There’s no shortage of expectations for Fantastic Four: First Steps, as this will be the third time around for Marvel’s first family. No one is more aware of the stakes in play than Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who was actually a producer on Tim Story’s Fantastic Four movie and its sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. After the disappointment of the 2015 reboot Fant4stic, the franchise ended up back in Marvel’s hands, and Feige sees this as an opportunity to finally get the characters right on the big screen.
In an interview with Empire, Feige made it clear how important the Fantastic Four are and why they need to be done the right way. “I think that there are no four characters that are more important for the history of Marvel,” Feige said. When the opportunity came up to work with them again, he embraced that second chance.
“When Disney bought Fox, it was really an unexpected dream come true,” Feige said. “It came at the perfect time, to help us launch into a new era. They are Marvel’s First Family, and I really wanted to do them justice.”
While there are elements from the first two Fantastic Four films that fans look upon fondly, other elements have shown their age, especially after the MCU started rolling and really diving into characters while also building out a layered world. Even with the mixed reception of the sequel, many fans still look at that film’s Silver Surfer as excellent, so it’s not like everything was negative back then. That said, this is Feige’s chance to fix what didn’t work and improve upon what did and do it with an established universe and a talented cast. If it was ever going to work, it would certainly be with this scenario, and time will tell if that actually happens.
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Feige knew he would need someone to pull those classic Fantastic Four elements together and make them interesting and relevant for a modern audience, and that responsibility fell to WandaVision’s Matt Shakman, as well as channeling “classic Fantastic Four energy.” When Feige was working on the previous Fantastic Four films, he says, “There was still a bit of fear of being silly”, but that’s times have very much changed, and many superhero elements are just part of mainstream culture. “In another time, some might consider the notion of somebody with a big, angular helmet walking through a city goofy,” Feige said. “I consider it awesome.”
While Shakman has had to be vague regarding plans for the film, he did lean into some of the same things Feige has hinted at regarding those classic elements on the big screen. “It’s different in so many ways,” Shakman told Collider. “I wish I could be specific. I wish I could say more. But we are doing things very differently from a story standpoint, from an approach to the filmmaking standpoint, that really fits the material. I wish I could say more. I would love to, but I can’t. But I think it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen before, and certainly unlike anything at Marvel that you’ve seen before.” You can check out the official description for Fantastic Four: First Steps below.
“Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family-Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/ Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and Ben Grimm/The Thing as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.”
The Fantastic Four First Steps hits theaters on July 25th.
Are you excited for Fantastic Four: First Steps? Let us know in the comments, and you can talk all things Marvel and MCU with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!
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