The MCU's version of the Fantastic Four could have been set up in Iron Man 2. The 2010 sequel is generally considered one of the weaker films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it's oddly one of the most important. Iron Man 2 featured a substantial amount of setup, essentially establishing a solid foundation for the franchise.

A SHIELD activity map foreshadowed Captain America's recovery in Greenland, the Norwegian town of Tønsberg from Thor, Wakanda from Black Panther, and even potentially Atlantis. Another key scene saw Tony Stark retrieve his father's records from several key projects; attentive viewers spotted Project PEGASUS (later featured in The Avengers and Captain Marvel) and Project GOLIATH (later referenced in Ant-Man & the Wasp).

Related: MCU Theory: Tony Stark Is Responsible For The Fantastic Four's Origin

But Tony Stark checked files from three projects; PEGASUS, GOLIATH, and EXODUS. Two have proved important to some degree in the MCU, so could the third be significant as well?

What Is Project EXODUS?

Iron Man 2 Experiment

Howard Stark was one of the world's foremost scientists. After the Second World War he appears to have focused on alternative energy sources such as the Tesseract, or experiments with new particles and elements such as those discovered by Hank Pym. Thus he was involved in Project PEGASUS, using Tesseract technology as a power source for advanced spacecraft; the name is a reference to the winged horse of Greek mythology, which could carry a rider up to the heavens. Project GOLIATH, meanwhile, was all about weaponizing Pym Particles - again, an appropriate title. These two examples mean quite a lot can be deduced about Project EXODUS.

Howard Stark's involvement means EXODUS was a major scientific project commanding significant resources, and it likely had SHIELD backing. Given Stark's own research focus, it was probably about using some sort of alternative energy source - perhaps a newly-discovered element. And the name is most likely literal; it involved an actual physical exodus, a departure from Earth to some other world or dimension. In short, whatever Project EXODUS was, it was about exploration.

The Fantastic Four Would Be A Perfect Fit For Project EXODUS

Project EXODUS could easily be used to retcon the Fantastic Four into the history of the MCU. The Fantastic Four, after all, are entirely dedicated to the theme of exploration; Reed Richards' genius intellect has cracked faster-than-life travel, opened a portal to the Negative Zone, and charted the entire Multiverse. It would make sense for Reed to be at the forefront of a project bearing the tantalizing name of "EXODUS." But where did Richards and his group travel to, and where have they been all these years?

Related: Sorry Avengers, Marvel's Best Team Is The Fantastic Four

Going from the comics, there are three key possibilities:

  • In the comics, the Fantastic Four first developed their powers after exposure to Cosmic Rays during a test flight of some kind. Marvel recently retconned the Fantastic Four's first flight, revealing they were experimenting with faster-than-light travel and attempting to reach a distant world.
  • A second possibility is the Negative Zone, a twisted reality discovered by Reed Richards in the comics. This, however, is a little more unlikely; Marvel has never liked repeating ideas already developed by a different studio. The Negative Zone featured prominently in Josh Trank's Fantastic Four movie, and the studio probably won't want to revisit it.
  • A third option, lifted from the celebrated Jonathan Hickman run, is Nu-World. This was an exact replica of Earth created by a rival of Reed Richards named Ted Castle; he and his team believed Earth was doomed to destruction, and created Nu-World as a paradise without disease, poverty or weapons. They chose only the best and brightest minds - including Reed, of course - to live on Nu-World. Unfortunately, Castle created an artificial intelligence to protect Nu-World, and of course it went rogue.

Any one of these scenarios would work, and it would even be easy to explain the Fantastic Four's absence up till now. If they were traveling faster than light, the Four would have experienced time dilation; decades could have passed for the world, but only minutes for the Fantastic Four. Time passes differently in the Negative Zone to our dimension. And if the Fantastic Four were on Nu-World, they would have been otherwise occupied. In all of these cases, the blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to Project EXODUS becomes effective foreshadowing, preparing the way for the Fantastic Four just as Iron Man 2 hinted at Black Panther and Atlantis.

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

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