Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has revealed the strategic game plan behind setting The Fantastic Four: First Steps on an alternate Earth, providing the clearest road map yet for the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga. In a moment of striking candor during a press roundtable attended by ComicBook, Feige explained not only why the team’s separation is crucial for the future, but also directly addressed the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s post-Endgame struggles, admitting the studio expanded “too much” and promising a return to form. Finally, Feige explained how the Fantastic Four’s origins in an alternate timeline offer newcomers the perfect jumping-on point into the MCU.
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“It was very freeing, and it was one of the earliest ideas for the movie,” Feige revealed. “And even part of the current saga that’s coming to a close over the next couple of years, allowing it to take place in a different universe and to take advantage of that.” By setting The Fantastic Four: First Steps in an alternate timeline, Marvel Studios ensures the movie won’t have any continuity conflict with the predictions that came before.
“It fits in a tremendous amount,” he continued. “I think about it less about Earth-828 than I think about it as Johnny and Ben and Sue and Reed and Franklin fitting into the world to come and the storylines to come. Any time, anything that is considered a jumping-on point is good. That is how the comics have kept going for 85 years. This is our 37th movie, and it keeps going. It’s kicking off Phase Six for people who keep track of such things, which comes to a close in Secret Wars. And it very much is certainly the most focused phase. I mean, we have it all already, and it’s all in the works.”
The multiversal origin of the Fantastic Four will also serve Marvel Studios as they prepare to end the current MCU Saga. Since people are currently discouraged by the amount of TV shows and movies that become mandatory to understand each project, the Fantastic Four can offer a new guideline for broader audiences, as they are also outside the Sacred Timeline and trying to catch up with its major events. Since Avengers: Secret Wars is said to soft-reboot the MCU, this newcomer’s perspective will be most definitely welcome in the near future.
Feige Admits to Post-Endgame Mistakes and Reveals the Fix
The Fantastic Four: First Steps serves as the official launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Phase Six, a focused slate of projects that leads directly to a two-part finale: Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. The team’s MCU debut is intrinsically linked to this endgame, as we know the team will confront their arch-nemesis, Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.), in Avengers: Doomsday. This is a critical setup, as Doctor Doom is also the central antagonist in the iconic Secret Wars comic storyline, a multiversal event where realities collide and the main timeline was partially reset.
“Unlike Endgame, which really wasn’t ended, and then we go, ‘where do we go from here? What do we do with this level of success and this level of finality?’ And we used it to experiment, and we used it to evolve, and we used it to expand, too much,” Feige admitted. “Secret Wars, as in the comics, is as much about bringing certain storylines to a close as it is launching a new one. And that’s what’s very exciting, is already being well into development of the next saga.”
Feige’s statement is a direct response to the long-standing criticism that the MCU grew unfocused after its last major event. By confirming Secret Wars will function as a definitive ending and a new beginning, Feige is promising to deliver the type of reset that Endgame did not provide. The existence of the Fantastic Four on a separate Earth is proof of this new strategy. For a multiversal war to occur, there must be distinct universes to destroy. Therefore, the creation of Earth-828 is a necessary first step in building the architecture for a true Secret Wars, signaling a deliberate return to the cohesive, high-stakes storytelling that has defined the MCU in the past.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters on July 25.
What do you think of Marvel’s new, more focused approach to the MCU? Let us know in the comments!
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