Kevin Feige Just Teased the Fantastic Four’s MCU Debut

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has come a long way since its humble beginnings, when producer Kevin Feige and director Jon Favreau took a chance on a troubled actor and helped launch all of their careers into superstardom with Iron Man. And now the franchise is getting bigger with the addition of some of Marvel’s most popular characters, including the First Family. So it’s only fitting that Feige, while recognizing how far they’ve come during his acceptance of a Saturn Award, that he includes a tease for what the future holds.

While accepting the Stan Lee Builder Award at the Saturn Awards last night, Feige told a touching story about the namesake of the honor and also revealed a deleted scene from Iron Man, one that included surprising references to Spider-Man and the X-Men. But Feige’s office also included a poster of the cover of Fantastic Four #1, possibly indicating his next project for Marvel Studios.

It seems likely that Marvel Studios and Feige will prioritize the debut of the Fantastic Four over the X-Men, especially given how sprawling the latter franchise is and how the previous film performed the worst of all movies in the series. Fantastic Four is also coming off of a blunder, but that came out four years ago now.

Some fans might have been disappointed by all of the announcements made at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this year if only because they didn’t include details about Fantastic Four — or the X-Men, for that matter. But Feige explained that he’s focused on giving Marvel’s First Family the attention and respect they deserve and doesn’t plan to rush their MCU debuts.

“All of that is spoilers, but I’m extremely excited about those characters, and about bringing Marvel’s first family up to the sort of platform and level they deserve,” Feige said to Variety.

He also explained to MTV News earlier this year that he’s more excited for the plethora of characters that come along in the deal, and that the future of Marvel will be exciting for everyone.

“The truth is, I’m excited for all of them. I’m excited, and it’s not just the marquee names you know — there are hundreds of names on those documents, on those agreements,” Feige said at the Golden Globes. “And the fact that Marvel is as close as we may ever get now to having access to all of the characters, is something I’ve been dreaming about for my almost 20 years at Marvel. And it’s very exciting.”