The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman has addressed the movie’s practical effects and CGI in a new interview promoting the upcoming MCU movie. From what we can see from the first trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps and other promotional images, the movie will strike a distinctly retrofuturistic aesthetic. This has raised questions about how the MCU movie will navigate special effects when its tone feels like something from the 1960s.
Matt Shakman spoke about this in an interview with Empire Online, stating that he wanted to make it feel like it was from the period by using practical effects, stating “I really wanted it to feel like it was made in 1965, the way Stanley Kubrick would have made it,” and revealing that he and the team “Used old lenses, and taken an approach to filmmaking that feels more of the time.” Shakman also admits, however, that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will not shy away from CGI, stating, “Of course, we still have a lot of CG.”
Shakman also reveals that a 14-foot-high spaceship model was used during the filming in a practical effect evocative of those used in the 1960s and 1970s. He further reveals that the aim of The Fantastic Four: First Steps was to make it feel as grounded as possible, stating of its tone:
“I really wanted to go with as grounded a version of space as possible…So, no wormholes. Their tech is very much retro-future, but it’s also booster rockets. It’s a combination of Marvel and Apollo 11.”
What The Fantastic Four: First Steps Director’s CGI Comments Mean
Leaning Into Practical Effects Is A Winning Formula For The MCU
Matt Shakman’s comments suggest that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will tread a fine line between practical and special effects to help make an inherently outlandish setting feel as grounded as possible. At the same time, images of Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Thing reveal that he is rendered entirely with CGI, in stark contrast to the fully practical suit worn by Michael Chiklis in 2005’s Fantastic Four and its sequel. This certainly feels necessary in the modern age of the MCU, however, as modern CGI has come on leaps and bounds.
This is also a winning formula for the MCU. A recent example of practical effects hitting the mark with fans is Agatha All Along, which was filmed almost entirely on a practical set rather than a green screen while using CGI to render such things as Wiccan’s magic. It will be interesting to see how The Fantastic Four: First Steps will handle the mind-bending scale of its main antagonist, Galactus, though we can be confident that depictions of such things as Mister Fantastic’s stretching powers will be almost entirely CGI-rendered.
Our Take On The Fantastic Four: First Steps Director’s CGI Comments
Shakman’s Comments Are A Positive Sign
Given the MCU’s track record with practical effects, Matt Shakman’s comments fill me with confidence. Agatha All Along‘s practical effects may be a more recent example, but we also have such grounded MCU movies as Captain America: The Winter Soldier to help prove the correlation between practical effects and quality in the MCU. While I am not suggesting that The Fantastic Four: First Steps should strike the same grounded tone as that particular movie, it feels like Shakman is taking the right approach with this project, and I look forward to seeing the results.
Upcoming MCU Movies
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Thunderbolts*
- Release Date
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May 2, 2025
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The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
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Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
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Spider-Man: Brand New Day
- Release Date
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July 31, 2026
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Avengers: Secret Wars
- Release Date
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May 7, 2027
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Source: Empire Online
