Movies - The Fantastic Four: First Steps – Marvel’s Most Daring Reboot Yet Embarks on a Retro-Futuristic Cosmic Odyssey

By Mulder, 26 may 2025

There’s a strange magic that occurs when a decades-old franchise gets not only a fresh coat of paint but a total reengineering from the ground up. The Fantastic Four: First Steps seems poised to be just that for the Marvel Cinematic Universe—a rebirth that doesn’t just acknowledge the past, but audaciously reimagines it. The upcoming film, directed by Matt Shakman and set to kick off Phase Six of the MCU, is a cinematic gamble rooted in reverence for its source material. But this is not your father's Fantastic Four. It’s a time-warped love letter to the optimism of the 1960s, filtered through Kubrickian aesthetics and Marvel's signature world-building, with a cast as compelling as the concept itself. Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm) lead the charge, and already, it feels like a family you want to root for—cosmic threats and all.

What truly distinguishes The Fantastic Four: First Steps from the two previous, often maligned, cinematic iterations of the Fantastic Four is its total rejection of the tired origin story formula. Gone are the lab accidents and forced team-building arcs. Here, the film begins four years after the team’s transformation, plunging viewers into a fully formed alternate Earth drenched in a retro-futuristic aesthetic. Think NASA’s golden era meets Jetsons-inspired cityscapes, fused with design elements pulled from the visual lexicon of Syd Mead and the clinical precision of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Shakman, who cut his teeth on WandaVision and even It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, embraces the weird, the heartfelt, and the visually eccentric with equal glee. Anecdotally, Paul Walter Hauser, initially skeptical about joining a franchise with such a checkered past, reportedly changed his mind after reading the script and seeing the art direction—a testament to how strongly Matt Shakman’s vision resonated even before cameras rolled.

And while the core foursome is the emotional nucleus of the story, The Fantastic Four: First Steps goes galactic—literally. Ralph Ineson’s Galactus looms as a planet-sized harbinger of doom, while Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer, reimagined as Shalla-Bal from the comics, glides across cosmic tides with a brooding elegance that promises to redefine the character’s place in pop culture. With Matthew Wood voicing H.E.R.B.I.E., a slightly put-upon but endearing robotic assistant to Reed, and appearances from John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles, the supporting cast reads like a who’s who of character actor brilliance. Even Mark Gatiss drops in as a talk show host, anchoring this surreal, cinematic cocktail with a dose of televised Americana. It's quirky, it's bold—and it could only work in a Marvel film unafraid to be different.

What’s particularly fascinating is how The Fantastic Four: First Steps came to be. After the catastrophic reception of 2015’s Fantastic Four, Fox’s rights holders went through numerous developmental iterations, including a shelved Doctor Doom film and a kid-centric take reminiscent of The Incredibles. Everything changed after Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Suddenly, Marvel Studios had full control, and Kevin Feige wasted no time. His choice of Matt Shakman, following Jon Watts’ departure, was deliberate: someone who could handle character intimacy as well as the spectacle. Mattt Shakman’s storytelling instincts, married to the vision of multiple screenwriters including Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer, and Josh Friedman, resulted in a tonal balancing act that evokes not only classic Marvel lore but a modern cinematic boldness.

And then, of course, there’s the casting saga—a behind-the-scenes drama that could’ve been a movie in itself. Rumors swirled for months about John Krasinski reprising his cameo from Multiverse of Madness, but when Pedro Pascal was confirmed on Valentine’s Day 2024, it felt like a seismic shift. Pascal hadn’t planned to take on another franchise role, yet something in The Fantastic Four: First Steps made him pivot. Word has it that Joseph Quinn even sought his advice while filming Gladiator II, unaware Pascal was quietly circling the Reed Richards role. The casting of Ebon Moss-Bachrach, a Jewish actor playing the canonically Jewish Ben Grimm, was equally significant—correcting a long-standing misstep in previous versions. These aren’t just performances; they’re statements of intent.

Everything about the rollout of The Fantastic Four: First Steps has been carefully calibrated to evoke wonder. From its viral Valentine’s Day teaser—featuring Beatles references and a retro Life magazine cover—to a 404 error page that led fans on a comic-reading treasure hunt, Marvel has been crafting an immersive meta-narrative months before the movie even hits theaters. The teaser trailer’s 202 million views in 24 hours is more than hype; it’s evidence of trust being cautiously rebuilt in a franchise long plagued by false starts. And then there's the IMAX-ready cinematography by Jess Hall, the custom-designed Fantasticar, and the lovingly built Yancy Street that pays homage to co-creator Jack Kirby’s childhood haunts. These are the kind of tactile, nerdy details that separate a paycheck gig from a passion project.

With The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel seems to be staking more than just the success of another tentpole movie—it’s testing the waters for Phase Six’s thematic direction. By choosing not only to bring in Robert Downey Jr. in a post-credits scene as Victor von Doom (a delicious twist given his iconic role as Iron Man) but also to signal that this version of the Fantastic Four will be crucial players in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, Kevin Feige and his team are making it clear: this isn’t just a reboot. It’s the bedrock of the MCU’s future. As Comic-Con attendees discovered, the movie’s subtitle, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, isn’t just about the first step on the moon or the birth of a super-team—it might be literal too. A scene shown at CinemaCon revealed that Sue Storm is pregnant, hinting at the eventual debut of Franklin and Valeria Richards, a narrative decision with enormous ramifications.

The Fantastic Four: The Fantastic Four: First Steps represents more than the resurrection of Marvel’s First Family—it’s the MCU’s creative reset button, a chance to embrace optimism, familial strength, and cosmic adventure in an era where superhero fatigue is often declared with a yawn. This isn’t about replicating what worked before; it’s about finding joy in the unknown. And if Matt Shakman and his cast can deliver even a fraction of what the film’s marketing and production design are promising, then fans and skeptics alike might find themselves ready, once more, to believe in heroes.

Synopsis :
Fantastic Four: First Steps plunges us into a retro-futuristic universe inspired by the 1960s and brings back to the screen Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), Sue Storm (aka the Invisible Woman), Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch), and Ben Grimm (aka the Thing). Faced with the challenge of balancing their roles as superheroes with the strength of their bonds, this family is confronted with a formidable threat: the cosmic entity Galactus and his enigmatic right-hand man, the Silver Surfer, whose ambition is nothing less than to devour the entire Earth and all its inhabitants. And as if that weren't enough, things suddenly take a very personal turn...

The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Directed by Matt Shakman
Written by Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer, Josh Friedman, Cameron Squires, Eric Pearson, Peter Cameron
Based on Fantastic Four by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Produced by Kevin Feige
Starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, Sarah Niles
Cinematography : Jess Hall
Music by Michael Giacchino
Production company : Marvel Studios
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release date : July 23, 2025 (FRance), July 25, 2025 (United States)