It looks like the Disney/Fox merger is going to happen (Comcast is out of the picture apparently). Which is pretty exciting (once you get past the whole taking over the entire world thing) when you start thinking about the X-Men and Fantastic Four joining the MCU. Honestly, at the moment I have no clue how they would introduce the mutants and their history into the MCU. However, I have a way they can introduce the Fantastic Four.
It will not make sense to introduce them to the story as modern inventions. What makes them interesting is the whole family aspect and they are not just a young group (by now Reed and Sue have kids, who are themselves fairly powerful).
Instead, they should introduce them in the next phase. Maybe at the end of the next Avengers film. Here is my idea. The Avengers defeat Thanos and everyone gets undusted. Yay! Then some kind of portal opens and it looks like a new threat is about to emerge. Instead, it is Johnny Storm. He is completely disheveled, his uniform in tatters, a beard. He says that Galactus is coming and they need to find Reed.
Then in the Fantastic Four movie, we have it take place in 1963. Reed Richards is a brilliant scientist. He does his famous experiment and boom, the Fantastic Four is born, but instead of living on Earth and being heroes, they end up in a completely different universe. They have tons of adventures and eventually come up against Galactus. Whatever Reed does to stop Galactus does not work, but makes him aware of Earth. So that is his next target. Reed tries to send them all back to Earth, but something goes wrong and they are all scattered. Johnny needs the Avengers to locate the rest and Reed needs to use his intellect, plus the Avengers power to defeat Galactus.
Okay, maybe not exactly like that, but I think the idea that they were from the 1960s and they have been lost in space or something for fifty years gives them a reason why they are not around, but also allows them to be older, wiser, etc.
Here is what is cool about this idea. Instead of Reed just being a Captain America “man out of time” knock off, he could be super-smart. The traveling through space has helped them slow down the aging process (time dilation!) or maybe time is different where they were. However, he has been studying different technological societies during that time. He has been studying and experimenting the entire time. The tech and gadgets they have is beyond anything from Earth.
If Tony Stark and Steve Rogers both die in the final battle with Thanos, then the new characters will need to fill that void. Reed Richards can help fill that hole of the super genius, but also he can be that stoic, father figure for the team.
Let me know what you think of this idea. Also, who should play the family? I do like John Krasinski as Reed. Who else?
It’s going to be hard to do better than Michael Chiklis as The Thing. And they should totally get someone who’s not in their 20s to play Reed. He typically had those grey temples – I imagine him in his late 40s or early 50s. I also hope the Susan Storm actress doesn’t come across as just some dumb blond, which is how it feels the character has been portrayed in past movies. I guess I should have more confidence in Marvel than that by now though.
It would be funny to have the new Johnny Storm briefly bump into Captain America and make some comment though. Maybe he accidentally scorches Cap’s arm and says “You make a way better Captain America than you do a Human Torch.”
Even better, get them together while looking at Killmonger…