Third time’s the charm, right? The third major motion picture to focus on Marvel’s Fantastic Four is coming this year, right on schedule: 2005 had the Ioan Gruffudd/Jessica Alba/Chris Evans/Michael Chiklis Four, and 2015’s Four had Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell, which frankly still feels like a whole lot of strange casting.
The casting is not messing around this time. Here’s the synopsis:
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.
For those keeping track, that means this movie stars the stars of a whole lot of other major franchises and award-winning entertainments, from The Last of Us to Mission: Impossible to Stranger Things to The Bear.
This first trailer seems to want to be sure that you remember that Moss-Bachrach is in The Bear; his primary contribution is to get hyped about robot cooking—but also add some garlic to the sauce. As for Kirby, she gets to give a little pep talk about family, which may or may not prompt a viewer to remember that she was also in the Fast and Furious spinoff Hobbs and Shaw.
Directed by WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman, The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in a retro-styled New York that presumably is some other universe than the primary one in other Marvel movies. They have space travel, but Reed is still doing elaborate math on a chalkboard (which means nothing; doesn’t everyone do elaborate math on a chalkboard?). Their cars are neat. John Malkovich has a dramatic wig.
And Galactus, largely unseen, looms over the city. Neither Julia Garner nor Natasha Lyonne turn up in this trailer, but it’s the first of presumably many before The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters on July 25th.
