There wasn’t even a whole lot of new footage contained in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s recent sizzle reel, but it was more than enough to send the internet into a state of meltdown. Tugging at the heartstrings with a Stan Lee voiceover, there were fresh glimpses at Black Widow and the first look at Chloe Zhao’s Eternals, and it only reinforces the sheer popularity of the franchise that a series of motion posters are enough to generate so much buzz.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and The Marvels have been titled, while Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 officially have release dates, and the tease of the Fantastic Four at the very end piqued a whole lot of interest. It doesn’t have a debut day locked down as of yet, but it surely won’t be too long until it gets one and naturally, fans have already been speculating that the reboot for Marvel’s First Family could mark the end of Phase Four, as you can see below.
https://twitter.com/astrapom/status/1389207370925023233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1389207370925023233%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmovieweb.com%2Ffantastic-four-phase-4-end%2F
https://twitter.com/AJCI282002/status/1389208802805772292?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1389208802805772292%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmovieweb.com%2Ffantastic-four-phase-4-end%2F
https://twitter.com/rearsvi/status/1389211402817126412?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1389211402817126412%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmovieweb.com%2Ffantastic-four-phase-4-end%2F
https://twitter.com/RogersBase/status/1389267879023964160
https://twitter.com/Pollos_Hernandy/status/1389211739422699522
They announced FF with this symbol previously, I think, so I'm assuming it means Phase 4 ends with the Fantastic Four.
— Mitch Dyer (@MitchyD) May 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/ElMuchacho101/status/1389266035992301571
Dear god, if we are getting Fantastic Four in Phase 4, I hope to god we don't have to wait for Phase 10 for X-Men.
— Jaunty Wicked Sneer (@TrollanKojima) May 3, 2021
MARVEL PHASE FOUR ENDING WITH THE FANTASTIC FOUR IS SO PERFECT !!!!!!
— Emily Simmonds (@EmilySimmonds93) May 3, 2021
can’t believe we’re ending phase 4 with fantastic four let me mourn pic.twitter.com/dUXu8rnWDi
— the fantastic! (@616REEDRICHARD) May 3, 2021
Ignoring Blade and Deadpool 3, the only in-development film that weren’t featured in the teaser, Fantastic Four will mark the eleventh installment in Phase Four. By comparison, the first three were made up of seven, six and eleven movies respectively, each of which was capped off by an Avengers crossover.
While Kevin Feige confirmed that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes wouldn’t be assembling this time around, it could mean that Fantastic Four is being set up as a major event, which is the least that the team are due having been the subject of four live-action adaptations so far, the best of which could generously be described as mediocre, and that’s being kind.
