By Aiden Plumbe

Marvel Studios’ latest movie just released on July 24 with Fantastic Four: First Steps. The film is directed by Matt Shakman who also famously directed the Wandavision series. It cost $200 million to make and made $220 million in its opening weekend. The story is set in a retro-futuristic world and stars one of Marvel’s first teams and families, the Fantastic Four, and their mission to defend Earth from Galactus and the Silver Surfer. The four members of the team are Mr Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Mrs Fantastic (Vanessa Kirby), The Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). 

There are many significant and noteworthy aspects of the new movie, from its place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to its real-world importance. 

A Fantastic Beginning

The MCU is split into sagas and phases. The Infinity Saga included phases 1-3 and revolved around the infinity stones, culminating with Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. We are now currently in the Multiverse Saga (phases 4-6) which revolves around exactly that; the multiverse. It will most likely culminate with Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Fantastic Four: First Steps is significant because it is the first movie of Phase 6 and thus the beginning of the end of the Multiverse Saga. Other films set to release in this phase include Spider-Man: Brand New Day and both Avengers movies. There will also be several Disney+ projects such as Eyes of Wakanda, Wonder Man, the Punisher special, Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 and Vision Quest. Doctor Doom is set to be the main antagonist of this saga much like Thanos was for the Infinity Saga. He is also one of the Fantastic Four’s most famous villains in the comics. With all four actors of the Fantastic Four confirmed to return in Avengers: Doomsday, it is safe to assume that they will have a very important role in the near future of the franchise. Doctor Doom might even make an appearance in Fantastic Four: First Steps as an introduction to the character before his big moment in the next Avengers movie. 

A Fantastic Earth

One of the biggest complaints about the MCU in recent years is the amount of “homework” that you have to do to watch a Marvel movie. Marvel, since the beginning, has created a universe of highly interconnected stories and films. Characters appearing in other characters’ films. Large team-up movies between a wide array of characters. Yet one of the most known features is Marvel’s mid-credit scenes which occur in between the rolling of the closing credits. These often tease upcoming projects or the potential future of “what’s to come”. Although this is an exciting event for devoted Marvel fans, numerous watchers claim that it is extremely difficult to watch a Marvel movie by itself without having to know all the background information from previous projects. Because all films are set in the same world, every story affects the other which can be confusing for new watchers. 

Fantastic Four: First Steps completely breaks this though, being set in a completely new world, a completely new universe. The film takes place in a retro-futuristic world where the Fantastic Four are the only superheroes. This new world is called Earth 838 which differs from the main universe of the MCU called Earth 616. Of course, this is not the first time that we have seen other Earths. In Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness, Deadpool and Wolverine, Loki and others, different universes are explored. However, this is the first time that the story is set completely separate from other universes. It is completely stand-alone. This solves one of the problems that people have had with having to know the universe history of the main MCU universe. 

A Fantastic Movie

Fantastic Four: First Steps is the fifth attempt at making a Fantastic Four movie. For years, Hollywood producers have tried to make a good Fantastic Four movie and this is generally the first success. The Fantastic Four (1994), Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic Four: the Silver Surfer and Fantastic Four (2015) all received terrible Rotten Tomatoes audience and critic scores, with only Fantastic Four: the Silver Surfer being the only film to achieve an audience score of over 50% (but not by much; 51%). Fantastic Four (2015) was the lowest-scoring movie with an audience score of 18% and critic score of 9%. Fantastic Four: First Steps, however, has received an audience score of 92% and a critic score of 89%, utterly destroying the previous scores. The disparity between the audience scores of the Fantastic Four movies is so large that Fantastic Four: First Steps has a 41% advantage on Fantastic Four: the Silver Surfer. 

Most attempts to make a good Fantastic Four movie have failed, having repetitive storylines and trying too hard to differentiate from the comics. The 1994 movie never even officially released which will be spoken about later. The 2007 movie got a sequel before it was discontinued and the 2015 movie lost the studio around $80 million. The new movie has a unique and creative style. It appeals to the classic “comic-booky” retro feel of the original Fantastic Four comics, setting itself apart from the previous attempts. 

