The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set up to be a unique adaptation of the popular Marvel story, and Kevin Feige’s recent comments confirm it. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is finally introducing Marvel’s First Family to their universe, but telling this story has proven to be too big a challenge in the past, time and time again. However, the MCU has managed to pull off seemingly impossible feats several times over at this point.
For instance, the MCU began with Marvel attempting to create a shared universe of stories with the remaining obscure characters it held onto. Due to several tough years in the 1990s, Marvel sold most of the rights to big-name heroes and teams, like Spider-Man, Hulk, the X-Men, and The Fantastic Four. However, despite having to start with the B-list heroes in their lineup, the MCU redefined the landscape for these characters, and elevated lesser-known heroes to become icons in their own right.
Marvel’s Previous Fantastic Four Movies Have Cemented The Team’s Complicated Film History
The Fantastic Four’s Live-Action Adaptations Have A Less Than Stellar Track Record
Despite saying all of this, the MCU has yet to face a challenge quite like this. While both Spider-Man and Hulk had a couple of attempts at building a franchise, and they experienced some relative success, The Fantastic Four has had a much less fortunate run of adaptations, starting back in 1994 with a low-budget film that never got a public release. Then, 11 years later, The Fantastic Four finally made it to the big screen, and even got a sequel, but the films failed to establish themselves the way the X-Men had taken off for Fox.
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Will the MCU reveal that Galactus isn’t actually a villain?
As excited as I am to see Galactus in the MCU, I wonder if Fantastic Four: First Steps will reveal that he’s not actually a traditional villain. Even comics as recent as this week have reiterated that Galactus is more like a necessary force of cosmic nature who’s meant to consume worlds, eventually storing their energy at the end of the universe in order to create the next universe. His actions and world devouring aren’t inherently sinister or vidictive. While that doens’t mean he shouldn’t be stopped from trying to consume Earth, I do wonder if the new MCU movie plans to depict this nuance…
Then in 2015, Fox tried to reboot the team with a younger cast, but the film ended up being harshly critiqued, and despite plans to expand, it was shelved. Overall, elements like the challenge to showcase powers like elasticity, invisibility, and being made of rocks, in addition to the complexity of their primary villain, led to these films being widely panned. And with the fanbase for these heroes extending all the way back to 1961, when the first comic came out, there are a lot of people who want to see it done right.
Kevin Feige’s Experience Stretches Back Far Beyond The MCU
Now, considering the period setting of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the inclusion of Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s son, Franklin, and a comic book accurate depiction of Galactus, the MCU is already proving their version of the story is very different to what came before. But even beyond these details, Marvel Studios head, Kevin Feige, has offered his sentiments in the latest issue of Empire on why he is confident that the MCU’s adaptation will be able to stick the landing when so many others fall short.
I was around for those early Fantastic Four movies… and like all of the pre-MCU movies, I learned a lot. I always thought, if we ever got creative autonomy ourselves, we might do things a little differently… It was a different time… there was still a bit of a fear of being silly.
Feige was, of course, involved in the making of so many of the early Marvel movies before Marvel Studios was ever created, and while he had little to no control over those projects, his passion for the stories has served him well in the making of the MCU. And when it comes to adapting The Fantastic Four, Feige feels strongly that the story needs to lean in to the natural goofiness that defined the early comics. With this hint at what’s to come, and the footage seen in the trailers so far, it appears that the MCU is on track to bring The Fantastic Four to life with the most faithful and exciting adaptation to date.
The MCU’s Movie History Supports The Idea That The Franchise’s Fantastic Four Story Will Be Different
The MCU Does Things Differently To Any Other Franchise
With the MCU slowly reacquiring the rights to several characters, and their compromise with Sony to be able to create movies like the Spider-Man series starring Tom Holland, they have proven that they often approach familiar stories in a unique way. By the time Spider-Man: Homecoming came out in 2017, Peter Parker’s origin story had already been seen in live-action films twice, and plenty more times in animated shows and games. But the MCU breathed fresh life into the character, and delivered one of the most compelling iterations of the hero ever.
The MCU has also had success with introducing teams, such as the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Avengers, and the Thunderbolts, aka The New Avengers. With their wealth of experience, and the incredible talent at their disposal, the MCU has the best shot of making a Fantastic Four movie that finally does the classic comic book stories justice. All in all, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is an incredibly exciting project that may finally break the curse that hangs over the team’s live-action adaptations.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
- Runtime
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130 Minutes
- Director
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Matt Shakman
- Producers
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Jamie Christopher, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Tim Lewis
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Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
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Vanessa Kirby
Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman
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Johnny Storm / Human Torch
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Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Ben Grimm / The Thing
