It’s Valentine’s Day, and how is Marvel Studios celebrating? Well, after a Super Bowl Sunday that included releasing the most popular trailer in the history of social media (“Deadpool & Wolverine”), the superhero factory has now formally announced the cast for “The Fantastic Four.” But buried under the fresh MCU faces is the news that the studio is switching up a couple of its films, allowing for “The Fantastic Four” to trade dates with “Thunderbolts.”
According to Disney, “Thunderbolts” is moving up its release date from July 25, 2025 to May 2, 2025. That means “The Fantastic Four” is moving from May 2, 2025, to July 25, 2025. A simple flip-flop of dates. Interestingly, it does mean quite a bit more than just a change of a few months when you really think about it.
Neither “Thunderbolts” nor “The Fantastic Four” have begun production, but Marvel Studios is ready to say that the former will be done before the latter. That’s all well and good, but it does put “Thunderbolts” in the prime spot of the first weekend in May. This is the time when Marvel typically unleashes its big-deal films. Hell, it could be argued that it’s the most important release date of the year for blockbusters. So, the idea of giving that to “Thunderbolts,” which is a fairly risky film, is a bit of a surprise.
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“Thunderbolts” does have a great cast; that can’t be denied. The film stars Florence Pugh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sebastian Stan, Olga Kurylenko, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Lewis Pullman. Many of those people are veterans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But none of them have led their own superhero franchises yet. And in many cases, this is a group of MCU misfits. Not-quite-Captain America teams up with not-quite-Black Widow, Captain America’s buddy, the villain from “Black Widow,” Black Widow’s father, and the woman who is sorta, kinda like Nick Fury to take on a villain who is reportedly Sentry, a character who is Marvels’ not-quite-Superman. You see what I’m saying? These are recognizable characters, but they’re not the cream of the crop. But then again, that’s kinda the gimmick of “Thunderbolts,” so it makes sense.
“The Fantastic Four,” on the other hand, is the Marvel Studios film that people have been anticipating for years, with casting rumors becoming headline news. Outside of perhaps only the “X-Men” reboot, “The Fantastic Four” is probably the most anticipated Marvel Studios film ever. This is a no-brainer for the May timeslot. That said, if it’s not going to be ready by then, then it won’t be ready. And lord knows, Marvel needs to nail “The Fantastic Four.”
All that said, both are still arriving next year, but you just have to switch them up on your calendar.
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