The new film is also a fantastic win for Marvel. Over the past few years since the end of the Infinity Saga with Avengers: Endgame, many people have lost trust in Marvel as their projects dropped significantly in quality. This is for many reasons. After the Infinity Saga’s end, Marvel lost direction and a clear goal for the franchise’s future. They were also transferred to the Walt Disney Studios which meant that they could make content for Disney+. As a result, Disney reportedly forced Marvel into mass-producing content for their new streaming service which significantly dropped the projects’ quality. However, Marvel has recently been trying to take their time with production and create quality content. After the positive reaction of Thunderbolts* earlier in the year, Marvel has begun to earn back audience’s trust with Fantastic Four: First Steps. 

A Fantastic Tribute

In the early 1990s, producer Bernd Eichinger held the film rights for Marvel’s Fantastic Four which they had acquired in 1986 from Marvel Comics. There was one condition to these film rights – they had to be put into production by a certain time or they would revert back to Marvel. As the deadline loomed closer in 1992, Eichinger had not secured a studio that would back a large superhero film that the property deserved. To retain the rights, Eichinger hired Roger Corman, famous for making ultra-low-budget movies quickly, who agreed to make the movie with just under $1 million. However, the plan was never to actually release the movie, just to make the deadline before the rights lapsed. The cast and crew, though, were left in the dark and believed that they were in a real movie, being promoted in the media and some thinking that this was going to be their big break. However, when filming finished, Marvel executives stepped in to bury the film. 

The cast—Alex Hyde‑White (Mr. Fantastic), Rebecca Staab (Invisible Woman), Jay Underwood (Human Torch), and Michael Bailey Smith (Ben Grimm)—were heart-broken at the betrayal. However, as leaked and booted VHS copies of the film began to appear, it began to build a cult of supporters. And, over thirty years later, Marvel Studios decided to cameo these original four actors in the newest Fantastic Four movie, appearing as TV news reporters and factory workers. They all attended the Los Angeles premiere, lifting the so-called “curse” on the franchise. 

Another Fantastic Tribute

The 1960s is sometimes called the Silver Age of comic books, with companies like Marvel releasing some of their most notable characters like Iron Man, Black Panther, Thor and, of course, the Fantastic Four. All of those were created by the two comic legends, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Jack Kirby created two of the most notorious Fantastic Four villains himself – Galactus and Silver Surfer. 

Fantastic Four: First Steps pays tribute to Jack Kirby with numerous details hidden throughout the film. First of all, the story itself is set in a retro-futuristic Earth, inspired by the 1960s, which is called Earth 828. This is a direct nod to Kirby’s birthdate (August 28th, 1917). Kirby based the character of Ben Grimm (The Thing) much on himself, both having Jewish backgrounds and growing up in the Lower East side of Manhattan. In the film, Grimm finds himself on Yancy st where he grew up as a child. Although Yancy st isn’t a real street in Manhattan, it is said to be based on the real-life Delancey Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side where Kirby grew up. The names of Ben Grimm and Sue Storm are also meant to be tributes to Kirby’s father and sister respectively. Similarly, Ben Grimm’s love interest in the comics and movie is Rachel Rozman. In real life, Kirby’s wife was called Rosalind and often known as “Roz”. 

Finally, as the credits of the film begin to finish, a quote from Kirby appears onscreen, reading “If you look at my characters, you will find me. No matter what kind of character you create or assume, a little of yourself must remain there.” 

A Fantastic Future

The Fantastic Four was Marvel’s first family and, for decades, they were one of the pillars of Marvel comics. However, when Marvel sold the film rights of the team, they lost some of their most popular characters. Thus, in creating the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they turned to the Avengers as their central team. However, now with Fantastic Four back in the MCU, they are sure to have a crucial role in the future of Marvel films. In the Fantastic Four comics, Doctor Doom is a classic villain of the team, one of their most well-known. With the upcoming Avengers movie focusing on the arrival of Doctor Doom, the Fantastic Four’s importance in the Marvel future is only increased.