A new trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps launched earlier this week, and, well, would it be too on the nose to describe it as fantastic? It's certainly increased excitement for the movie, and we now have a potential plot leak.
This was published a couple of days before the latest trailer arrived, and the sneak peek appears to confirm the validity of at least a few different claims here.
It's said that the movie opens with a late-night talk show celebrating four years of the Fantastic Four. It recaps their origins and previous adventures, but Marvel's First Family is M.I.A. because they're busy battling Red Ghost (John Malkovich) and his Super-Apes.
Silver Surfer shows up on Halloween and things play out as we saw in the trailer; the team follows Galactus' Herald into space, but Sue goes into labour during the journey and it's revealed that her and Reed's son, Franklin, has a rare "genetic anomaly" that gives him God-like power of molecular manipulation.
The Fantastic Four confronts Galactus, and he offers to spare Earth in exchange for Franklin as he wishes to use the boy to revive his dead universe; they refuse.
Back on Earth, the team's adoring public turns on them because they won't sacrifice one child in exchange for billions of lives and storm the Baxter Building, going so far as to attack H.E.R.B.I.E. The Fantastic Four go into hiding, and Natasha Lyonne's Sharon (likely Sharon Ventura, who, in the comics, becomes the female Thing) helps them seek refuge in Subterranea.
Mole Man (played by Paul Walter Hauser) has become an ally to the team since clashing with them years earlier, and Sharon convinces him to send his Moloids to rescue people while the Fantastic Four battle Galactus on the surface.
With the Silver Surfer's help, the team beats the World Eater and saves the day. Mole Man and Sharon become an item, the public adores the team again, and a year later, that same talk show celebrates five years of the heroes. However, they miss it again because they're busy saving the world.
If this leak is accurate, then this sounds like a really fun movie and a comic-accurate take on the characters.
It's also apparent that the heroes are still on their Earth when Avengers: Doomsday begins. However, between Galactus searching for a dead reality and Franklin's God-like powers, it's not hard to see how important the team will be to what happens there.
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 set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.