How Would I Introduce the Fantastic Four to the MCU?

Nick Fury is pacing around a deserted laboratory inside the Baxter Building. The lab looks upturned and dusty. It’s clear that S.H.I.E.L.D quarantined it off a long while ago. Next thing you know, static energy fills the air, and seemingly out of nowhere Ant-Man appears alongside four battle-weary and shell-shocked scientists in blue jumpsuits.

Fury remains resolute, “Well… the ‘Fantastic’ Four; me and my team have been waiting for you guys for a looong time.”

Fury looks them over, as he makes his way to one of them; a man with whitened sideburns who is gulping in air.

“Reed Richards, I presume.” Fury puts out his hand to complete his sarcastic introduction, as Richards is clearly disorientated.

But Reed looks up – still sucking in air, he extends his arm to three times it’s natural length to shake Fury’s hand.

Now Fury seems a little shocked, “…well that’s new”

[EPIC MUSIC AND TITLE CARD] “Welcome Back, Fantastic Four”

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Ant-Man informs us that the Fantastic Four were trapped in the Quantum Realm just where Janet van Dyne said she came across them whilst she was trapped.

Nick Fury informs us that he had sought out the brilliant minds of Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm whilst setting up the Avengers Initiative, even before Tony Stark put on his first Iron Man suit, but they had disappeared, untraceable.

What follows is a police interrogation movie (akin to The Usual Suspects) where Nick Fury and Ant-Man (and perhaps Maria Hill or Wasp) interview each member of the Fantastic Four individually to find out what they have encountered in the Quantum Realm that left them so frazzled, and determine if they can be trusted, or if they pose a threat to the galaxy. Nick Fury would play bad cop and Ant-Man would play good cop 😊

You could have Ant-Man, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm cracking wise, while Reed Richards and Susan Storm essentially play it straight.

We would see what battle the Fantastic Four encountered in the Quantum Realm through flashbacks, with their individual recounts conflicting at times for dramatic and/or comical affect. I’m not hugely familiar with the Fantastic Four canon, so I don’t know who would make for the best villain to battle within the Quantum Realm but I would probably leave Doctor Doom out of this movie for a grander entrance in another MCU instalment (perhaps even fighting against the Avengers).

The MCU is yet to structure a movie like a police interrogation, so I think this format would be fresh and reinvigorating.

This movie’s story and it’s opening negates an origin as to how the Fantastic Four got their powers, as they already had them when they travelled into the Quantum Realm. We’ve seen the Fantastic Four get their abilities two different ways in previous movies, and honestly, the Fantastic Four’s origin is not as intrinsically connected to the character’s motivation like that of Spider-Man, his uncle and “with great power comes great responsibility’ – as far as I understand it anyway. The characters here could simply state that they received their powers through an experiment gone wrong and kept them secret; Nick Fury can say he heard that these scientists had “quirky abilities”, and the rumours are true.

This storyline also coincidingly instates the Fantastic Four as the MCU’s ‘First Family’ and explains their absence throughout the entire events of the MCU. I like that.

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Oh yeah, my casting for the Fantastic Four….

Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic – John Krasinski

Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman – Emily Blunt (or Kristen Bell)

Ben Grimm/The Thing – Terry Crews

Johnny Storm/The Human Torch – Zac Efron

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P.S. I’d tweak the characterisation of the Fantastic Four a little bit… Reed Richards is still the super genius, pragmatic and borderline-autistic scientist, but Grimm is older and in charge of leading the projects. Grimm nurtures Reed’s intellect, even often genuinely amazed at the level of genius he has working for him, but Grimm is the boss. Susan Storm is still the insightful uniting force on the team, and Johnny Storm is the cocky hotshot.

P.P.S. I genuinely excite myself thinking about Efron’s Storm being the smart-alecally ratbag to Crews’ Grimm. I also go on to imagine Efron’s Storm eventually being the slightly older bad-influence on the high-school Peter Parker in future movies, as Spider-Man and the Human Torch have always had a close relationship in the comics, and I think Zac Efron and Tom Holland would work well together. Reed Richards would instantly become the smartest scientist in the MCU, creating tension between either (or both) Bruce Banner and Shuri, finding Richards peculiar and square respectively. This story also creates a link between Ant-Man and Richards, as I understand they have a close relationship in the comics too.

P.P.S. I’ve named the movie ‘Welcome Back, Fantastic Four’, thinking that it would be a Fantastic-Four-centric movie but it could just as easily be named ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp, and the Fantastic Four’ if it’s decided that the Fantastic Four should be introduced in the third instalment of Ant-Man. My concern would be that the main focus would then need to be on Ant-Man, which could be achieved in some way. Perhaps, the story that the Fantastic Four weave together requires Ant-Man and the Wasp to lead them all back into the Quantum Realm in the third act. Nick Fury’s part could be also be swapped out for Hank Pym, who knew of the experimental scientist team back in the day. An Ant-Man threequel would still have to be an Ant-Man movie, that’s all – Marvel pulled off having a huge cast of characters and keeping it a Captain America movie with Captain America: Civil War though, so I’d have faith that they could do it again.

P.P.P.S. Sorry hardcore Fantastic Four fans, but I would also initially change the Thing so he can turn on and off his orange form, like the Human Torch and the Invisible Woman can turn off theirs. Essentially, I just want to engage with the actor (Terry Crews) without the make-up. Later on, you could have a storyline where Grimm is less and less able to turn off his ability, resulting in the tension of being stuck as the rock man and worry that the other members might get stuck in their superhero forms as well. This stress for Grimm could be akin to the stress that Stark went under in Iron Man 2, where the electromagnet in his heart was killing him as much as it was keeping him alive.

What other ideas do you have regarding the Fantastic Four joining the MCU? Let me know in the Reply box below 😊