COUNCIL OF REEDS CONFIRMED?
Kevin Feige and Matt Shackman were pretty specific about why they put the Fantastic Four in their very own timeline other than the 616. However, it doesn’t come without a bit of a sense of irony, only because, yeah, it’s great that this is a self-contained film, that the Fantastic Four can exist in their own world like they did in the comics as the first and only superhero team. However,
Where this is placed in the Multiverse Saga and because of the overall narrative that Marvel is trying to tell with Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars being contained to its very own timeline, what we’ll just affectionately call a placeholder, the 828, doesn’t do a lot for setting up that story. And in fact, unless they plan on cramming all of this into a post-credit scene, which we will talk about during this video, it won’t have much connection or setup to the multiverse saga at all during a film that is the last before the next Avengers movie. Well,
Not so fast, because according to these most recent reports and on the back of the test screenings, this is a multiverse movie, and it will deal with the multiverse in the upcoming Secret Wars saga. We’re going to break down exactly what’s being said, how it ties into the plot, and possibly a huge, huge Easter egg during this film, and of course what it means for the narrative for Avengers: Secret Wars. But first, if you could grab the subscribe button, we do daily Marvel content at the channel. That’s all we do. If you’re into that kind of thing, hit the sub button and leave a comment down below.
It’s the number one thing you can do to support us as content creators, plus it’ll enter you for the ongoing giveaways if you want. Stick around to the end of the video. We get into all the giveaway stuff again there. Now again, to reiterate from the prologue, every time we’ve heard about the Fantastic Four from the creatives who have officially worked on the film, like the director, Matt Shakman, it is its own self-contained story in its own timeline because they wanted to allow the Fantastic Four a chance to shine without being bogged down by all of the story that goes along with being in the 616.
the storied history of the 616 and all the other superheroes and villains, which, again, I’m remarking, is ironic because this is a movie meant to go a long way in setting up the multiverse saga. Well, according to the newest reports, Marvel Studios’ upcoming Fantastic Four, quote, “promises to do more than just introduce the Marvel’s first family; it will explore a connection between different universes and worlds, offering a sweeping, multiverse-spanning adventure.”
which is a totally different description of this film than what we’ve really been led to believe up until now. Now the most recent footage shown at CCXP showed the Fantastic Four in space running from the Silver Surfer and Reed Richards instructing Ben Grimm to fly them into a black hole. Now, if you missed our breakdown on that footage, I mentioned that Marvel Studios has quite often set up black holes to make it look like they are the conduit. They are the sort of highway between different parallel universes. We saw it at the end of Loki season one.
We saw it again in The Marvels. But I don’t think that this is what it’s referring to. I don’t think they’re going to fly into that black hole and find themselves in the 616 or that the movie is truly going to follow the Fantastic Four hopping around the multiverse. I think this refers to two specific scenes. The first of which has to do with that hidden character that was on set that wasn’t allowed to be photographed. That character is most likely Ian Griffith from the original Fantastic Four.
the Reed Richards from the Fox timeline. The same Fox timeline—we think that Marvel Studios is basically going to hard retcon to have both the X-Men and the Fantastic Four, any Fox characters—they’ll all be in the 1005. Now, where I think the multiverse of it all comes into this film is with that Reed Richards visiting our Fantastic Four and then realizing that there are parallel universes, there is an entire multiverse, and through that exposition, where one Reed Richards will explain to the other,
What’s been happening behind the scenes, possibly with an introduction to the Council of Reeds? It’s that exposition during this film that’s going to fill us, the viewers, in on exactly where we find ourselves now in the multiverse. And keep in mind, if they truly are putting the Fox Fantastic Four in the X-Men timeline, basically all one big 10,005 universe, then this would go a long way in setting up Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, given all the leaks we’ve seen about Doomsday seem to include an X-Men timeline.
Why would that not be the timeline where Monica Rambeau is? Why not have Deadpool and Wolverine in that timeline as well as the Fantastic Four? So the multiverse of it all comes in with an introduction to the 1005, presumably after Reed Richards has done his math and his calculations and has derived a plan to stick Galactus into a black hole and somewhere else in the multiverse. You know, that’s not exactly going to work if you’re just taking him from your timeline and dumping him somewhere else. And this is full circle back to the indication.
that Galactus would be unique among the multiverse, the same way that America Chavez noted. She didn’t have a variant anywhere in the multiverse; it’s just her. They’ve said that’s the same for Galactus, and that’s why taking Galactus and sticking him into a black hole into a different part of the multiverse wouldn’t make him run into another Galactus. He’s unique across the multiverse, and I think it’s that very same calculation when Reed responds in the trailer.
I stretched space, and they heard. I don’t think he’s referring to Galactus. I think he’s referring to the multiverse. And in that, when they get an introduction via exposition and this other Reed Richards, again, possibly with him being brought onto the Council of Reeds, we, the audience, are going to get the same explainer. Thusly, this is Marvel Studios’ opportunity to use that to set up whatever they need to for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars outside of them. Again, not traveling the entire multiverse during the film.
It looks like most of it’s going to take place on their Earth. But a couple of lines of exposition where he’s being filled in about what’s going on with the Maltivers and Dr. Doom could go a long way in setting up Doomsday. Now, speaking of which, if you somehow avoided the spoilers for the leaked post-credit scene,
Now would be the time to back out. If Doom is truly standing in the living room holding an unconscious Reed Richards, where the presumption is that he’s actually going to kidnap Reed Richards, and if Doom is not in the Fantastic Four, as Matt Shakman has claimed at all, then it would be very safe to assume that Doom has already been hopping the timeline on whatever his quest is and probably left a trail of destruction in his wake. And it could be some of the survivors of that destruction, which could also be Ian Griffith. He could have already attacked the 10,005.
that are filling him in on what exactly Doom is and what his threat to the multiverse is. Again, they can wrap this up in a five- or 10-minute scene where we get a ton of setup for Secret Wars without the Fantastic Four film itself having to actually travel to all these different parts of the multiverse like they did in Multiverse of Madness. You know, for metacommentary on one side of the coin, Marvel Studios says that they want to make Disney Plus Marvel shows cool again by de-burdening the viewer from having to have watched the entire MCU.
And it seems like they took just a little bit of that and applied it to the Fantastic Four. Hey, what if they’re not in the 616? What if they have their own timeline and we set them back in the 60s like the comics, and they don’t have to compare to other superheroes, and we don’t have to keep up with the continuity that the 616 already established for most of the 1900s and explain why they aren’t mentioned at all? However, this is probably not the time for that. This is the time to set up Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. So I would be very, very surprised.
If there wasn’t at least a 10- or 15-minute scene that goes directly back to this quote about it being a multiverse adventure, where even if it isn’t another Fantastic Four or Reed Richards visitor for the Council or Reads or anything like that, it’s Reed Richards explaining what he’s figured out about the multiverse up until now and using that as an opportunity for Marvel Studios to work in any important details or Easter eggs they need us, the audience, to know. But you guys let me know all your thoughts down below. What you’re anticipating from the Fantastic Four.
How hyped are you for it, and what do you think it’s going to do to touch the multiverse?Â
