This weekend, cinemas will glow with anticipation as The Fantastic FouFirst Steps lands as Marvel’s First Family makes its much-anticipated entry into Disney’s MCU. Fans have been eagerly waiting to see how this beloved team will fit into the grand tapestry of the Marvel universe after a rocky history.
The journey of the Fantastic Four has been filled with ups and downs, starting from the previous 20th Century Fox adaptations. 2005’s Fantastic Four and its sequel, Fantastic FouRise of the Silver Surfer, gave a glimpse into the lives of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. These films introduced us to talents like Chris Evans, who played the Human Torch before embracing a more iconic role as Captain America.
Speculation runs high regarding former cast members revisiting their roles in the upcoming AvengerDoomsday and AvengerSecret Wars. Fans have already been thrilled by the return of the original X-Men cast. However, the buzz has recently intensified due to Ioan Gruffudd, the original Reed Richards, attending the world premiere of The Fantastic FouFirst Steps.
Gruffudd, who has expressed enthusiasm for reprising his role as Mr. Fantastic “in a heartbeat,” might just be the missing piece in the Multiverse puzzle. With the upcoming Avengers films set to conclude the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, fans are eager to see how he could fit into a narrative increasingly tangled and exciting. The air was thick with intrigue at the premiere, especially following a cryptic post from scooper MyTimeToShineHello, showcasing Gruffudd on the blue carpet and teasing fans with a simple side-eye emoji.
So far, we’ve encountered three versions of Fantastic Four characters within the MCU, each hailing from different universes. First, there was John Krasinski‘s Reed Richards in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, followed by Evans’ Johnny Storm appearing in Deadpool and Wolverine, both meeting their end in their respective narratives. Now we see a fresh take with The Fantastic Four, who come from a retrofuturistic universe and will likely intertwine with Earth-616 in AvengerDoomsday. Hints have cropped up in the end credits of The Thunderbolts, suggesting a potential new Fantastic Four team, possibly even under Gruffudd’s leadership.
A popular fan theory hints at the intriguing possibility of the Council of Reeds, a collective of Mr. Fantastic variants from across the multiverse who come together to tackle the impossible. If implemented, it would add a rich layer of complexity to the MCU’s evolving narrative landscape.