Kevin Feige Confirms That “The Fantastic Four” is Set in the 1960s
It’s finally official—Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has confirmed what many have long suspected, especially after Marvel’s Valentine’s Day post on Instagram—The Fantastic Four is definitively a period piece set in the 1960s.
Feige appeared on the new Official Marvel Podcast, revealing that The Fantastic Four will begin production late this summer, the day after San Diego’s Comic Con wraps—you know they’ll have a few things to reveal about the film there. The reboot is led by director Matt Shakman, and the cast includes Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm (aka the Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm (aka the Thing). Then there’s Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer and Ralph Ineson as the supervillain Galactus, joined by Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter-Hauser, and John Malkovich in unspecified roles.
Once Marvel revealed that illustrated image of the Four looking positively 60s, the internet sleuths did their work. They paid special attention to Ben Grimm reading a December 1963 issue of Life Magazine. Considering this was Marvel Studios’ first crack at re-assembling this superteam since acquiring 21st Century Fox in 2019, and it’s arguably the biggest film they’ve worked on since Avengers: Endgame, the interest has been intense. Feige finally confirmed the ongoing suspicion.
“Yes, yes, very much so. It is a period,” Feige said on Marvel’s podcast. “There were a lot of smart people, who noticed that that cityscape didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know, or that existed in the ’60s in our world. Those are smart observations, I’ll say.”
By the time Shakman’s The Fantastic Four premieres, it will be the first iteration of the superfamily in a decade. Fox produced three films—Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and a reboot, Fantastic Four (2015). Feige also emphasized how big a fan of the Fantastic Four he is and how crucial it is to return Marvel’s First Family to the big screen.
“I’m extremely excited by it because I think those characters are mainstays, are legendary pillars of the Marvel Universe that we’ve never gotten to play with or explore in a significant way outside of Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness and a few fun teases before, in the way that we’re doing it in that film. So I’m extremely excited for that.”
He’s got the right director in Shakman, who did incredible period work on Marvel’s first Disney+ series, WandaVision. Shakman directs from a script by Jeff Kaplan, Eric Pearson, Ian Springer, and Josh Friedman. The Fantastic Four is set for a July 25, 2025 release.
For more on The Fantastic Four, check out these stories:
“The Fantastic Four” Adds Natasha Lyonne to Cast
“The Fantastic Four” Casts Ralph Ineson as Supervillain Galactus
“Fantastic Four” Cast Adds Paul Walter Hauser
Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four” Casts Julia Garner as Silver Surfer
Featured image: THE FANTASTIC FOUR. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.
