FF Movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe...

[AvengingLeague]

Here's a what-if question if Marvel gets the rights back because the reboot Fox is working on appears to keep getting delayed...

If Marvel made a Fantastic Four which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe(Iron Man, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.), do you think it can be easy to add in the mythology of the Fantastic Four into that universe? Is it easy to add in things like the Baxter Building, H.E.R.B.I.E., Latveria, the Negative Zone, Skrulls, Galactus, etc. and make it work inside that universe? How would you guys do it?

 

[HR-PUFF&STUFF]

yes

 

[Crimz]

Easier than adding them to the X-Men universe by far.

 

[Ragnaroknroll]

The FF would fit the MCU like a glove.

I'd do everything in parallel. Roll out an FF film introducing them as spacefaring adventurers along with the Negative Zone. Meanwhile establish Galactus and Silver Surfer in the cosmic arena of the Guardians of the Galaxy while establishing Doom as a behind the scenes threat to all of the films like they've been doing for Thanos. Make him the badass we all know him to be. Reveal Victor's 616 origin later just like in the comics. He doesn't need an origin right away. However, it is key to establish that it is Reed Richards who ultimately defeats him - not Tony Stark or some nonsense like that. Reed and Victor are arch-nemeses after all.

 

[metaphysician]

It'd be fairly easy. The only real sticking point would be handwaving why nobody has noticed this Reed Richards guy as being a genius who blows Stark away. But that could, indeed, be hand waved, and once your halfway into the first movie, nobody will care anymore anyway.

 

[Ragnaroknroll]

It'd be fairly easy. The only real sticking point would be handwaving why nobody has noticed this Reed Richards guy as being a genius who blows Stark away. But that could, indeed, be hand waved, and once your halfway into the first movie, nobody will care anymore anyway.

I think Reed Richards could firmly place himself in the intellectual spotlight by his breakthrough discovery of the Negative Zone alone. His work is not commercially oriented like Stark so he'd naturally be lesser known to the average Joe. Not that Marvel has any control over something like this with regards to the FF but I do agree that the earlier Reed could be introduced in the MCU the better. Kind of like Balder in the Thor universe. There's only so long you can delay introducing a key character to the mythos. Just seems like a window of opportunity here that's being missed.

I'm watching the trailer for Interstellar and thinking to myself that could have totally been the way to go for the FF. Something fresh and different in the CBM genre surrounding the idea of privately funded space travel with no traditional villain per se (not yet anyway) - just the challenge of the feat in and of itself. You already have a company planning on sending people to Mars over the next 10 years so it's not like it's not part of the zeitgeist.

I envision the Fantastic Four as being the perfect bridge between the events of Earth and the cosmic events of the Guardians of the Galaxy etc. However, I'm thinking that with their absence that Thor/Loki/Thanos will most likely have to be the bridge.

 

[the gael]

Whereas the X Men have always struggled to find a believable place in a world full of beloved meta humans like the Marvel Universe, the Fantastic Four have always been the heart of this universe. They are at the confluence point of the cosmic (Galactus and SS), the subterranean (Mole man), the parallel universes (Negative zone) and the more street level (with the puppet master) part of the Marvel Universe.

So, to summarize, they are a very small sized MCU in themself which not only wouldn't be difficult to insert in the MCU, but would probably benefit from being in the MCU (And the MCU would benefit from having them)

Something that wouldn't be true with the X Men, that are a bigger world that wouldn't mesh well with the MCU like they didn't really mesh well in the comics (except for 3 ou 4 specific mutants like the omniscient Wolverine)

 

[AvengingLeague]

Well, don't you think a place like Latveria will be hard to introduce since they never mentioned it in the past Marvel films?

 

[fixxxer]

Well, don't you think a place like Latveria will be hard to introduce since they never mentioned it in the past Marvel films?

I don't think it will be that difficult. I mean, North Korea hasn't been mentioned thus far in the MCU either... to my knowledge. Latveria would just be significantly crazier due to being run by a dictator who's an uber-genius and evil rather than an idiot who's uber-looney and evil.

I'm obviously not drawing a direct parallel here, but rather wanted to illustrate that something like Latveria could be introduced in the MCU with a reasonable degree of comic-book-movie-level believability.

 

[DrCosmic]

I'm not sure about this 'keeps getting delayed' stuff, but FF would be pretty easy to introduce into the MCU. They would tie into it just like GOTG, finding some infinity Gem and exploring incredible new worlds.

 

[Hypestyle]

I would just assume that the principals have been around all along (before their powers) but give them an origin story that fits in with whatever else is going on at the time in the MCU. It might make sense to make Reed a long-lost classmate of Stark or Banner to help with the connections.

 

[wobbly]

Well, don't you think a place like Latveria will be hard to introduce since they never mentioned it in the past Marvel films?

