Marvel Chief Kevin Feige Reacts to the ‘Fantastic Four’ Fan Theories in ‘WandaVision’
WandaVision excited Marvel fans for the possibility of Phase 4. The inclusion of certain actors made them think the MCU was crossing over with the X-Men series. There were also theories about the show introducing a new Fantastic Four. With The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiering on Disney+, Marvel Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige reacted to the Fantastic Four theory.
Feige spoke at a press conference for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. When asked how Marvel approaches satisfying fan predictions or leaving them hanging, Feige referred to the Fantastic Four predictions from WandaVision.
Why Marvel fans thought ‘WandaVision’ was introduction the ‘Fantastic Four’
The Fantastic Four theory came about because Marvel fans picked up on a casual reference Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) made to a friend of hers. She was going to call an aerospace engineer to help her and S.W.O.R.D. break through Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen)’s hex over WestView.
Fans speculated that her aerospace engineer friend was Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic of Marvel’s Fantastic Four. Some even went so far as to hope John Krasinski would play him. Alas, Monica’s friend was only a day player who provided her tool to break through the hex.
Kevin Feige didn’t expect Marvel fans to think of the ‘Fantastic Four’
Feige said Marvel wasn’t trying to teach fans any lesson by setting them up for a Fantastic Four fakeout. He didn’t even expect them to go there.
“It’s just how do you provide the best, most engaged level of story-telling to the audience?” Feige said. “Sometimes that is subverting what they expect. There are times where something comes up totally out of left field that even we weren’t anticipating. Like, for instance, an aerospace engineer that is asked about. That turns into a whole thing. That was new to us.”
‘Fantastic Four’ was a rare time fans caught Kevin Feige off guard
Feige doesn’t expect any more confusion over The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Unintentional Easter eggs like the Fantastic Four occur rarely at Marvel.
We’re usually quite in sync with what people are expecting, and either delivering on that or surprising and subverting that. It’s taking advantage of the different story-telling medium that we have with Disney+ what excites us in the room. What makes us interested, excited? What could happen at the end of an episode that would keep us interested? Because we’re all fans within Marvel Studios. So, it really is the same balance that we’ve been trying to strike for the last ten plus years and figuring out, yes, how to exceed expectations, but also how to subvert expectations.
Kevin Feige, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier press conference, 3/14/21
