When does Fantastic Four take place in the MCU timeline?
WithFantastic Four, Marvel’s first family will finally arrive in the MCU – but their place in the franchise’s timeline is a bit more complicated.
In 2019, Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, absorbing all of its superhero assets, including theX-Men, Deadpool, and the Fantastic Four.
The latter team is incredibly important to the heritage ofMarvel; after all, they’re known as the comic company’s “first family.” However, their on-screen legacy is… a bit rubbish (and that’s putting it kindly, especially if you’re talking about the 2015 reboot).
This summer, they’re (hopefully) getting the movie they’ve always deserved with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It’s kicking off Phase Six of the MCU, and if you’re confused about when and how it fits into the timeline, this is a breakdown of when it’s set.
When Fantastic Four is set in the MCU
Fantastic Four takes place in the 1960s. However, we don’t know exactly which year it’s set – and, more importantly, it’s in another universe altogether.
Kevin Feige has been open about this since the earliest marketing for the film. “Yes, yes, very much so. It is a period,” he told Marvel’s podcast.
“There were a lot of smart people, who noticed that that cityscape didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know, or that existed in the ’60s in our world. Those are smart observations, I’ll say.”
During an appearance at the BFI IMAX in London ahead of the film’s release, director Matt Shakman was asked why he chose a ’60s setting and aesthetic for Fantastic Four.
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“The answer is pretty simple, which is that these characters were created in the ’60s by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee,” hesaid.
“They were created in this time of optimism and the Space Race. People were dreaming of the stars, imagining conquering the unknown, and that’s what the Fantastic Four is all about.”
By putting the team in the ’60s, Shakman said they were closer to their “point of origin.” However, there was never any temptation to explore their pasts within the main MCU universe (Earth-616, not Earth-199999).
“We didn’t want them to be on this Earth with the other Marvel characters, because… where were they when Thanos came, right?” Shakman continued.
“They would have helped out. They would have solved the problem then. So, we put them on a different Earth –Earth-828– a different part of the Marvel universe.”
Kirby was also born on August 28 – or, in the American date format, 8/28 – so it’s a clear nod to the co-creator.
How Fantastic Four fits into the MCU timeline
Keeping track of when everything takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is complicated, especially when the multiverse gets involved. Things get a bit timey-wimey and hard to pin down, but Fantastic Four is surprisingly easy to drop into the timeline:
There is one caveat: we already know fromthe end of Thunderbolts* that the Fantastic Four will crossover into the main MCU universe(Earth-616). So, while Earth-828 is set in the 60s, its place in time may not line up exactly with Earth-616.
In the simplest terms, it is set in the 60s in its universe, but it could also unfold at the exact same time as recent movies in the MCU.
Before it hits cinemas on July 25, find out where to get theFantastic Four popcorn buckets, itsbox office projections,why Franklin Richards is so important, and check out our breakdown ofevery upcoming MCU project.