Not at all. It's a fictional nation in a area of the world where I would bet as many people than not couldn't name half of the real ones that are there anyway.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

Not at all. It's a fictional nation in a area of the world where I would bet as many people than not couldn't name half of the real ones that are there anyway.

Yeah, they certainly didn't say it didn't exist. And there were no situations in which it would have been, in any way, relevant.

I think we need to stop looking for reasons why we can't do things. Every time a director royally screws something up, they use the excuse that audiences wouldn't be able to handle it as it was in the comic-books.

But have we ever heard any critics or theater-goers question even the craziest elements of these films?

These films are fantasy and we want something more interesting than we have in the real world. We read these comic books and go to these films not because they're grounded in the real world but because they offer things that could never exist in the real world.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

7 countries you've never heard of.

In addition I would suggest that places like Serbia, Bosnia, etc were only vaguely on the edge of the public's perception at best (at least in the US) until the media began extensively covering events in those countries. Like people have probably heard the names before but had no real knowledge or context of them.

Latveria would be easy peasy. And awesome. I like this thread.

 

[Tymminator]

My biggest wish for 2014 is for Fox to simply focus on making their best X-Franchise and leaving the FF alone. The FF in the MCU would be awesome. Fox should just cut a deal that let's them distribute.

 

[Spider-Vader]

I don't see why any of those would be a problem.

We haven't seen every building in the MCU New York so the Baxter Building could easily be added in & only the most hardcore geeks would bat an eye. Meanwhile, Latveria/Doom could just be quiet until the FF enter the fray. The same could apply for all of the Cosmic stuff unless GOTG specifically goes against the existence of the Skrulls or Galactus.

 

[Ant-manic]

i think they should get weird with it. just have Reed, his family, and Doctor Doom fall out of some kind of time portal and wind up stranded in the MCU. from there, the fun would be in watching them acclimate themselves to this counter Earth or, in Doom's case, rapidly take it over. for the sake of including the origin, maybe have this be the beginning of the second movie. the first could take place in a world where the FF are the first superhumans and treated like celebrities. and it'd end with them being lost in space-time. this would be an easy way to answer the question, "why has no one heard of these folks?" it also lets them retain their "First Family-ness."

my choice for Reed would be Matthew Fox. i think he and Reed kind of look like Mitt Romney. http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2012/news/120521/matthew-fox-300.jpg

John Bernthal for Ben Grimm, maybe? or Jeffrey Dean Morgan (since he's the same age as Matt Fox).

 

[Compi716]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Marvel Studios already has a theoretical plan of how to incorporate the FF into the MCU. Y'know, just in case.

 

[guy66657]

That would be great, I absolutely LOVE the interaction between Reed and Tony in the comics and really hope that FF comes into the MCU very soon. *sigh* Damn Fox.

 

[Ian_Great]

Well I think that the FF would be easy to add into the MCU, because in Iron Man 2 we see the map of the world behind Tony Stark and Nick Fury in the safe house near the end of the movie. On that map it shows a location that's unnamed. I think it could be Latveria.

 

[Donut]

Never going to happen with Disney having a say in this

 

[Demileto]

The best way to bring the Fantastic Four to the MCU would definitely be to take advantage of the established franchises to introduce elements of the comic before tying them all in the team's debut movie, namely Doom as future big bad in an Avengers' mid-credits scene and a still non-powered Reed Richards in an Iron Man movie as a renowned scientist that Tony knew in college and respected for his intelligence. Then in a FF movie they just need to introduce Sue, Johnny and Ben and the high level science experiment that goes wrong and gives them powers wouldn't come out of the blue.

Never going to happen with Disney having a say in this

No one's expecting it to happen while Fox owns the rights, but they'll only keep holding it while they still it's worth something. If this movie bombs, as it seems very likely, they'll be more than glad to give it back to Disney/Marvel.

 

[metaphysician]

I wouldn't be so sure. Whether it bombs or not, the reversion timer still resets. If Fox is only doing the movie to retain the rights, than they've already won by that point, and can continue to make unreasonable demands for the rights.

The only way I can see it mattering is if there is enough internal political conflict in Fox, such that a big public bomb causes a shakeup in who gets to make decisions.

 

[CyclopsWasRight]

If it bombs they'll probably offer to sell the rights back to Disney and then it'll be up to Disney if they want to buy them back. They won't give them back as there's no benefit for them to do so.

 

[Demileto]

If it bombs they'll probably offer to sell the rights back to Disney and then it'll be up to Disney if they want to buy them back. They won't give them back as there's no benefit for them to do so.

Well, duh! But by then the market value of the brand would be far lower than what it is today and likely be in a price range acceptable to Marvel/Disney.