Did The Fantastic Four: First Steps Trailer Edit Out Reed’s Stretching Powers?

Marvel Studios just released the first teaser trailer for their highly anticipated film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Fans are thrilled at the prospect of Marvel’s First Family finally joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe and all of the narrative possibilities this presents. While the teaser isn’t very long, it does give fans a sense of what to expect when it opens in July of this year. We catch glimpses of the retro-futuristic universe the film takes place in,  a bit of the family dynamic, and even a peek at Galactus, one of the Fantastic Four’s oldest enemies. All in all, the movie is shaping up to be a pretty faithful adaptation of the source material.

Of course, because this is just a teaser, it leaves fans with even more questions than answers. John Malkovich can be seen in the teaser, but who is he playing? Why is the film called First Steps? And will Doctor Doom make his appearance in this film?

But the teaser presents fans with another mystery that’s got fans buzzing: How come we got to see everyone’s powers on display except those of Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic?

The teaser trailer shows us short flashes of Sue Storm turning invisible and generating force fields, Johnny Storm igniting as the Human Torch, and Ben Grimm in his rocky form as the Thing, but we never see Reed and his superhuman stretchy powers. In fact, despite having a large presence in the teaser, he’s there more to show off his intellectual rather than his physical abilities. There’s one particular shot, however, that looks like it may have been edited, which is when Reed is working out some equations on a chalkboard. Look to his left, and you’ll see that the shadow obscuring the chalkboard looks especially pronounced, like it was added in after the fact.

We’re purely speculating here, but there may be a couple of reasons why his stretchy powers may have been edited out of the teaser.

For example, the powers that be may have concluded that the effects needed to bring his elasticity to life weren’t quite ready to show the world. This would give the visual effects team more time to perfect the effect. Past depictions of Reed’s powers have been far from perfect, so here’s hoping Marvel Studios goes the extra mile to make it look great onscreen.

Another reason why Reed’s elastic abilities may have been edited out of the teaser could be that this shot is hiding something important. What it could be is anybody’s guess, but this wouldn’t be the first time Marvel Studios has edited out a spoiler-y detail from a trailer. One of the trailers for Spider-Man: No Way Home featured a shot of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man leaping into action during the climactic fight scene at the Statue of Liberty. But eagle-eyed fans noticed not only how strange it was that one Spider-Man was taking on multiple villains at the same time, but that there was a moment when the Lizard seemed to be kicked in the face by an invisible force. This reveal only fueled fan speculation that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men would be in the film, as well. This rumor, of course, turned out to be true.

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Is That Shot Really Important?

While there’s definitely the possibility that this shot is hiding something that will prove crucial in the film, there’s also the possibility that the shot won’t even end up in the final cut of the movie. There have been plenty of trailers for past Marvel Studios films that featured shots that didn’t make the finished product, such as the shot of the Hulk charging with the Avengers in Wakanda from the trailer for Avengers: Infinity War or the shot of Spider-Man swinging through the sky with Iron Man flying next to him in the trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming. The suspicious-looking shot may even just be a placeholder used to fill up some runtime.

We may very well be making something out of nothing. But still, it sure is fun to speculate. Chime in below with your thoughts on that shot!

The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in theaters on July 25th.