Since the acquisition of 21st Century Fox was completed in 2019, Marvel fans grew excited at the notion of the Fox-owned Marvel characters finally being added to the Marvel Studios Sandbox. The idea of the characters from the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises (including major threats like Galactus), finally playing a role in the MCU alongside the Avengers is exciting for Marvel Studios to explore in their upcoming phases.
The main question, however, lies in how Marvel plans to introduce said characters in the MCU. How would Marvel explain the absence of these two powerhouse pillars from Marvel Comics in their Cinematic Universe? Certain seeds have already been planted in the main universe, with the sudden surge of superpowered individuals post-Endgame and the mention of a potential Mutation gene in characters like Ms. Marvel.
However, with The Multiverse Saga in full swing, it is possible that the answer lies out in the Multiverse itself. The current information regarding The Untitled Deadpool and Wolverine film indicates that our favorite team of mutants could very well be coming through to the MCU by knocking on the Multiversal door. So it is possible that a similar circumstance could happen with Fantastic Four’s story. However, the Multiverse won’t necessarily be the cause of the First Family’s origin, but rather a potential danger they will face.
Galactus: The Devourer of Worlds
When we think of Galactus, most people will often think of a Celestial-Sized Being in a purple outfit with the power to devour planets. Others, unfortunately, think of the on-screen depiction of a giant space cloud from the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer film. However, the concept remains the same.
In Eternals, the concept of the birth of the Celestials from life-filled planets was presented. So the idea of a “devourer of worlds” would undoubtedly pose a threat to the Celestials. However, he was never mentioned by Arishem. With a threat as significant as Galactus, it’s a mystery how no Cosmic-Themed project mentioned him previously. Unless the secret is he doesn’t exist there… yet.
Part 1: A single incursion at various points in time
For this theory to work, we must separate it into two ideas. We must first understand that time is no longer linear as the Multiverse Saga unravels. The concept of the Multiverse in the MCU heavily leans into the idea of time, meaning that the concept of time travel in the MCU could be synonymous with the notion of Multiversal travel.
We know that the Multiverse is currently busted wide open following the ending of Loki. This was caused by Sylvie’s bombing of the Sacred Timeline across various points in time. Bombing the Sacred Timeline at different points would allow for branches to stem from those particular points in time. Those branches ultimately lead to potential incursions, but as incursions occur, the barrier between the two worlds erodes and becomes unstable, leaving holes in space-time. Therefore, one main universe (616/199999) could be having an incursion with another universe, not only at the present time, but in the past and the future as well.
Part 2: A blast from the past for the Fantastic Four
Now that we’ve explained the first part of the theory, let’s see how we can apply this to the MCU lore. I propose that Galactus could very well be brought into the MCU through an incursion via a hole left in space-time due to Sylvie’s bombing of the Sacred Timeline. This could place Galactus in the past of Earth-616, just in time for Marvel’s First Family to step up to the challenge of taking on the Devourer of Worlds.
By making Galactus a multiversal threat, Marvel could also fit in a neat comic reference by incorporating the character of the Watcher into the upcoming Fantastic Four film. In the comics, The Watcher was the being that warned the Fantastic Four of the coming of Galactus. Therefore, making Galactus a multiversal threat would cause The Watcher to break his oath again by attempting to preserve the fabric of the Multiverse, making way for what would be his first live-action cameo in the MCU.
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The Marvel Multiverse and Black Holes
