MCU Fantastic Four Movie Reportedly Films In 2023

The MCU's The Fantastic Four movie reportedly goes before cameras starting in 2023. The superhero team made up of Mister Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and The Thing made their debut on the pages of Marvel comics in 1961. Unfortunately, making a successful Fantastic Four movie has over the decades since proven to be a difficult task.

Famously the first official Fantastic Four feature film was never even released to theaters and was indeed only made – by legendary schlock filmmaker Roger Corman – so the property’s rights-holders could maintain their claim. In 2005 Fox took their first stab at turning Fantastic Four into a franchise, with a pre-Captain America Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, and succeeded well enough for the movie to earn one sequel. The franchise was then rebooted in 2015 with Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four, which famously underwent substantial reshoots and was later disowned by its own director. The Fantastic Four film rights of course went home to Marvel Studios when Disney acquired Fox in 2019, and Kevin Feige wasted no time announcing the superhero foursome was finally coming to the MCU. Spider-Man franchise helmer Jon Watts was announced as director in 2020.

There has thus far been no official word on when the MCU’s Fantastic Four will finally arrive on movie screens but according to a new report by The GWW, the project is set to go before cameras in 2023.

Marvel naturally has a very loaded slate of upcoming movies, though recently several of them had their release dates delayed due to reported production concerns. Obviously if The Fantastic Four gets started in front of cameras in 2023, it will be at least 2024 before the movie finally arrives. No casting for the film has yet been announced of course but Marvel Studios chief Feige did have occasion not long ago to discuss the matter of who will next embody the Fantastic Four, and made it clear he intends to find the best actor for each given role, whether that actor is famous or an unknown. “I think you look no further than Simu in Shang-Chi, like Chris Hemsworth, like Tom Hiddleston, like Tom Holland, an actor that hadn't been seen by a tremendous amount of people before, or you have a Benedict stepping into Doctor Strange or Christian Bale stepping into Gor in our Thor film.”

Indeed casting is one of the clear strengths of the MCU in general as the great Marvel Studios machine seldom fumbles the ball when it comes to matching actor to role. That being the case, fans can be confident that the next iteration of the Fantastic Four will feature an interesting selection of stars, some of whom may not be familiar faces. Of course there's also the question of which Fantastic Four villains might show up in the movie, with Doctor Doom and Galactus sure to be high on fans’ wish lists. How the Fantastic Four team ultimately fits into the rest of the MCU is naturally another question but importantly, key Fantastic Four nemeses the Skrulls have already been introduced to the universe, making it seem likely the alien group will figure in somehow. No matter how The Fantastic Four shapes up in the MCU, it’s everyone’s hope that this time someone will at last nail the property on-screen, allowing Marvel's first family to finally enjoy a satisfying movie adventure.

More: Why Movies Keep Getting Fantastic Four Wrong (& How Marvel Can Fix It)

Source: The GWW