Fantastic Four Seems Set to Feature an Alternate Universe
A new Fantastic Four poster featuring Joseph Quinn’s Human Torch, which was released on 4/4/2024 on the official Marvel Studios X (formerly Twitter) account, all but confirmed a wild rumor that the Phase 6 kick-off movie will take place in an alternate universe.
The image sees Johnny Storm flying through the air forming the classic flaming Fantastic Four logo in the skies above a vibrant city.
Though, if fans look closer, something is off about the city below Johnny.
For one, it does not look like any city in this universe. It also has a distinctly, sci-fi, retro-future style to it. At the very least, audiences know that is not what Earth-616 looked like at any point in time.
One of the earlier hints at some sort of alternate timeline for Fantastic Four was hiding in plain sight within the cast reveal poster for the film. Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s The Thing is holding a Life Magazine of Lyndon B. Johnson from December 13, 1963.
However, in reality, Ronald Regan was the one featured on that particular issue on the same date.
The wild original rumor regarding the film taking place in an alternate universe first came from Daniel Richtman via their Patreon.
New Path for the Fantastic Four
Needless to say, having the first Marvel Studios Fantastic Four film set in an alternate universe is certainly a bold choice.
It also makes some of the movie’s other choices make more sense, such as the casting of Julia Garner as an alternate Silver Surfer, Shalla-Bal. With it being a different reality, the classic iteration of the beloved character, Norrin Radd, can easily be introduced in the future.
Seeing as the world seemingly being designed with a retro-futuristic look, the project is given the upper hand, letting it stick out from the pack and provide a unique visual stamp to the ever-growing MCU.
Focusing on another timeline could be a fantastic way to help the MCU build up its Multiverse and Secret Wars storyline. Perhaps this reality will become subject to an incursion, events first teased in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which are also a direct precursor to the events of Jonathan Hickman’s Secret Wars.
Bold choices helped build the MCU into what it is, and this could easily be another example of that successful mentality at Marvel Studios.
