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The MCU is finally going to welcome Marvel's First Family with The Fantastic Four: First Steps in its ever-expanding universe. The film brings Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's classic tale that pioneered the Marvel comics and thrust them into the limelight. So, nearly six decades later, this IP is getting fans just as excited as before.
Director Matt Shakman is keen on keeping the film comic-accurate. Still, he has also been vocal about taking inspiration from everyone from Stanley Kubrick and Jack Kirby to the Star Trek universe. Most recently, First Steps producer Grant Curtis revealed that Shakman's film is also inspired by the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man trilogy (where Curtis served as a producer). So, when asked about this reference point, Curtis told Collider,
“One of the beauties of that and that I see in Matt Shakman is Sam always went back to the source material and said,‘there's a reason why Peter Parker and Spider-Man has been so popular for so long,’ and we have nothing to do with that 50 plus years at that time. And Matt always looked at it the same way. There's a reason this IP has been popular for 60 years. Let’s embrace it. Let's not run from it. Let's challenge our screenwriters to tell the coolest Galactus story.”
The Fantastic Four: First Steps seemingly takes inspiration in its visual effects from the visionary work of John Dykstra, who has been a crucial part of Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, among many other iconic Hollywood productions. That helped Shakman and Curtis to build their unique language set in the 1960s and 70s.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is not just a superhero movie, it's also about a family.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps seems like a treat for Marvel fans since it seems like a promising adaptation of the comics. The two projects in the 2000s (which also starred Chris Evans as Human Torch) have been mostly forgotten from the pop cultural memory, and the 2015 movie faced an even worse fate. So, the movie starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn is gaining a lot of attention from the devoted fans.
Aside from their love for the comics, there's another, more emotional reason for their interest in this project. It has to do with how these heroes are essentially a family of a husband, a wife, her brother, and a close companion. First Steps will arrive in theaters only a few months after Thunderbolts*, which illustrates the power of formed family. So, it will be another film to tug at their heartstrings.
In this tale, Sue and Reed will face another challenge in choosing between their responsibilities as parents and as the saviors for their planet. When asked about how he looked at their dilemma, Matt Shakman said,
"It’s a tremendous amount of pressure to bring a young person into a world where essentially the world is depending on you, and that you live in the Baxter building, which is essentially a glass house that the entire world knows what you'redoing day to day, and there are all these villains that want to come after you. Can you be a parent? Should you be a parent? What does it mean when you are a parent to balance all of those things? And ultimately, does being a parent make you better at being a superhero?"
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be out in theaters on July 25, 2025.
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