After years of legal battles between Disney and anyone who dared to put one of Marvel’s heroes on the big screen, the comic book publisher’s First Family is finally coming to the MCU with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The first trailer is out, and the short, 90-second teaser gives us plenty to dissect. Let’s dive in.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in a 1960s-inspired retro-future, so it’s fitting that the trailer starts in a 4:3 aspect ratio similar to what you would have seen on televisions before the introduction of HD widescreen in the 90s and 2000s. It makes a transition to widescreen a few seconds in, so it’s likely most of the film will use the standard 16:9 aspect ratio seen in most modern movies. But 4:3 is making a comeback in recent years with modern films like Nickel Boys, so I wouldn’t be surprised if First Steps had at least some segments in 4:3. The 4:3 segment shown has Pedro Pascal as Reed “Mr. Fantastic” Richards and Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, giving a tour of their home in The Baxter Building, the group’s home base. It seems like a deliberate choice to portray this idyllic domesticity in 4:3, then to transition into the 16:9 aspect ratio when superhero elements like The Thing show up, creating a contrast between the two tones.
Did you know the “Highly Engineered Robot Built for Interdimensional Exploration” was introduced in a 1978 animated series to replace the Human Torch in the Fantastic Four because The New Fantastic Four didn’t have rights to the character? I didn’t know that until today, but it’s fascinating that the little robot assistant has such an odd history and has still managed to persist. I had my first exposure to him in Marvel Rivals, helping him push a payload through Manhattan. Is H.E.R.B.I.E. the Harley Quinn of the Marvel universe?
Anyway, H.E.R.B.I.E. is shown with an appropriate retro-future look and is kind of giving Rosey from The Jetsons. He’s shown cooking with the Thing, portrayed (with the help of CGI) by The Bear actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach. It’s a cute scene that shows the hero is a gentle giant despite his rocky exterior. But I’m just thinking about the little robot dude. He’s trying his best. He doesn’t have taste buds to know his recipe is missing that special something.
Once again we’re back in 4:3, looking at what seems to be archive footage of the Fantastic Four’s foundational voyage into space. (The group’s origin story involves the four astronauts gaining their superhuman powers after exposure to cosmic rays during a mission in space.) While the MCU opted to skip Spider-Man’s origin story after bringing the character into the films a bit late, it looks like Marvel is going to explore the Fantastic Four’s beginnings to some extent in First Steps. We see shots of what looks like Sue’s invisibility manifesting for the first time on their spaceship, and the Thing watching old footage of himself before his skin was replaced with rocks.
One of the Thing’s most iconic looks sees him in a trench coat and fedora, traditionally a way for the living rock man to get around incognito in the comics ever since the hero’s debut in the 60s. The look is so recognizable that fans are asking for it to show up in Marvel Rivals when he’s added later in Season 1.
Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, gets the least amount of screen time in the first trailer. But we do get to see the fiery hero flying around and goofing off as the most carefree member of the team. Johnny is played by Joseph Quinn, known for his roles in A Quiet Place: Day One and Stranger Things.
It looks like the Fantastic Four has a fandom in this movie. We can see some kids dressed up with Thing masks and t-shirts, so even if the big guy thinks he looks ugly now with a rock-based form, the kids seem to love it.
We see a brief shot of the group riding around in what seems to be the Fantasticar. The group’s vehicle has taken on a few different forms throughout the comics and other media, and some have even been flying ships. In First Steps, the Fantasticar looks like a pretty standard period-appropriate sports car, complete with a blue-and-white color scheme. That seems like an appropriate change for the ‘60s-inspired aesthetic the film is going for.
John Malkovich is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in First Steps, but we still don’t know who the legendary actor is playing. We see his character walking into the light from a dark room and we can see he’s sporting long hair and an unkempt beard. Fans are speculating he might be playing Red Ghost, a villain who has fought the Fantastic Four in the comics, but that’s unconfirmed.
One of the last shots shows Galactus, the main antagonist of the film, voiced by Final Fantasy XVI actor Ralph Ineson. It’s a fleeting glimpse from behind, showing him looming menacingly over New York and looking at the Statue of Liberty. He also doesn’t speak, so we don’t get to hear the rumbling bass of Ineson’s performance. But maybe that’s the kind of reveal you want to save for close to the movie. Hell, it would be great if we don’t even see him at all until the film is out. I am curious how First Steps will make a Thanos-level threat into something the Fantastic Four will face alone.
The trailer ends with a shot of the Fantastic Four donning their blue-and-white uniforms. It’s kind of giving Spirit Halloween, but I’m keeping an open mind. This is meant to portray a different point in history than the rest of the MCU, after all, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t look as glossy and high-tech as the rest of the heroes.
Surprisingly, we see everyone’s powers in this trailer except for Mr. Fantastic’s. Maybe the stretching limbs are at a different point in the animation process and aren’t ready for primetime. We’ll probably see him in action in the next trailer, sure to arrive sometime between now and when the movie launches on July 25.
