Ant-Man 3 Could Lead to Introduction of Fantastic Four

It looks like Kang the Conqueror will be appearing in Ant-Man 3. The character’s arrival in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a massive event in and of itself, and even then, it could just be the tip of the iceberg. A long time rival of the Fantastic Four, Kang has been attached to the hip of Marvel’s First Family for decades. Depending on what timeline or story arc you’re talking about, the supervillain has even been portrayed as a descendant or direct relation to Reed Richards himself. Here’s where we try to get from Point A to Point B without having to bust out the tinfoil hats.

Little has been revealed about the Ant-Man threequel other than the fact it will be “bigger” than Ant-Man and the Wasp. That’s not all too surprising, though as it’s the modus operandi of Marvel Studios, after all. Just look at Thor: Ragnarok, Captain America: Civil War, or Iron Man 3 for that confirmation.

Kang makes Ant-Man 3 bigger than its predecessor, there’s no doubt about it. But what also makes Ant-Man 3 bigger — more massive, at that — would be the MCU’s introduction of the Fantastic Four. We’re not talking about Ben Grimm going full-on clobberin’ time necessarily, but with the introduction of an iconic Fantastic Four villain we at least have to talk about the possibility.

When it comes to the MCU, there’s no franchise more rooted in the world of science than Ant-Man and there are plenty of ways you could incorporate Richards, Grimm, and the Storms into the property organically. You could make them colleagues of Hank Pym’s, or you could make them scientists that somehow managed to get stuck in the Quantum Realm. With Kang, you could even make them a group from the future — or the past — that somehow arrives as a result of the villain’s abilities.

Better yet, Ant-Man helmer Peyton Reed has been very candid in his desire to direct a Fantatic Four movie. Prior the Fox’s first stab at the group in the early 2000’s, Reed was attached to direct it. The filmmaker parted the project due to creative difference.

“I developed it for about a year and we went through some different permutations and some different writers, but yes, one of the big ideas was a set-in-the-’60s thing that at the time was structurally gonna be basically like [The Beatles’ 1964 comedy-musical] A Hard Day’s Night, where we were not going to even deal with the origin story,” Reed said.

Either way you slice it, the Fantastic Four will be coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe before long — there’s no doubt about that.

Ant-Man 3 has yet to set a release date.

Which actors do you want to play the members of the Fantastic Four? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!