Kevin Feige announces Fantastic Four’s filming start date and confirms its period setting

Marvel boss Kevin Feige has given a positive update on The Fantastic Four reboot at long last, confirming the film will indeed be set in the ‘60s and announcing an official filming start date. 

“We start shooting at the end of July,” revealed Feige in the first episode of Marvel’s new The Official Marvel Podcast. “The day after Comic-Con [International: San Diego] is the first day of filming on Fantastic Four.”

Later in the interview, Feige finally put to bed some major fan speculation over the movie’s setting following rumors it would take place in an alternate universe in the ’60s due to its retro-looking poster announcing The Fantastic Four cast.

“Yes, yes, very much so. It is a period,” confirmed Feige. The Marvel President then praised fans’ investigative digging surrounding another Fantastic Four poster, adding, “There were a lot of smart people, who noticed that that cityscape didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know, or that existed in the ’60s in our world. Those are smart observations, I’ll say.”

This isn’t the first time we have seen The Fantastic Four on screen, as 20th Century Fox released their own version back in 2005 followed by Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Fantastic Four. However, Marvel’s The Fantastic Four set to release next year does in fact mark the legendary comic book characters’ MCU debut, aside from an alternate universe version of Mister Fantastic appearing in the Doctor Strange sequel where he was played by John Krasinski. 

Feige commented on the Marvel classics finally joining the MCU, “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 a significant way outside of Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness and a few fun teases before, in the way that we’re doing it in that film. So I’m extremely excited for that.”

The Fantastic Four, directed by Matt Shakman, stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards AKA Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm AKA The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm AKA The Human Torch, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm AKA The Thing, Julia Garner as The Silver Surfer, and Ralph Ineson as Galactus. John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Paul Walter Hauser have also been cast in unknown roles. 

The interview above is from the first episode of The Official Marvel Podcast, out now on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and more. 

Fantastic Four hits theaters on July 25, 2025. For more, check out our guide on how to watch Marvel movies and TV shows in order, or keep up to date with upcoming MCU movies and TV shows heading your way in 2024 and beyond.