The MCU’s Multiverse Saga hasn’t explored all the possibilities its core idea provides, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ multiversal premise may prove it. Since 2021, the Multiverse Saga has expanded the Marvel multiverse across dozens of familiar and strange timelines. Movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine have introduced alternate variants of key MCU characters, and shows like Loki, What If…?, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man have visited new alternate universes parallel to the MCU’s main timeline.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps marks the first time Marvel’s First Family appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Previously, four live-action Fantastic Four movies introduced their own version of the team, and all of them have taken place in universes where no other Marvel heroes seem to exist. The Fantastic Four: First Steps will also introduce a Fantastic Four team that doesn’t coexist with other heroes, though they’re bound to cross over with the rest of the MCU after their solo movie ends.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is The First Truly Multiversal MCU Movie
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Is The First MCU Movie To Take Place Entirely In An Alternate Timeline
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is confirmed to take place in a brand-new Marvel timeline with no connection to any previously established universe. The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ universe is inspired by the 1960s and features no MCU character other than the тιтular team. Therefore, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the very first movie in MCU history to take place in its own, separate timeline, from beginning to end — not counting pre-MCU movies like Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies and Fox’s X-Men films, of course.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps promises to work as a standalone movie that doesn’t require previous knowledge of the MCU
Due to Galactus’ main villain role, there’s a chance the Fantastic Four will fail to save their home universe and resort to escaping to a different timeline at the end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. However, most of the movie will likely take place in the same timeline. The Fantastic Four: First Steps promises to work as a standalone movie that doesn’t require previous knowledge of the MCU. At the same time, the Fantastic Four’s encounter with Galactus will probably tie directly into the events of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
The MCU Has Overlooked A Big Advantage Of The Multiverse Saga
It Took Two Entire Phases For The Multiverse Saga To Have A Standalone Multiverse Movie
There have been around ten Multiverse Saga installments that have built the concept of the MCU multiverse in the Multiverse Saga. Yet, all of them have centered around multiversal travel, multiversal crossovers, or multiversal destruction. Multiversal variants teaming up with each other (Spider-Man: No Way Home), fighting each other (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), saving the multiverse (Loki & What If…?), or threatening to end the multiverse (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) have made up most of the Multiverse Saga’s storylines.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens Phase 6 only two or three years before the Multiverse Saga ends. While the MCU Fantastic Four’s home universe doesn’t seem likely to survive past the end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Avengers: Doomsday, or Avengers: Secret Wars. Still, The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ entirely original universe shows what the Multiverse Saga could have been like from the beginning. Funny enough, the closest the MCU came to building a detailed original universe was in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Earth-838’s Reed Richards was killed by the intruding Scarlet Witch.
Marvel Still Has Enough Time To Release Alternate-Universe MCU Movies
Phase 6 Can Follow In The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Footsteps
The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ standalone universe idea came in too late in the Multiverse Saga, but it’s not too late for the MCU to develop this idea before the saga ends. Besides 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps, 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars, Phase 6 also includes Spider-Man: Brand New Day and possibly Doctor Strange 3, Shang-Chi 2, and Black Panther 3. Doctor Strange 3 could take place in a single fleshed-out alternate universe, and Shang-Chi 2, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and Black Panther 3 could take place in different realms of Battleworld.
If several solo movies take place in their own timeline, Avengers: Doomsday‘s aftermath and the multiversal war at the center of Avengers: Secret Wars could reflect a truly multiversal scope. Seeing a few familiar universes converge in Avengers: Secret Wars would have more dramatic weight than just having an infinite number of unknown timelines get destroyed. The Fantastic Four: First Steps could be the first of multiple new Marvel timelines that could play a big role in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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Thunderbolts*
- Release Date
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May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
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Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day
- Release Date
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July 31, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
- Release Date
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May 7, 2027
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