Will Marvel Announce The Fantastic Four Cast At Comic-Con?

The Fantastic Four is currently one of Marvel’s most highly anticipated properties, and the film’s cast may be announced at 2022’s San Diego Comic-Con. Despite being one of the most important superhero properties in Marvel’s comics, the Fantastic Four have had an infamously lackluster track record on film, so the announcement of an MCU iteration of the team indicates that a proper adaptation may finally be coming. The MCU’s Fantastic Four recently lost its original director, but Comic-Con may be the best place to reignite excitement for the film by announcing its cast.

Although the mainstream Marvel Comics universe has existed since 1939, the publisher is seen by many as having truly found its place in the superhero genre in the early 1960s, with the debut of the Fantastic Four being its first successful Silver Age property. In what would become a defining characteristic of Marvel’s characters and stories, the Fantastic Four comics juxtaposed reality with fantasy, depicting naturalistically-written characters reacting to their outlandish superpowers and situations. Unfortunately, the three Fantastic Four films from 20^th Century Fox have not captured the essence of the characters and their comics, but the upcoming MCU film is expected to finally do them justice.

The MCU’s Fantastic Four film was announced at 2019’s San Diego Comic-Con, and its original director, Jon Watts, was announced in December 2020. There haven’t been many updates on the film since then, other than Watts stepping down from the director’s role in April of 2022. With only four upcoming MCU Phase 4 films having release dates, Comic-Con 2022 would be a great place to remind fans that the Fantastic Four is still on the way by announcing its cast and perhaps a new director.

Why Marvel Haven’t Released Anything About Fantastic Four Yet

Marvel announced the introduction of the Fantastic Four and mutants to the MCU shortly after Disney acquired 20^th Century Fox, thus granting the MCU permission to finally use these Marvel properties. Despite this, there have been few updates on both properties, likely because Marvel’s slate of Phase 4 films had already been in progress when they gained the film rights to mutants and the Fantastic Four. Moreover, Marvel may be taking their time with developing the film to ensure that it’s an authentic and crowd-pleasing representation of the superhero team.

However, Marvel has recently teased both mutants and the Fantastic Four in recent properties. An alternate universe version of Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic, appears in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, played by John Krasinski, and Ms. Marvel’s season finale confirms the existence of mutants in the mainstream MCU. With the Fantastic Four on its way to the MCU, 2022’s Comic-Con can be one of the best places to announce the film’s cast, new director, and perhaps even a release date.