The Fantastic Four: First Steps Trailer Brings Marvel’s First Family Into The MCU

3… 2… 1… Blast off! The time has finally come for the Fantastic Four – aka Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch, and The Thing – to take their first steps into the MCU, after years and years of waiting. The blue-suited quartet are all-out Marvel royalty, long considered ‘Marvel’s first family’ since their comic debut in the 1960s – and now, they’re entering Kevin Feige’s shared universe at long last, after several (not-hugely-successful) attempts under Fox. This time, we have Pedro Pascal as super-stretchy Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as the transparent Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as the flame-headed Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as rock-dude Ben Grimm – whose cosmic mission delivers them all-new abilities. Check out the trailer here:

Phew! There’s real pressure here for Marvel Studios to knock it out of the park with First Steps – and from the looks of things, they’re on the right track. We’ve gotta say, it’s fantastic. (...say that again?) The vibe of this one is pure retro-futurism – set in an alternate 1960s, and accentuating the fashion, art style, and pastel colours of the era. Matt Shakman is directing here, and given how artfully he recreated decades of sitcoms in every episode of WandaVision, he’s now bringing those talents to his first Marvel feature film.

While this is just a first teaser, it offers tidbits of everything you want to see – the Four chilling out in the Baxter building; Johnny Storm flaming on; Sue Storm turning invisible; the Fantasticar whizzing through the streets; even robot H.E.R.B.I.E. (though, we’re still no closer to finding out who’s doing the voice there). Plus, we have The Thing cooking dinner – because, if you’re going to cast Richie from The Bear, you gotta get him in the kitchen at least once. Corner! All that, and we got a brief, mysterious glimpse of a long-haired John Malkovich – and most excitingly of all, an early peek at big (and we mean big) bad Galactus. Chills. No sign, yet, though, of Reed’s stretching abilities.

Will the Fantastic Four fare better on the big screen as part of the MCU? How will that actually enter the ‘Sacred Timeline’ universe? And will we get an early glimpse of Robert Downey Jr.’s much-anticipated Dr. Doom ahead of Avengers: Doomsday? We’ll find out when The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits UK cinemas on 25 July.