Kevin Feige confirms “Fantastic Four ”is a period film set in the 1960s... kind of

The Marvel Studios president teased that a cityscape featured in promotional artwork for the upcoming film "didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know."

Kevin Feige is having a fantastic time teasing Fantastic Four.

After dropping several 1960s-themed art pieces for the upcoming film on social media in recent months, the Marvel Studios boss confirmed the Matt Shakman-directed project — which will introduce Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Marvel’s first family — is a period piece set in 1960s New York. However, he appeared to suggest that it might not be the same 1960s New York that viewers have previously seen onscreen.

“There was another piece of art we released with Johnny Storm flying in the air making a 4 symbol and there was a cityscape in the corner of that image,” Feige said on The Official Marvel Podcast. “There were a lot of smart people who noticed that that cityscape didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know, or the New York that existed in the ‘60s in our world. Those are smart observations, I’ll say."

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Related: Everything we know about Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie

The aforementioned image (above), which was released on April 4 (a.k.a 4/4 day), features Quinn’s character Johnny Storm/Human Torch flying high above a futuristic city skyline that looks vaguely alien-like, with rounded viewing towers and what appears to be a floating freeway. After it was posted, Marvel fans quickly began to theorize that the Fantastic Four could potentially be set in a different universe than Earth-616.

Feige noted that he’s looking forward to what the future holds in store for the Fantastic Four, who are officially being introduced into the MCU after Disney acquired the rights to the characters in the 2019 Fox deal. The heroes previously starred in two films that were released in 2005 and 2007, respectively, as well as a 2015 reboot.

He continued, “I’m extremely excited by it because I think those characters are mainstays, are legendary pillars of the Marvel Universe that we’ve never gotten to play with or explore in any significant way apart from [Doctor Strange in the] Multiverse of Madness and a few fun teases before, in the way we’re doing that film. So, I’m extremely excited.”

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A live-action version of Pascal's character Reed Richards did technically appear within the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but that was an alternate-universe version played by John Krasinski.

Feige added that Shakman, who previously worked on the Disney+ series WandaVision, has already moved to London ahead of filming, which will begin at the end of July. “Funny story: we start shooting the Monday after [San Diego] Comic-Con,” he revealed. “The day after Comic Con is the first day of filming on Fantastic Four.”

Fantastic Four blazes its way into theaters on July 25, 2025. Listen to Feige discuss the film in the podcast above.

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