The new trailer for the latest entry in the MCU gave viewers a new look at the swinging '60s version of Marvel's NYC. While it might only look like a send up to the golden age of comic books, it might also be a look at another period in the Marvel Multiverse.
Although it's been thoroughly established that the current MCU run has a firmly planted plot line (in and out of the Multiverse of Madness), some fans suggest that we are looking at a completely different universe all together.
All new in the MCU?
Along Main Street isn't the only one to make this observation, but IGN puts it perfectly when they made the following statement in their coverage.
"The history of the MCU is way too established to say the [Fantastic Four] were running around New York as celebrity superheroes in the 1960s, but the multiverse approach allows the film to still maintain this feeling."
This could mean one of two things, at least in this writer's opinion. Option A, this takes place in an entirely different timeline in the Multiverse (only Uatu knows for sure). Option B, Disney/Marvel are essentially giving us a soft reboot of the timeline as we know it.
Judging from what people are saying in the other article, it appears to be Option A. However, that doesn't mean that we won't revisit this piece of the Multiverse either.
In this writer's opinion, the new Fantastic Four film could mark the dawning of a new era for Marvel. If the new film is a tremendous success, the studios could essentially create a whole new franchise under a '60s-inspired banner.
Think about it, a piece of the MCU inspired almost entirely by the comic books would win so much nostalgia points that comic-book-purists would be frothing at the mouth for more. It would also explain some of the more accurate variants seen in things like Deadpool & Wolverine and Loki.
Although we won't really know the full story until this summer, it wouldn't be the most out-of-pocket thing for Marvel/Disney to do. Today, it's the Fantastic Four. Tomorrow, it could be yet another Spider-Man.
Fantastic Four: First Steps premieres July 25, 2025.