THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Character Posters Released As Matt Shakman Talks Team's Absence From Earth-616

Newly revealed character posters for The Fantastic Four: First Steps put the spotlight on Marvel's First Family and H.E.R.B.I.E., while filmmaker Matt Shakman addresses the team's absence from Earth-616.

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By JoshWilding - Jul 14, 2025 08:07 AM EST

Filed Under: Fantastic Four

Did Superman overperform or underperform this weekend? It depends on who you ask, but many fans are already looking ahead to The Fantastic Four: First Steps and how its opening weekend will compare to the Man of Steel's reported $213 million haul.

Marvel Studios is upping the ante in terms of marketing, and we now have some new posters featuring the MCU's First Family and H.E.R.B.I.E.

While some of the character images used here will likely be familiar to you, these are still very cool and are likely to further increase excitement for this team's long-awaited, long-overdue MCU debut.

Until the Disney/Fox merger (announced in 2017 and completed in 2019), the Fantastic Four franchise was controlled by 20th Century Fox. That meant the team was off-limits to Marvel Studios, leaving Kevin Feige to introduce the heroes in a post-Avengers: Endgame MCU.

That might explain why The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in a parallel reality inspired by the 1960s. Fans are eager to explore Earth-828 (a nod to Jack Kirby's birthday on August 28), and during a recent UK Launch Event, filmmaker Matt Shakman explained why the events of this movie aren't playing out on the Sacred Timeline, a.k.a. Earth-616.

"We didn’t want them to be on this Earth or the Earth with all the Marvel characters because where were they when Thanos came, right? They would have helped out," the director shared. "They would have solved the problem then."

Marvel Studios probably could have figured out a way to make it so that the team got their powers after Thanos' attack (one popular fan suggestion had them trapped in the Quantum Realm). Now, though, it remains to be seen how the team's integration into the main MCU will be handled post-Avengers: Secret Wars.

Check out these new character posters for The Fantastic Four: First Steps below.

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.

Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles have been cast in mystery roles. Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom is rumoured to appear, though that's surely a given with Avengers: Doomsday on the way.

Director Matt Shakman worked with both Avatar: The Way of Water co-writer Josh Friedman and WandaVision's Cam Squires on The Fantastic Four: First Steps' screenplay, with Eric Pearson (Black Widow) later coming on board for a final polish.

The movie is set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.

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41 Comments

1 2

harryba11zack - 7/14/2025, 8:39 AM

AllsGood - 7/14/2025, 9:57 AM

@harryba11zack - What's NOT to Like about Marvel Studios Fantastic Four: First Steps?

harryba11zack - 7/14/2025, 10:04 AM

@AllsGood -

AllsGood - 7/14/2025, 10:08 AM

@harryba11zack -

harryba11zack - 7/14/2025, 10:20 AM

@AllsGood -

Apophis71 - 7/14/2025, 8:54 AM

I never liked the idea they were trapped in the QR for 60yrs cos then that would have it that Scott Lang made it out thanks to a rodent then helped get Janet out over the course of a fraction of that time yet the smartest guy on the planet couldn't work out how to do so and the original Wasp somehow didn't know they were also there and facilitate them escaping when her Hubby and crew were trying to free her.

I was however open to the idea they ended up on a parallel timeline back in the 60's thus this 828 bunch were originaly from 616, just time dilation meant decades past for every year there. I'm also however cool with the idea there was a near identical team on the main timeline with near identical backstory but the event that gave them powers over there killed them over here.

Anyway, whichever and whatever think it is cool doing a period retrofuturistic 60's for the reboot however it all pans out and what is/isn't revealed, much better than a third time set in modern times for me as a starting point (opinions will differ).

Nonameforme - 7/14/2025, 8:57 AM

At the rate their spoiling the movie I'm not sure why anyone would want to spend money on it.

dragon316 - 7/14/2025, 9:05 AM

@Nonameforme - people don’t read movie news , don’t read reviews

Nonameforme - 7/14/2025, 9:16 AM

@dragon316 - I don't know what that means

OptimusCrime - 7/14/2025, 9:19 AM

@Nonameforme - i think he means that the majority of the (general) audience doesnt read these articles and just go see the movie.

SummersEssex - 7/14/2025, 9:02 AM

Just gotta give me an explanation how Strange knew the Fantastic Four when he met Reed in MoM

Latverian - 7/14/2025, 9:12 AM

@SummersEssex -

Pretty sure he was referring to the band of the same name, given his music trivia knowledge from the first movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fantastic_Four_(band)

SATW42 - 7/14/2025, 10:24 AM

@SummersEssex - that was a reference to the Beatles

Goldboink - 7/14/2025, 11:09 AM

@SummersEssex -
I think it was just a Beatles joke. Fab Four and all that.

Nomis929 - 7/14/2025, 9:06 AM

I often wonder what the MCU movie chronology would've been if Disney had owned the rights to ALL the characters when they started it in 2008?

Wold they have follow the same way that the comics did and started with A Fantastic Four movie and proceed from there?

ObserverIO - 7/14/2025, 10:59 AM

@Nomis929 - Maybe if they're rebooting, then this movie will count as the first of the new universe. Maybe not.

If they are rebooting fully and X-Men is their first movie and TFFFS doesn't count, then there's your answer I guess. Because they do now have all of their IP at their disposal.

