Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
To mark the occasion, Marvel Studios has released a new poster for The Fantastic Four: First Steps following previous efforts which showcased the team in its entirety (alongside H.E.R.B.I.E.) and a piece focusing on the Human Torch taking flight.
Alas, this effort is a little less revealing and simply features a "4" holiday ornament and some well-wishes from Marvel's First Family. It's a shame the decoration isn't in the shape of the Fantasticar, for example, while it would have been pretty cool for Galactus' face - or something along those lines - to be reflected in it too.
Still, we can't complain about officially released content from The Fantastic Four: First Steps and we're still seeing reports that a trailer won't be released until January or February (so, no last-minute 2024 surprises, unfortunately).
Earlier this year, the reboot's director, Matt Shakman, explained why this movie won't serve as yet another origin story for the team.
"One of the things we decided early on was not to do an origin story," the WandaVision helmer explained. "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."
He'd add, "The great thing about this is we're building a new universe where there are no other heroes. It's the Fantastic Four."
We're definitely intrigued to see where The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes these characters, especially as they don't hail from Earth-616. Check out this new poster in the social posts 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, and Natasha Lyonne have been cast in mystery roles.
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.