Fans Are Totally Losing It Over Marvel's Fantastic Four Announcement
Let's face it — 2020 hasn't exactly been a banner year for Disney's industry-dominating Marvel Cinematic Universe (or anything else, for that matter). Fans have been habituated to expect several entries in the flagship cinematic continuity per year, and 2020 would have been no different but for the intervention of a pandemic-that-will-not-be-named. This sorry state of affairs has perhaps contributed to the outpouring of fan enthusiasm for all the exciting announcements the House of Mouse made at their annual Investor Day, not the least of which was the highly anticipated confirmation that The Fantastic Four is being rebooted into the MCU.
As the expatriate province of 20th Century Fox Studios (now rebranded under the Disney umbrella as "20th Century Studios"), the superhero foursome that includes Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing saw two tepidly received cinematic treatments. The first came in the form of the duology The Fantastic Four and The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. After the latter film received mixed-to-negative reviews, Fox let the property lie fallow until another attempt at adaptation was staged in 2015 — the half-baked and pointlessly stylized Fant4stic.
With all of Fox's rogue Marvel properties now back in-house at Disney, it was only a matter of time before Disney figured out a way to include these popular characters in the MCU. Back at the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Feige revealed that this was indeed the plan, but that's essentially the last we heard about the project until 2020's Investor Day explosion of information.
Now that the reunion is official, let's take a look at how the fans are reacting to the earliest peek at the project.
The fans are ready to see the Fantastic Four done right
The reaction to the news that the Fantastic Four are coming to the MCU was met with overwhelming enthusiasm, despite the property's spotty history in cinematic form.
"HERE WE GO!!!" @checkthecircuit tweeted.
@uncannytrent tweeted a hilariously apt panel from the comics, in which a trio of Infinity Gauntlet-bearing Mr. Fantastics tell a fourth version "It's time you reached your full potential."
"Disney has made my night," @Chris_5000 concurred, hashtagging "FantasticFour" and quoting the official film logo from Disney's Investor Day presentation.
@JohnMarkKJM tweeted that out of all the information dumped on Disney's Investor Day, the confirmation that an MCU Fantastic Four film was in the works was by far the most exciting: "But the highlight, and the most shocking news for me among all these announcements is just one film, that is the Fantastic Four movie, and is confirmed by Marvel Studios and that too going to directed [sic] by MCU Spider-Man films director."
The fans have some casting notes for Disney and Marvel Studios
Another common theme among the fans was an outcry for John Krasinski and IRL-wife Emily Blunt to be cast as Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman.
"PLEASE ANNOUNCE JOHN KRASINSKI & EMILY BLUNT!" @DarksaberLight tweeted.
In a similar vein, @BrowFinnNy215 took matters into his own hands, tweeting directly at John Krasinski, "Hey @johnkrasinski you free? Bring your wife also if you don't mind." Many in the Twitterverse have floated this casting before, and it seems to have taken hold in the imaginations of fans. Some have even gone as far mocking up images of what John Krasinski might look like as the brainy leader of the Fantastic Four.
It's worth noting that the groundswell for Krasinski and Blunt isn't unanimous. At least one contrarian tweeted, "Can we PLEASE put some other actors in FF artwork besides Krasinki and Blunt? No matter how much its forced on us, it still doesnt look right to me."
Whoever ends up landing the roles, their performances will clearly be met with unbridled fan enthusiasm. Let's just hope Disney and Marvel Studios can stick the landing where 20th Century Fox previously stumbled.