Marvel Studios regained the property rights to the Fantastic Four within recent years and announced a cinematic reboot of Marvel's First Family. The news of a revamped Fantastic Four was joined by the news that director Jon Watts would helm Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige sat down with ComicBook.com's Brandon Davis and share an understanding of how the casting process would move forward. "I think the [Marvel Cinematic Universe] is a beautiful combination of both (established actors and new faces)," Feige said. "I think you look no further than Simu in Shang-Chi, like Chris Hemsworth, like Tom Hiddleston, like Tom Holland, an actor that hadn't been seen by a tremendous amount of people before, or you have a Benedict stepping into Doctor Strange or Christian Bale stepping into Gorr in our Thor film. It is always a beautiful combination of both, and it really is about the search for the best actor for the job whether that actor is known to the world yet or not."
With no production timeline and no writer set to pen the script, there no predicting when the Fantastic Four's transition into the MCU may begin. Deadline reporter Justin Kroll took to Twitter in January 2021 and wrote that it would be "a while" before filming commences. ET Online asked Feige when Marvel would announce the Fantastic Four, to which his confidence on a concrete time was vague. "I don't think it's soon," he told ET Online, "This [Black Widow] is our first red carpet event in two years. We'll see what happens with upcoming gatherings and fan events where we can release more news. I hope sometime in the near future."
Three untitled Marvel movies have been scheduled throughout 2023 on July 28, October 6, and November 23. Marvel has just started meeting with potential writers which suggests that the Fantastic Four could secure one of these unclaimed dates at the earliest. With the current direction that Marvel is directing their current phase in, characters that are known for their Fantastic Four affiliations could lay a trail of breadcrumbs down through other projects leading up to the eventual team-up. No information about the casting process has been discussed outside of Feige's comments to ComicBook.com. Fans have been insistent upon seeing actor John Krasinski and actress Emily Blunt take the lead on this specific film, though there has been no word following up on the likelihood of them being folded into the MCU.
The updates concerning the Fantastic Four are sparse and there's still a while to go before the reboot is ready for its theatrical release. Regardless of how far away the movie may be, there's still high anticipation to see the heroes that founded the Marvel universe through the comics finally be rewarded with the big-screen presence that they deserve.