I’ve been rethinking one of Marvel’s biggest promises regarding the story of The Fantastic Four: First Steps after the release of the MCU reboot’s first teaser trailer. There are few upcoming Marvel projects that I’m as excited about as The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and the movie’s trailer release has made me even more intrigued about the reinvention of Marvel’s First Family. The Fantastic Four’s battle against Galactus and Shalla-Bal’s Silver Surfer will surely be at the center of First Steps’ narrative, but I think Marvel has more up its sleeve.

I have no doubt that Marvel Studios and director Matt Shakman will handle the Fantastic Four better than 20th Century Fox ever did, and the teaser trailer only cements this belief. However, the trailer also makes me think that Marvel might have been tricking us, as Kevin Feige revealed The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ story wouldn’t include one element back in 2022 that I now think will be seen in the Phase 6 movie. With The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ July 25 release date on the horizon, I’m hopeful Marvel explores this one secret story.

Kevin Feige Confirmed The Fantastic Four: First Steps Wouldn’t Be An Origin Story In 2022

Marvel First Teased The Fantastic Four Reboot In 2019

Both 2005’s Fantastic Four and the 2015 reboot explored versions of the origin story of the тιтular foursome, with the former staying fairly true to the Fantastic Four’s origin story in Marvel Comics. Similarly to Spider-Man, since the Fantastic Four’s backstory is quite well-known, Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in July 2022 that First Steps will avoid retelling the team’s origin story. Matt Shakman doubled-down on this at 2024’s SDCC while speaking to Entertainment Weekly, and, at the time, I understood this reasoning.

One of the things we decided early on was not to do an origin story. One of the ways we’re making it our own thing is we’re not telling the story of them going up and being changed, and starting our story [there]. There’s a lot of well-known narrative that leads into that moment, right? And then you’re making up your new story starting basically at the end of the first act, and we thought, ‘Well, let’s just start this thing off on a completely new foot.’ So we are beginning after that.

In Marvel Comics, the Fantastic Four first received their remarkable abilities after sneaking aboard a space shuttle and traveling into space, hoping to beat the Communists in the Space Race. In orbit, the foursome were exposed to dangerous cosmic rays that transformed their biology, allowing them to become a family unit of superheroes. 2005’s Fantastic Four stayed close to this story, while 2015’s reboot butchered it completely, so I actually think it’s a shame that Marvel Studios isn’t bringing this origin story to life properly, but my worries might yet be ᴀssuaged.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps Trailer Makes Me Certain We’ll See The Team’s Origin Story

First Steps’ Teaser Trailer Released On February 4, 2025

Even though I doubt that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will explore the team’s origin story in detail and in chronological order, the first teaser trailer for the Phase 6 movie has convinced me that we will indeed see the origin of the Four’s powers. Whether this be in flashbacks or in a montage, I’m sure we’ll get a glimpse at the team’s first flight into space and their initial transformation. This is supported by the fact that we have already seen flashes to a time prior to Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm becoming the Thing.

At one moment during The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ exciting trailer, Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards and Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm speak about “the first time” they traveled into space. This is presumably the journey that culminated in them receiving their powers, and the fact that this is discussed so directly makes me sure that we’ll at least see a snippet of this dramatic event. I don’t think this will be a full retelling of the story, and the MCU could make many changes from the Fantastic Four’s Marvel Comics history, but this prospect still makes me very excited.

How The Fantastic Four’s Origin Story Could Be Different In The MCU To Marvel Comics

Marvel Studios Could Adapt The Origin Story To Better Fit The MCU

It’s a simple trip to space in Marvel Comics that leads the Fantastic Four into the path of the cosmic rays that gives them superpowers, but this story doesn’t need to be so basic in the MCU. Marvel Studios’ audiences are used to some outlandish and fantastical storylines, so some creative liberties can be taken when bringing the Fantastic Four’s origin story back to the big-screen. Most notably, I am convinced the origin of the team’s powers will have something to do with the multiverse, perhaps supporting theories that the Fantastic Four aren’t originally from their retro-futuristic, 1960s-inspired Earth.

Instead, I think Marvel Studios could explain that the Fantastic Four were born on the MCU’s Earth-616. Reed Richards, as the Smartest Man Alive, could have easily discovered multiversal travel in the 1960s, and the team may have set out to explore new dimensions, perhaps coming into contact with some multiversal radiation that gave them their powers and trapped them in another reality. We’ve already seen something similar happen to Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau in the MCU, so I think this could be a brilliant explanation for some of The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ most confusing plot points.

I’m Excited To See The Fantastic Four’s MCU Origin Story

I Want Marvel To Recreate The Fantastic Four’s Origin

Yes, the Fantastic Four’s origin story has been brought to the screen a few times, but only one of these was comic-accurate, and that was 20 years ago. I think more than enough time has pᴀssed to make it appropriate for Marvel Studios to tell this origin story in live-action again, particularly since there will be many audience members out there who aren’t completely familiar with every detail of Marvel’s history. I’m very hopeful that we’ll at least get a rundown of how the Fantastic Four received their powers in the MCU.

This could easily be done in the same way that Marvel Studios has recently revealed an alternate Spider-Man origin story in the animated Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man series. This saw Peter Parker get bitten by the fateful spider, but then jumped months ahead, neglecting to show us how he dealt with the emergence of his powers. The Fantastic Four: First Steps could show us the team getting blasted with cosmic rays and receiving their gifts, but then jump forward to tell a completely new story by bringing the Fantastic Four face-to-face with Galactus.

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  The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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