Marvel Studios will finally be making one huge change to the MCU in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but we can’t believe it’s taken four years of the Multiverse Saga to make it happen. After years of waiting, the first teaser trailer for Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps reboot has provided a glimpse at the alternate universe setting of the upcoming movie. Scheduled to release on July 25, 2025, First Steps will do something no other MCU movie has done from beginning to end, and it’s surprising Marvel hasn’t explored this avenue before.

Ever since the Fantastic Four were confirmed to be coming to the MCU following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019, there has been the question of how their absence from the franchise’s history would be explained. Some theorized that the team could simply be retconned into the 1960s of the MCU, or suggested they may have become trapped in the Quantum Realm. However, Marvel Studios has taken The Fantastic Four: First Steps in a very different direction – we only wish Marvel had made this incredible choice much earlier.

I’m Glad Marvel Is Finally Focusing On The MCU’s Alternate Universe In A Way It Hasn’t Before

The Fantastic Four: First Steps Will Explore A New Reality In The MCU’s Multiverse

The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be the first MCU movie ever to be set entirely in an alternate universe. Marvel Studios kick-started the Multiverse Saga in 2021 after the Infinity Saga’s conclusion with the Mad тιтan Thanos’ defeat. Even so, not many Multiverse Saga projects have actually taken place in parallel realities, and none have set their entire story on these other worlds. The teaser trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps has proven just how much potential this offers Marvel, however, so it’s surprising no other projects have taken advantage of this possibility.

Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach will be debuting in the MCU as the Fantastic Four from an alternate, retro-futuristic, 1960s-inspired universe. They will be established as celebrity superheroes, mirroring the likes of The Beatles in their costumed line-up and the famous Tour of the White House with Jackie Kennedy. This alternate world will be deeply inspired by the Space Race of the mid-to-late 20th Century, and will create new opportunities for Marvel Studios to take some exciting creative liberties.

I Wish More Live-Action Multiverse Saga Movies & TV Shows Had Focused On Alternate Realities

Other Live-Action Multiverse Saga Projects Should Have Explored Alternate Worlds

While the exploration of an entirely new universe in The Fantastic Four: First Steps is incredibly exciting, it would have been brilliant to see Marvel Studios take advantage of the Multiverse Saga’s core narrative even more. More live-action movies and TV shows dating back to the very beginning of the Multiverse Saga should have been set completely in alternate realities. Marvel Studios has only provided short glimpses into a handful of other worlds, most notably in projects such as Loki, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and The Marvels, but so much more could have been done.

Marvel Animation’s What If…? series introduced many alternate worlds, but we wanted more of these to be seen in live-action. This could have debuted a much wider array of interesting variants, and even brought back classic Marvel actors, such as was the case for ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine. Moments on Earth-838 in Multiverse of Madness and in another universe in The Marvels were exhilarating, so it would have been great for the MCU to take even more of these chances, and this would have made Phase 6’s upcoming crossovers even stronger.

Exploring Alternate MCU Worlds Would Have Made Avengers: Doomsday & Secret Wars More Exciting

The MCU’s Alternate Realities Could Have Converged In Phase 6

Marvel Studios recently revealed the first batch of cast actors in 2026’s upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, and this included several returning stars from universes outside the MCU’s main continuity. Most notably, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, Rebecca Romijn, Kelsey Grammer and Alan Cumming will be reprising their roles from Fox’s X-Men universe, while Channing Tatum will also be reprising his X-Men-related role of Gambit. Doomsday and Secret Wars could have benefited mᴀssively from further exploration of the MCU’s multiverse.

Not only the X-Men, but many other live-action characters from alternate worlds could have converged in Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, had they been developed beforehand. Of course, past versions of iconic characters could still return, such as Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, Wesley Snipes’ Blade, Ioan Gruffudd’s Mister Fantastic and more, but we would have loved to have seen some original characters introduced in the Multiverse Saga, too. This would have made Doomsday and Secret Wars even more exciting as Marvel Studios’ biggest movies ever.

Marvel Can Learn From The Multiverse Saga’s Mistakes In The MCU’s Next Chapter

Whatever Comes After The Multiverse Saga Should Be Planned Out Better

Despite being named the Multiverse Saga, this recent chapter of the MCU hasn’t explored the multiverse as much as it could have. The Multiverse Saga has also been developing supernatural, political and street-level narratives, which has stolen focus from the multiverse, whereas many of the projects in the Infinity Saga featured or directly developed the Infinity Stones and Thanos’ influence. Marvel Studios can learn from its Multiverse Saga mistakes in the MCU’s next Saga, which is heavily rumored to be the “Mutant Saga.”

If this is the case, mutants and the X-Men need to take center-stage from the very beginning of this Saga. It would be a shame for Marvel Studios to wait four years into a suspected “Mutant Saga” to explore the X-Men directly, just as The Fantastic Four: First Steps will intimately explore an alternate universe from beginning to end, four years after the Multiverse Saga began. Marvel would benefit from streamlining the MCU, allowing for a more interconnected narrative and a clearer direction, which would ᴀssuage the repeat of many recent criticisms.

Upcoming MCU Movies

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  Thunderbolts*

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  May 2, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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  July 25, 2025
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Doomsday (2026)

  
  
  
  
  

  
  

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  MCU Spider-Man 4

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  July 24, 2026
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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  Avengers: Secret Wars

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  May 7, 2027
  

  
  
  
  

  
  

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