The Fantastic Four: First Steps is about to hit theaters, and there is a lot riding on it, to say the least. This movie has reintroduced the Fantastic Four to moviegoing audiences for the third time in twenty years; it incorporates the characters and a whole new version of their world into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, while setting the stage for Avengers: Doomsday. That’s quite a bit to accomplish, and while First Steps doesn’t need to spend all of its screen time checking boxes, there are at least five points of explanation we need this film to provide, in order for Avengers: Doomsday to make any kind of sense, narratively and logistically.
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As always, the MCU has set quite a challenging set of goals for itself with Fantastic Four: First Steps, but if the early buzz around the film is any indication, it can pull it off.
5) What Is Doom to the F4?
Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman has made the bold move of stating in promotional interviews (including Empire Magazine) for the film that Robert Downey Jr.’s Victor von Doom is not a part of my film, and therefore not a part of my purview.”
That’s a wild statement for longtime Fantastic Four fans to hear: Doom is not only the F4’s arch-nemesis, their connection runs so deep that the villain’s origin has often been tied to the same events that gave the F4 their abilities, including in both of the previous movie adaptations (2005 and 2015, respectively). There’s always the possibility that Shakman is lying to protect a surprise appearance from RDJ in First Steps, but in case he is being truthful, the film still needs to find a way to define how Doom and the Fantastic Four are connected. Avengers: Doomsday will make Reed Richards vs. Doom a centerpiece of its story, and it would be a serious waste of screen time to have to walk through a situation where Doom and the F4 only become aware of one another for the first time. Even if Doom doesn’t appear in the film directly, First Steps can still find ways to acknowledge his presence, so that Doomsday can hit the ground running.
4) What Is Galactus to the Multiverse?
Ever since Fantastic Four: First Steps made it known that Galactus would be the villain of the film, diehard MCU fans have been wondering how the cosmic being would be framed within the MCU’s ever-expanding Multiverse Saga. The core question a lot of fans are wondering is: does Galactus have variants, or is he a singular being that traverses the multiverse?
Marvel Comics lore has established that it’s the former, with variants of Galactus including the “Gah Lak Tus” robotic drone swarm version of Marvel’s Ultimate Universe (1610), which eventually merged with the humanoid form from the main Marvel 616 universe. However, the MCU has deviated from quite a bit of Marvel comic book lore, especially when it comes to the cosmic side of things. At this point in the franchise, there is equally as much value in introducing the idea of there being a different Galactus for each universe as there is in floating the idea that Galactus is an entity that travels the multiverse, consuming worlds. Whatever the answer, First Steps just needs to confirm which it is.
3) How Did the F4 Become the Biggest Heroes of Their World?
The premise of First Steps has been made pretty clear in trailers: When we meet the F4 in the film, it’s years after a life-changing space voyage left them each endowed with powers; the F4 are some of the biggest pop-culture icons of their time, celebrated for heroic deeds that have seemingly earned them the love and respect of the masses.
And yet, all the discussion and marketing for the film have done very little to let us know what events occurred to catapult the F4 to the heights of hero status. Which villains were defeated, which word-threatening disasters that were averted… everything that would make them the Avengers of their reality. First Steps needs to convey that history without it coming off as shallow expository dumping.
2) What Are Franklin Richards’ Powers in the MCU?
Fantastic Four comes with the subtitle First Steps in part as a reference to the milestone event that is the birth of Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm’s (Vanessa Kirby) son, Franklin. Marvel fans know that in the comics, Franklin Richards is one of the most powerful and pivotal characters in the Marvel Universe; the final previews for the Fantastic Four reboot have confirmed fan theories that Galactus is drawn to Earth because he senses Franklin’s presence there, and comes to claim him. The looming question is: why?
In the comics, Franklin Richards can manipulate the fabric of reality, literally able to create entire worlds and universes from his imagination. That said, the MCU has gotten a little out of control with its power stacking, with bit characters like G’iah (Secret Invasion) currently holding the title of “most powerful character” in the franchise. So, if Franklin Richards is going to be a pivotal character in the climax of this MCU Multiverse Saga, then there needs to be clear guidelines about what his powers are and how strong they are. Avengers: Doomsday won’t have much time to set up the game board. As universes start colliding, we need to already know if and how Franklin can set it all right.
1) Is It Really Them In That Rocket Ship?
Marvel Studios did something we’ve rarely seen them do: seemingly spoil the end of a forthcoming film in the post-credits scene of a preceding film. But the post-credits scene of Thunderbolts* did just that, revealing a jump forward in time to when the New Avengers/Thunderbolts squad make a startling discovery: an unidentified ship entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The New Avengers have no idea what the vessel is, but MCU fans instantly recognized the design in the “4” logo on the side.
Now, since Thunderbolts* was released, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has sown doubt about whether the F4 ship the New Avengers spotted is the same team from First Steps. This has led to rampant fan theories that anyone from the cast of the 2005 Fantastic Four or the 2015 reboot could be the ones seeking refuge, following the end of their universe; another theory posits that the surviving F4 members from Earth-838 could be arriving to finally settle the score for Scarlet Witch killing their Reed during Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Whatever the case may be, the climax of Fantastic Four: First Steps needs to let us know whether or not this new version of the team will start Avengers: Doomsday being stranded on Earth-616.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps will open in theaters and IMAX this week.
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