When Yahya Abdul Mateen II stepped onto the blue carpet at the premiere of Fantastic Four: First Steps last July, fans expected the usual Marvel crossover love.
Instead, he showed up fully in character as Simon Williams, promoting the fictional Wonder Man movie inside Wonder Man.
Yes, Marvel basically promoted a fake movie at real premiere.
“That was a tone setting exercise,” says Ryan Stankevich, marketing brand lead for Marvel and Disney. “It was a signal to the audience that this was something different.”
