How Do You Explain the F4’s Absence In The MCU For All This Time?

[Amadeus Arkham]

How do you think Marvel should explain the First Family’s absence in the MCU for all this time when they are eventually introduced? We know the real world reason for why they weren’t in the MCU(rights issues at the time) but I wanna know what’s your ideas on how to introduce the quartet to the MCU? Is it as simple as making them time travelers from the 60’s and they’ve always existed, or maybe they come from the multiverse?

[Revolutionary_Jack]

It depends on what angle they go with.

Personally, I don't think it's much to worry about. They inserted Captain Marvel into continuity retroactively, even when it made no sense and it was clunkily done and audiences accepted it.

So I don't think it's much or anything to think too much about.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Just have them be the new heroes on the block. Their origin happened post Endgame.

[Iron Maiden]

For the poll, I'd vote None of the above.

I've been saying for years that one way to do it is to adapt John Byrne's Terror in a Tiny Town (FF#236). The Fantastic Four would be the most senior characters (outside of Captain America and Sub-Mariner) in the MU/MCU but they went missing a short time before Iron Man appears on the scene. The story would play out similarly as in the comics...Victor would return from the past to gain revenge on his college rival Reed and snares Sue, Ben and Johnny in his scheme. At this point we would not see Doom....just a figure in the shadows. He would be gradually introduced into the MCU. Since Doom was also exploring the Microverse as far back as Fantastic Four, the concept of Liddleville and the Microverse could be combined. The FF bodies would be in suspended animation and the conciousness would be in tiny clones that went to explore the Microverse. But Doom sabotages the project and they became trapped there.

I don't think they should revisit the Fantastic Four's origin since it's been done in 2 of the Fox films. To cut to the chase, maybe the events of Endgame would result in the Fantastic Four being shuttled from the Microverse back to normal. How they got there could be told in flashback.

[Crimz]

They're new heroes, no need to pointlessly complicate things. It's 4 people stealing a spacecraft and changing from the experience, it can happen at anytime. In fact, right now is the best time for it considering there's a reinvigorated interest in space travel in the real world.
The only reason people overthink this is because they are the first superhero team in comics and people are trying to force them to be first in the MCU too. But that ship has sailed a long time ago. Tony and the Avengers will always be the first in the MCU even though Captain Marvel technically came before them now, no one acknowledges that because real world introductions matter more.

Keep it simple, they're new heroes. They don't need to be the first to work.

[Riv86672]

For the poll, I'd vote None of the above.

I've been saying for years that one way to do it is to adapt John Byrne's Terror in a Tiny Town (FF#236). The Fantastic Four would be the most senior characters (outside of Captain America and Sub-Mariner) in the MU/MCU but they went missing a short time before Iron Man appears on the scene. The story would play out similarly as in the comics...Victor would return from the past to gain revenge on his college rival Reed and snares Sue, Ben and Johnny in his scheme. At this point we would not see Doom....just a figure in the shadows. He would be gradually introduced into the MCU. Since Doom was also exploring the Microverse as far back as Fantastic Four, the concept of Liddleville and the Microverse could be combined. The FF bodies would be in suspended animation and the conciousness would be in tiny clones that went to explore the Microverse. But Doom sabotages the project and they became trapped there.

I don't think they should revisit the Fantastic Four's origin since it's been done in 2 of the Fox films. To cut to the chase, maybe the events of Endgame would result in the Fantastic Four being shuttled from the Microverse back to normal. How they got there could be told in flashback.

^^^I like this.

I especially agree w. not doing their origin again.
Say what you will about how the MCU has handled Peter Parker/Spider-man, but skipping his origin was a great call, and it’d be the best way to go w. the FF as well.

[Chris0013]

New heroes getting origined in the present...but I would like to see what they were up at key points in the MCU. Like were Reed and Ben in a military command center during the Chitauri invasion of NY in the first Avengers movie?

[ed2962]

Just introduce them as new heroes.

I have no idea why some fans want to make them time travelers from the 60's. What's the point?

[JudicatorPrime]

Endless possibilities here. To keep things simple, I would go with the Gilligan's Island approach.

The FF go on a maiden voyage in an attempt to win the commercial space venture race, get knocked across the space/time continuum by the most powerful cosmic ray storm on record, topped off by a solar gamma-ray burst that ruptures the veil between our space and the Nexus of All Realities. They spend the next 6 - 10 years trying to find their way back home.

The cosmos is a very dangerous place and the FF discovers just how deadly it is. The movie opens with them having lost a battle to the Devourer of Worlds, the planetary detritus pummeling their vessel as they flee for dear life. But Galactus is not their only battle or their greatest foe.

The duration and location of their cosmic struggles leave them completely in the dark about Thanos Endgame and every other MCU event. They won't find out about any of that until they get home. If they get home.

[H-E-D]

Just make them new characters, it'll be fine, honest.

[Kaitou D. Kid]

You can just bring them in with no issue.

The only big outlier is maybe Reed and the fact SHIELD hasn't bothered to contact him all this time. Even then, it's not unusual to the point that it requires a big explanation. Reed's inventions aren't commercially aimed like Tony's and like Banner he prefers to be left alone (Banner only got on SHIELD's radar by being Hulk, otherwise he could have avoided the SHIELD drama and the events of Avengers if he wanted to). You can have Reed discover the Negative Zone and have that be the thing that turns him mainstream in the MCU.

The MCU can also establish that Doom was there all along in Latveria or was in the process of taking over Latveria during Phase I-III. Again, it wouldn't be unusual if he hasn't been brought up. Kim Jong-Un hasn't been brought up in the MCU either.

