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Credit: 20th Century FoxJessica Alba is ready to come back to Marvel and return to the role of Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is set to debut the First Family in the upcoming film The Fantastic Four in 2025, albeit with a lot of mystery of exactly how the team will fit into the Sacred Timeline.
The cast has been announced to include the eponymous quartet of Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, along with Ralph Ineson as Galactus, Julia Garner as a version of the Silver Surfer, and John Malkovich, Paul Walter Hauser, and Natasha Lyonne as undisclosed characters.
Related: New ‘Fantastic Four’ Star Shares Exciting Update About Disney’s Reboot
All reports so far suggest that The Fantastic Four will take place in an alternate Marvel universe than the one we have (mostly) seen so far, possibly because of the Multiversal escapades of Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman).
Kevin Feige has confirmed that the movie will take place sometime in the early 1960s and will not be an origin story, but that’s about what we have so far.
However, this alternate Fantastic Four will not be the first time audiences have seen any of those heroes. John Krasinski portrayed a version of Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), and a number of Fox movies gave us the whole team in a very different era of Marvel movies.
The 2015 version of Fantastic Four starred Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell and was such a colossal bomb that it, along with Dark Phoenix (2019), reportedly helped facilitate the sale of Fox to Disney, allowing Marvel Studios to get its hands on those valuable characters.
But even prior to that, two films starred Ioan Gruffudd, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, and Jessica Alba as the First Family.
While neither movie was exactly critically respected, they both made over $300 million at the box office (in 2005 and 2007, when that was a whole lot more money) and have something of a cult following now. As such, it is no surprise that Jessica Alba would be asked about her potential involvement in a new Fantastic Four project.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Jessica Alba revealed that she is open to revisiting the character, saying, “I loved those movies, and [it] also changed my life, that series. No one has talked to me about [a return], but I would jump at the chance.
Jessica Alba would 'jump at the chance' to reprise her role as Sue Storm in the MCU
"I love that character … she was so unique in the Marvel universe at the time. There weren't a ton of female superheroes"
(via @etnow | #FantasticFour) pic.twitter.com/5YSt9u3YHn
— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) July 4, 2024
The once and (maybe) future Susan Storm continued to praise the superhero, saying, “I loved that character, and I felt like she was so unique in the Marvel universe at the time. There weren’t kind of female superheroes like her.”
While the return of Jessica Alba as Susan Storm might have seemed pretty far-fetched not that long ago, few people expected that we would ever see Willem Dafoe back as the Green Goblin or Charlie Cox back as Daredevil. Secret Wars is still on the MCU schedule, and we could see just about anyone from the entire Marvel Multiverse show up there.
Do you want to see any Fantastic Four cameos in future MCU movies?