BobGarlen - 7/14/2025, 9:11 AM

Jesus, it's easy. During the events of Infinity War they were off planet. They get snapped. They get brought back during Endgame, still off planet. Not very hard. Not even unbelievable. You could say they were helping another planet or you could have said they were in the Negative Zone. Bare minimum imagination. They wanted it in another universe so they had an excuse to bring in RDJ as Doom. This feels creatively bankrupt.

ObserverIO - 7/14/2025, 11:00 AM

@BobGarlen - It's even easier. Maybe they were doing other things and only found out about the battle when it was on the news later like everyone else.

SethBullock - 7/14/2025, 11:02 AM

@BobGarlen - Yeah, they were trapped in the negative zone, or maybe Kang did something to keep them out of Earth and made everybody forget them because he was related to Reed and thought that could be a weakness for him, like someone could try to kill Reed to make him disappear, idk, there were many ways to do it without having them live in a different universe.

What are they going to do now? Have them move to 616 and forget about their own universe? Merge both universes with some multiversal sh*t? Wouldn't have been much easier to find any excuse that explained why they were not on Earth when Loki or Thanos attacked?

Same thing for the X-Men, Marvel will use some convoluted multiverse sh*t to explain why they didn't fight Thanos when there are many much easier explanations they could use instead.

SteviesRightFoo - 7/14/2025, 9:13 AM

Leaning so heavily on the Multiverse crap was one of the worst decisions disney marvel made

ObserverIO - 7/14/2025, 11:02 AM

@SteviesRightFoo - It's made them a lot of money so far.

SuperCat - 7/14/2025, 9:14 AM

Nomis929 - 7/14/2025, 9:31 AM

@SuperCat - Awesome, SC. One of my Favorite 'MARVEL TEAM UP' comics. :)

Drawn by the legendary Late Great, Gil Kane.

SteviesRightFoo - 7/14/2025, 9:33 AM

@SuperCat - Pedro 🤢

SuperCat - 7/14/2025, 9:39 AM

@Nomis929 - NICE!!

SuperCat - 7/14/2025, 9:40 AM

@SteviesRightFoo - LOL. Hasn't grown on me yet either as Reed.

LukeCage2155 - 7/14/2025, 9:47 AM

@SuperCat -

LukeCage2155 - 7/14/2025, 9:49 AM

@SuperCat -

Goldboink - 7/14/2025, 11:11 AM

@Nomis929 -
$0.20! Loved his work on Morbius back in the day.

Nomis929 - 7/14/2025, 11:19 AM

@Goldboink - YES! I still contend he's the best artist for the lving VAmpire. Gil Kane is now co-created with Roy Thomas as his creator.

Goldboink - 7/14/2025, 12:03 PM

@Nomis929 -

I bought that one off the rack at the candy store in Rockaway, NJ. I will hate Sony forever for messing that up.

Canyoublush - 7/14/2025, 9:29 AM

Maybe it’s just me but all the posters make the team look like their limbs are elongated or that they possess some low level elasticity.

ObserverIO - 7/14/2025, 11:05 AM

@Canyoublush - I hear that Johnny has some low-level elasticity.

TheVisionary25 - 7/14/2025, 9:32 AM

Nice posters!!.

I get their reasoning tbh and while they could have had Reed , Ben , Johnny & Sue already exist in the MCU but get their powers post EG , it seems like they wanted to skip the origin rather then have us see it again in full for a third time…

Also if they had already existed after EG in the MCU , you would have to have already had people know they are around now via mentions or appearances in other films which again could have been possible but not an ideal introduction.

Introducing them front & center in their own universe where they are the only heroes works since it not helps to give us a new world as part of this MULTIVERSE saga but also an aesthetic that harkens back to the characters 60’s roots which I think is cool (even if it’s likely a one-off and they’ll be integrated into the MCU post SW as they have always been there).

Pathogen - 7/14/2025, 10:14 AM

I dont get the love for MoleMan as a main villain? Its kinda lame, no? I don't know much about him, never got interested.

Fogs - 7/14/2025, 10:22 AM

I hate they called the MCU 616.

SATW42 - 7/14/2025, 10:28 AM

So, maybe this was answered in a What If? or something, but why wouldn't Thanos' snap effect ALL universes? If Thanos isn't aware of a multiverse, he wouldn't know to make it exclusively his universe, and if he is aware of the multiverse, why would he only make the snap effect his universe and not half of ALL living life?

smgmayhem - 7/14/2025, 10:51 AM

@SATW42 - They touch on the fact that each universe has their own infinity stones in the Loki show. Also I think canonically the stones will only work within their respective universe.

SATW42 - 7/14/2025, 11:05 AM

@smgmayhem - i totally remember the stones being in Loki, but it still seemed silly that Thanos would think "half of all life" without signifying "in my universe" would stop them from erasing half of ALL life.

If they do only work in ones specific universe, that makes sense but is still...silly? lol

It doesn't matter just something to chat about.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Character Posters Released As Matt Shakman Talks Team's Absence From Earth-616

Newly revealed character posters for The Fantastic Four: First Steps put the spotlight on Marvel's First Family and H.E.R.B.I.E., while filmmaker Matt Shakman addresses the team's absence from Earth-616.

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: Galactus Emerges From The Shadows And His Plan Is Revealed In Epic New FIRST STEPS TV Spot

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS - The Human Torch Tries To Charm The Silver Surfer In New Teaser

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.