First Steps’ Introduces Marvel’s First Family to the MCU

DGIX

February 4, 2025

With Captain America: Brave New World‘s release just around the corner and the filming of The Fantastic Four: First Steps wrapped, Marvel Studios is already hard at work on hyping up the movie that is pretty much considered the do-or-die for the family of superheroes. Today, the company finally decided to have a look at the tone of the movie and released its very first trailer, which you can check out below.

Even though new info is always welcome, Marvel is still keeping its tradition of not giving everything away until you finally sit down to watch the movie. We still don’t know that much about The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and the question on everyone’s mind is how the new installment will tie in to all the other Marvel movies ever released. At this point, mega-producer Kevin Feige is smart enough to know that the studio needs to flip the origin story on its head to make Fantastic Four interesting, since we’ve seen the birth (and death) of the superhero family twice in the last 20 years.

What we do know is that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will kick off with a bang, since the new franchise’s first villain will be a huge threat — Galactus, a planet-devouring entity who is set to be played by Ralph Ineson (Nosferatu). We also can’t forget that Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man trilogy) is returning to the MCU, this time as super-villain Victor Von Doom. As far as we know, he’s not in the Fantastic Four movie, but he is the #1 nemesis of Marvel’s first family, so chances are that Dr. Doom will be at least mentioned.

New ‘Fantastic Four’ Trailer Fires Up Speculation

Feige and director Matt Shakman also teased that The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in a retro-futuristic 1960s New York, which could be a major hint that the story takes place in an alternate reality — and, in turn, would retroactively explain why The Fantastic Four haven’t participated in any of the MCU movies so far. The closest we came to them was seeing a version of Dr. Reed Richards played by John Krasinski (The Office) in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but that’s about it.

The cast of The Fantastic Four: First Steps features Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us) as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (Napoleon) as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Gladiator II) as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Julia Garner (Apartment 7A) as Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer. Paul Walter Hauser (Cobra Kai), Natasha Lyonne (Poker Face), and John Malkovich (Billions) have also been cast.