Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-9062114-20160404043144

Hello,

One of the core elements for my project the United Marvel Cinematic Universe is that it contains all the properties that are normally owned and associated with Marvel Comics. Including (but not limited to) The X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Namor The Sub-Mariner, etc. From a storytelling perspective, I've had run into some road blocks adding these franchises to an already large universe, one such in particular being the Fantastic Four.

One of the issues I'm running into is mostly overcrowding of superheroes in the same geographical location and time period. In the UMCU, there would be Spider-Man, The X-Men, The Avengers, The Defenders and the Fantastic Four all co-existing in New York City together during the same time period (mostly). Now, I have found my own ways to justify the X-Men and Spider-Man with The Avengers, but I just can't figure out how to do that with the Fantastic Four. Mostly, I can't find any excuse for them and The Avengers to exist, when they're both essentially crime fighting superhero teams that work for the Government. Why would Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. have any purpose to create The Avengers when they have the Fantastic Four to fight off Loki, Thanos, Dr. Doom, etc? Why would The Fantastic Four continue being their own team even after The Avengers are created?

All of these questions are kind of making a lot of un-justifiable plot holes once they all come into the mix. But I did think of a possible solution to this issue, have the Fantastic Four exist in the United Marvel Cinematic Universe, but have them be a superhero team from the 1960s. It makes sense, because they are Marvel's First Family and their overall inherent campiness (at least in the 616 interpretation) might fit better in that era as opposed to now, their origins, names, costumes, etc. Maybe they were the Proto-Avengers for Agent Carter and Howard Stark's early S.H.I.E.L.D. maybe once they retired or whatever they were the INSPIRATION for future superhero teams, crafted by S.H.I.E.L.D. It could also add some diversity and realism to the canon's timeline, having superheroes coming up since the 40s, instead of decades of little to no teams and than suddenly a bunch of them. The team of Avengers today would have more history and legacies to look back on (besides Cap's history).

But, there are some downsides to this. One in particular is that putting them in the past, will almost definitely isolate the Fantastic Four from most of the recognizable Marvel Characters, and would likely prevent them from participating in any major events (Civil War, Masters of Evil, etc). I mean, Marvel has had the Fantastic Four in the comics be in the same city and time as Spider-Man, The Avengers, and X-Men for awhile now, I do wonder how this was explained and how I could implement it into the canon.

I was wondering how the community thought about this, and if I should (or should not) decide to go that way with the Fantastic Four. What do you think?

Also, if you're going to give advice or input here, please give somewhat of a stance or thoughtful answer(s) here. Just saying something along the lines of "do whatever you want, it's your canon" or "I don't know" is simply unhelpful and I'm asking to hear what people's opinions are about this all. Thank you. 