’60s sensibility. However, Marvel Studios did not comment further about whether the movie would be set in a previous era at the time. Now, though, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has confirmed on The Official Marvel Podcast that The Fantastic Four will indeed be a period piece set in the 1960s. You can take a look at the poster that kicked off all the speculation below and then see what Feige has to say exactly about The Fantastic Four and its setting.
When asked directly if The Fantastic Four would be set in the ’60s, as hinted, Feige said, “Yes, yes, very much so. It is a period.” However, we don’t yet know which version of the 1960s exactly we’ll see on screen. Feige teased that while The Fantastic Four might be a period piece, it won’t necessarily be set in the 1960s as it takes place on Earth in the main MCU timeline.
Feige notes, “There was another piece of art we released with Johnny Storm flying in the air, making a four symbol. There was a cityscape in the corner of that image and there was a lot of smart people who noticed that cityscape didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know and the New York that existed in the ’60s in our world. And those are smart observations, I’ll say.”
It sounds like Feige is hinting that though we can expect a period piece, the MCU will certainly turn the setting of The Fantastic Four on its head. That could mean more than a few different things, including alternate dimensions, time travel shenanigans, or other generalized multiversal mayhem. We’ll have to stay tuned to find out.
Feige also noted that The Fantastic Four will begin production on July 29, 2024, just after San Diego Comic-Con. The Marvel boss reveals his excitement for the film, sharing: “I’m extremely excited by it because I think those characters are mainstays, are legendary pillars of the Marvel universe that we’ve never got to play with or explore in any significant way, apart from Multiverse of Madness and a few fun teases before. In the way that we’re doing it in that film.”
The Fantastic Four will release on July 25, 2025. It will star Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, a.k.a. the Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, a.k.a. the Human Torch. We can’t wait to see what kind of period piece The Fantastic Four brings to life.