It’s a Good Thing That ‘The Fantastic Four

Sporting a new, recently revealed subtitle, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is in full swing, and Kevin Feige and the folks at Marvel Studios had a decent helping of information to divulge at San Diego Comic-Con. Beforehand, details were limited, save for hype-worth casting announcements and a couple of peaks at promotional art. Matt Shakman, who’s already earned goodwill among MCU fans as WandaVision‘s showrunner, will be directing the film. The four iconic blue suits will be donned by Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing.

We’ll get into all the what-we-know and how-we-know-it, but most importantly, we need to talk about the setting. Previously hinted at and now confirmed, The Fantastic Four: First Steps will not pick up the story of the Multiverse Saga where we last left it. It’s a period piece of sorts, taking place in the 1960s, although not quite the 1960s of an Earth any of us would be familiar with. This is an excellent direction to take. More than that, it may be the only choice that could be made to get us properly excited for yet another adaptation of the Fantastic Four in a long line of attempts which have ranged from lackluster to outright atrocious. The MCU has had its work cut out for them since Avengers: Endgame, and oddly enough, a retro vibe is the fresh take they need.

Fantastic Four (2025)

One of Marvel’s most iconic families makes it back to the big screen, the Fantastic Four.

Release Date

July 25, 2025

Director

Matt Shakman

Writers

Josh Friedman , Jeff Kaplan , Stan Lee , Ian Springer

Marvel’s SDCC Teased ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Setting

Before San Diego Comic-Con, we only had tepid confirmation that The Fantastic Four would be set in the past. On The Official Marvel Podcast, Kevin Feige acknowledged the smart fans with keen eyes who noticed that the promotional artwork featured a New York skyline that “didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know, or the New York that existed in the ’60s in our world.” After Marvel Studios’ Hall H Panel at SDCC, anyone excited by the notion of a past-set Fantastic Four can safely allow their hype to expand.

Early Fantastic Four footage at SDCC brought the cast together for a preview that promised a full-blown dive into retrofuturism in all its glory. The Thing is seen on a ’60s-style dating show, “Let’s Make a Match.” Reed Richards hosts a science-centric educational show that will immediately remind you of Bill Nye the Science Guy. In documentary-like footage, the group prepares for a space voyage while bantering like the loving family they are; Reed and Ben tease each other over good looks, and Sue playfully pawns her brother Johnny off to viewers as “very single.” From knowing that we’re getting H.E.R.B.I.E. to SDCC giving us our first look at the Fantasticar, it’s looking like The Fantastic Four: First Steps is unabashedly embracing the absolute joy of The Jetsons.

The Fantastic Four Is Perfectly Suited for the 1960s

Charm will set this one apart from the most recent live-action go at these heroes. 2015’s Fantastic Four (or Fant4stic, as it’s often confoundingly stylized) was marred by varied behind-the-scenes troubles and a final product that was a considerably dull mess of missteps. Director Josh Trank aimed at a darker approach to the characters, and rumors swiftly began swarming after the terrible box office returns and scathing reviews. Studio involvement, compounding reshoots, and multiple sides to the story have been told, but they all resulted in a Fantastic Four without greenlit sequels and long-enduring memes to roast it. One thing is certain: the MCU’s reboot must go as far in the opposite direction as possible.

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What better place to draw inspiration than The Fantastic Four 1967 animated series? That iteration of the group came on the heels of The Jetsons‘ rise to fame, and it was full of all the wholesome charm that makes the Fantastic Four so great. 2005’s Fantastic Four and its sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, may have received a less than fantastic critical reception, but they’re relatively well-liked and fondly remembered in an inoffensive, comfortably lukewarm way that fit snugly in the decade of Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man trilogy and a pre-MCU era. Despite their faults, their version of Marvel’s First Family felt like a family, a key ingredient that cannot be missed. If the Saturday morning cartoons’ aura could be siphoned from 1967 animation in a specifically genuine fashion — that means no satire and no mocking of the era — The Fantastic Four might finally work in live-action.

‘The Fantastic Four’ Needs To Avoid Rehashing Previous Origin Stories

One of the best byproducts of the MCU’s direction with their Fantastic Four is the resulting avoidance of already-done backstories. Before we knew that an alternate universe would be used, a ’60s-set Fantastic Four came dangerously close to retelling the origin of Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). In Captain America: The First Avenger, the hero fights in the 1940s before being frozen in ice, only to be thawed decades later so that he may form The Avengers in 2012. Time jumps be damned, because, for all we know, the 1960s of an alternate universe could be happening right alongside the 21st century of the MCU’s main universe. As long as the Fantastic Four aren’t somehow put to sleep or frozen in time, we’re good. Moreover, without the multiversal aspect, they’d have to explain how a quartet of superheroes from the 60s went unnoticed for years and why they willingly ignored the war with Thanos. Eternals had to shoehorn an explanation like that already (Arishem, the Eternals’ commanding Celestial, forbade them from interfering in human conflicts). We can accept that reasoning once and only once.

This time, it’s like we’re getting a real version of the lie that Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) purported in Spider-Man: Far From Home — that he was a being from an alternate universe who now permanently resides in the MCU’s main universe. Going a more Spider-Man-adjacent route is great overall, considering how well Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming introduced Peter Parker (Tom Holland) without rehashing a backstory we all know by heart. The Fantastic Four, being in a similar position, is smart to take a cue from Spidey and skip the feature-length origin story.

The MCU Needs To Bring the Multiverse Together After ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

Loki sent Tom Hiddleston‘s titular redemptive hero to the End of Time to maintain every branch of the multiverse, and The Marvels sent Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) to an alternate universe where she may or may not usher the X-Men into the MCU. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness hopped from one reality to another and even found a version of Reed Richards along the way, but all of that stayed mostly inconsequential by the movie’s end. Next, we can’t help but speculate about how The Fantastic Four will venture from their universe and enter the main narrative.

Bringing the Negative Zone into the fold seems like a fitting avenue for First Steps to explore. First appearing in 1966’s Fantastic Four #51, the Negative Zone is a parallel dimension where all matter has a negative charge. This anti-matter-fueled realm could be the perfect route for The Fantastic Four to cross universes without charting the same territory as The Marvels or Multiverse of Madness. Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and a version of the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) are confirmed for the film, but they’re too vital to be dealt with permanently in First Steps. Another infamous foe of The Fantastic Four, Annihilus, serves as ruler of the Negative Zone, and he could serve as fodder for sequels to come.

There are seemingly endless iterations of The Fantastic Four in Marvel Comics worth digging into, and nearly every one of them lends itself to adapting their story in the middle of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga. When Reed Richards is around, technology is limitless, and the group’s misadventures in space and beyond make them prime candidates for crossing the multiversal line. Their go-to adversary, Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr., believe it or not), is on the way, and The Fantastic Four are confirmed to be a part of both the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. The MCU has a bloated abundance of loose threads to tie together, but whether it’s accomplished seamlessly or not, The Fantastic Four‘s optimistic spirit of retrofuturism will be a warm and welcome addition.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is scheduled for July 25, 2025.