Credit: Inside the MagicKevin Feige and Co. have scrapped their casting plans after years of waiting to see who the Fantastic Four will be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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Marvel has seen better days. After Avengers: Endgame (2019), the MCU hasn’t been the same. The franchise has taken a dramatic shift without Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Captain America (Chris Evans), or the Russo brothers. Sure, Phase Four has amazing gems like Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) or Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), but the Phase also had some of the worst box office failures for the franchise.
COVID didn’t help Marvel, but it’s clear that Phase Five of the MCU needs to steer things in a new direction. After introducing a dozen new super heroes, Marvel is finally going all in on the Multiverse Saga, but inconsistent quality hurts their success. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) was a huge disappointment for fans after seeing Jonathan Major’s Kang the Conqueror bested so easily.
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Now, Majors might not keep the role after being arrested for allegedly beating his partner. Marvel has been deathly quiet on what they plan to do because recasting their new villain would be a huge deal, with Majors still slated to appear in numerous projects.
Another thing Marvel has been quiet about is casting the Fantastic Four or X-Men. Both groups were purchased by Marvel in 2019 with the Fox merger, but not one iconic mutant or Marvel’s first family has truly appeared. John Krasinski did star as Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), but that was the first time fans saw the character, and then he was killed off by Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch.
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Since the SAG-AFTRA Strike has started, new guidelines prevent actors from making a deal with Marvel Studios about joining the cast. This is why directors like James Gunn revealed a lot of new cast announcements for Superman: Legacy (2025) before the strike, but Marvel wasn’t so quick. Marvel’s first family might end up being cast months later, and with the movie slated to release May 2, 2025, Marvel doesn’t have much time.
The Fantastic Four are one of the most iconic super hero teams in Marvel history. Fans want to see Sue Storm, Mister Fantastic, Johnny Storm/Human Torch, the Thing, and Doctor Doom in the MCU. It’s been too long since the super hero team got a good story in live-action, and Marvel’s plan is backfiring on them. With over a year needed for filming and editing, Marvel Studios might delay this movie alongside several others because big CEOs like Bob Iger refuse to meet the demands of actors and writers. Both groups are fighting to protect their creative freedom alongside receiving better pay for the hard work they do, and while it’s important, it sucks for fans just wanting to know who will end up starring in Marvel’s first family.
Do you think Marvel will delay Fantastic Four again? Let Inside the Magic know what you think!