The Fantastic Four: First Steps is "Certified Fresh" at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, and boasts an impressive 90% on the fan-generated Popcornmeter. With $520.6 million at the worldwide box office, it isn't Marvel Studios' biggest hit, but it was still 2025's second-highest-grossing superhero movie.
Marvel's First Family will return in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, two blockbusters in which they're expected to play a crucial role. Beyond that, it seems likely that the Fantastic Four will be brought into the present day alongside the Avengers and X-Men in a rebooted MCU.
Marvel Studios hasn't announced any movies or TV shows for post-Secret Wars, though we know Black Panther 3 and an X-Men reboot are both in the works. Now, we may be able to add The Fantastic Four 2 to that short list.
According to @MyTimeToShineH, "Despite not being a huge box office hit, Marvel [is still planning] a Fantastic Four 2 post–Secret Wars and wants Matt Shakman back to direct. They believe the team's role in the Avengers films will draw more people to see the sequel."
Every Avengers movie has, so far, benefited the characters who appeared. All it took was a pager at the end of Avengers: Infinity War to rocket Captain Marvel to $1 billion success, while Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier received noteworthy box office boosts after The Avengers was released in 2012.
Matt Shakman returning to direct shouldn't come as a huge surprise. The filmmaker delivered an excellent movie with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, having previously delivered a contender for the best MCU TV series in WandaVision.
In our review of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, we concluded, "The Fantastic Four is an exceptional introduction to the MCU’s First Family, and thanks to a Jack Kirby-infused feel that’s unlike anything we’ve seen before, it proves to be a quintessential superhero movie with Marvel Studios at its brilliant best.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
The movie is now available on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Disney+.