[charliehustle415]

Doom and the FF were lost in the Negative Zone after they accepted a mission from SHIELD.

Once they were lost that is when they recruited Pym and SHIELD being HYDRA covered it up so people didn't figure out their true motive to explore the Negative Zone - finding Red Skull

The double Snap in Endgame made it possible for them to escape

[bat39]

I lean towards the time-travel explanation (which could be linked to a Multiverse explanation as well).

Here's the thing - introducing them as new characters makes things a lot simpler. But it also makes the FF the johnny-come-latelys of the MCU. Which is what happened to Spider-Man in Phase 3. A lot of the changes that define the MCU Spider-Man, for better or for worse, comes down to how he's the new kid on the block in a well-established MCU.

Introducing the FF in the present-day means that they're just the ''new'' superhero team...in a world where the Avengers have been around for over a decade and saved the world (and eventually half the universe) numerous times. And I think the characters who began the Marvel Universe as we know it deserve a bit more in-universe significance than that.

Also, given Phase 4's emphasis on time-travel and the Multiverse, it'd be a waste not to tie that into the FF, who's comic-book mythos is heavily steeped in these concepts.

I have two broad ideas for how to introduce the FF to the MCU (and I'm sure an MCU director/screenwriter can do these a lot better):

1. The simpler one. Reed Richards is the Tony Stark of 1961, the world's most renowned scientist and futurist. He comes up with an experimental rocket to beat the Soviets to the moon. When the US government scraps the project, he gets funding from heiress and his fiancee Sue Storm. His best friend Ben Grimm is the pilot, and Sue's brother Johnny, who's a bit of a playboy and adventurer (and the only guy crazy enough to join Reed's extremely risky mission). They come to be known as the 'Fantastic Four' in the lead-up to the voyage. The launch is successful, but the Four then disappear, seemingly lost to space. In reality, they fell into the Negative Zone on their way to the moon and manage to emerge from it back into normal space...but in the present-day. And upon arriving on earth, they discover their exposure to the Negative Zone gave them powers.

2. The more complex one. The Fantastic Four got their powers in 1961 and were superheroes through the 60's, having a lot of their comic-book adventures. But then some mysterious cosmic event occurred that caused them to disappear and wiped most of the world's memories of their existence. The cosmic event in question might have been triggered by a young Franklin Richard, trying to save his parents and extended family from some threat. The FF are living in a bubble universe or alternate earth where its now the 70's and they're the only superheroes there. This is where their first solo movie occurs. And then their first movie which integrates them to the wider MCU reveals the truth of their origins on the main MCU earth and what Franklin (or whoever it is) did, and restores their history on this world...except that they're now in the present-day.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The MCU can also establish that Doom was there all along in Latveria or was in the process of taking over Latveria during Phase I-III. Again, it wouldn't be unusual if he hasn't been brought up. Kim Jong-Un hasn't been brought up in the MCU either.

With Doom the explanation is simple...Sokovia is a hot mess in the MCU, so have Doom's debut happen when it's announced that a rebellion has conquered Sokovia and the new ruler has renamed the land under the pre-war name of "Latveria"...and hey presto it's done.

You have a way for Doom to suddenly insert himself at the center of the MCU because he can go, "Before me Sokovia was a mess but I restored order, provided peace, and stability while your foolish and weak UN and NATO and SHIELD forces...pardon me, HYDRA, I forget...did nothing." You have Doom have an instant connection with Wanda, with Zemo, and get in everyone's faces. Like when people talk up Doom being a genius and someone brings Tony Stark all Doom would say, "Sokovia's heard its share of Stark's genius when his missiles and his robot bombed our lands" and that way he'd be able to twist the knife in.

The audience would be able to grapple with his complexity because they know that the Avengers f--ked over Sokovia intentionally and unintentionally, they know that SHIELD hasn't done anything about this rampaging never-ending war in the Balkans so Doom gets to come in as the villain with good points.

[Aozaki]

Because of their nature, FF is one of the heroes with endless possibilities. But I like that rather than voyaging through time. They went to the multiverse. Basically my idea is to mix their origin story, Life Story, and the first arc of Dan Slott's FF.

After NASA canceled his space project, Reed, alongside his fellow researcher Sue Storm and Victor von Doom and best friend Ben Grimm, sneak into their spaceship and took off into space. It is unknown to them that another person sneaks into the ship, and it isn't a NASA official but a teenage boy. A little brother of Sue, Johnny Storm. But instead of Space, because of Cosmic shenanigans caused by Galactus, the FF were imbued with powers except for Doom that saw the multiverse instead of getting power and thrown into another Universe.

Because there is no news, the SHIELD thought the spaceship exploded, and they died in the process. But, in reality, Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben were thrown into another Universe called a Negative Zone. From there, the four roamed from one Universe to Universe to come back home, forming a familial bond throughout the journey.

In another Universe, Doom that stranded in Universe similar to MCU, had a revelation that he can save his mother from damnation with Galactus Endless Cosmic Power, so to steal Galactus power, Doom learns magic, science, and everything else that he need and in the process become Dr. Doom, the conquer of Worlds and Universes. He went conquering Universe to Universe until he meets Silver Surfer, herald of Galactus. Doom tricked Norrin into going into his Earth (MCU World), showing them the cruelty of Superheroes, which prompted him to go into that world.

Sensing Galactus incoming, the Watcher told FF about Galactus, and they chased Norrin into the MCU Universe to stop him and Galactus. In the process, Reed asked Johhny to steal the Ultimate Nullifier from Galactus Space Ship, which is the trap because Doom trails Johnny into Galactus Ship and uses his technology to empower him. In the process,s making a technology to steal his power.

And that's the start of the MCU Galactus saga.