Where in the MCU timeline does ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ fit?

Responsible for opening phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), “Fantastic Four: First Steps” premiered in Brazilian cinemas on July 24, 2025 to introduce Marvel’s first family to the studio’s list of series and films that connect, a late addition but one that pleased fans.

It turns out that Marvel did not own the film rights to the team when the MCU began in 2008. It was only when Disney, which owns Marvel, acquired Fox in 2019 that the rights to this group of heroes could be used, allowing the Quartet to star in stories from the franchise that combines titles for TV and cinema.

Thus, the plot starring Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) e Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who receive powers after an unsuccessful space trip. Now with unique abilities, they must come together to save the world from a cosmic entity called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and its enigmatic herald known as the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).

The new story has yet another impressive feat: it opens the Multiverse Saga, which is scheduled to end in 2027 with “Avengers: Secret Wars”, which raises the question of where in the MCU timeline “Fantastic Four: First Steps” fits”. RECREIO researched and responded below:

The Fantastic Four’s Place: First Steps in the MCU

With the arrival of the film on Disney+, it was decided that the family of heroes occupies the place right after “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Thunderbolts*” in the franchise’s chronologyeven though the film is set in a retro-futuristic world in the 60s.

Due to the time in which the story is told, fans expected “Fantastic Four: First Steps” to be positioned between “Captain America: The First Avenger”, a plot whose events are set during the Second World War, covering the years 1943 to 1945, and “Captain Marvel” which takes place during the year 1995.

However, even though the story takes place in the 1960s, just like in the comics, The MCU has elements such as incursions, variants and alternative realities that end up causing the positioning of some titles to occur outside the known chronological lineas with the film that follows the Richards family.

This is because, The Fantastic Four narrative takes place in a different corner of the multiverse, Earth-828, which has its own timeline that coexists with the MCU’s main one.responsible for all the stories seen so far, such as those in the Iron Man, Captain America and Avengers franchises, set on Earth-616.

Despite leaving fans confused, the choice meant that the plot was told without the interference of other events already known from the MCU, as explained by Matt Shakman (WandaVision), the film’s director, told Screen Rant:

“The idea that they existed in the 1960s in the regular MCU timeline wouldn’t work. ‘Where were they when Thanos arrived? Where were they when Loki was attacking?’ They would have done something. They would have been part of it. So we wanted to put them in their own universe for that reason.”

Thus, it is possible that the concept of time between parallel universes has different rules, placing the events of the 1960s on Earth-828 aligned with the present on Earth-616 in some way. To be sure, it will be necessary to wait for the new titles with the Quartet, where the explanation should appear within the narrative.

Even so, Shakman reinforced in the same chat that “Eventually these characters will meet with other MCU heroes and connect to the main plot”, bringing the certainty that even in different locations, something will unite the timelines to tell a single story.

“Fantastic Four: First Steps” is available for streaming on Disney+, where it also has an IMAX Enhanced version.