Summary
Marvel’s First Family is finally getting its time to shine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, withThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsmarking the team’s return to the silver screen for the first time since Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in 2019. Although the fan-favorite quartet has something of a checkered past in terms of their standalone movies, Matt Shakman’sThe Fantastic Four: First Stepshopes to redeem the legacy of Reed Richard, Sue and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm.
AlthoughJohn Krasinski’s version of Mister Fantasticdid technically appear in 2022’sDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it’s over to Pedro Pascal to carry the role long-term. He’s joined by an all-star cast of Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in their respective roles as the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing. This is just the tip of the casting iceberg, withThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsin danger of overloading the ensemble with too many characters.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Confirmed and Rumored Villains
Marvel Studios has only just revealed the first trailer forFirst Steps, withRalph Ineson’s Galactus(quite literally) standing tall over everything. Like the Fantastic Four, the inclusion of Galactus has been a big talking point of the Fox acquisition. Despite some complaints that the Devourer of Worlds doesn’t look big enough in the trailer, fans have only been given a fleeting glimpse of him. Galactus’ look is already splitting fandom, but at least it’s better than the floating cloud fromRise of the Silver Surfer. Of course, Galactus tends to come with his own herald in the form of the Silver Surfer.
Speaking of which, Julia Garnia is confirmed to be playing theShalla-Bal version of the Silver Surfer, which will give audiences something different to the version seen in Tim Story’sFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The Silver Surfer has been typically associated as more of an antihero over the years, so having her team up with the Fantastic Four before the credits roll will likely count her out as a traditional villain. Still, it’s just as possible she’ll be Galactus’ villainous sidekick to save her homeworld. Interestingly, there was no sign of the character in the first trailer, leaving fans to question what Garner will look like in this wholly motion-capture role.
There’s also plenty of intrigue surrounding who John Malkovich is playing inFirst Steps. The first trailer hinted that therumors he’s playing Red Ghostcould be true. Introduced in 1963’sFantastic Four#13, Ivan Kragoff was a Soviet scientist who dedicated his life to ensuring Russia would win the great space race. He purposefully exposed himself to the same cosmic rays that gave the Fantastic Four their powers, also mutating his Super-Apes team. Speculation led some to believe that Natasha Lynne would be playing blind sculptor Alicia Masters, leaving Malkovich to play her stepfather, the Puppet Master. Malkovich portraying Red Ghost seems to make more sense, especially given the character’s ties to the Fantastic Four’s origin story.
If that wasn’t enough, the equally mysterious role of Paul Walter Hauser led to theories he’s playing the iconic Mole Man, with later reports suggesting he’ll play the foe in an action-packed opening scene. Finally, there’s the Robert Downey Jr.-shaped elephant in the room. Following the fallout of the Jonathan Majors/Kang the Conqueror debacle, Marvel Studios spectacularly announced the return of theIron Manactor in a very different role. It’s been confirmed that Downey Jr. is playing Victor von Doom rather than a Tony Stark variant, with reports thatDoctor Doom will have a small role inFirst Steps. Although there’s still some confusion about what all of this means.First Stepstaking place in a retro-futuristic 1960s means it’s a time before Tony Stark was even born.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Needs To Avoid Villain Overload
There are already concerns that a villain likeGalactus having the potential of the next Thanoscould be wasted on just one movie. As the title ofAvengers: Doomsdaysuggests, RDJ’s Doctor Doom is expected to be the de facto big bad. There’s also the inevitable crossover chaos ofAvengers: Secret Wars, although there’s a strong chance that Galactus will appear in one or both of these. Either way, the events ofFirst Stepsare expected to lead into the next two-partAvengersoutings.
The MCU has a questionable history with cramming multiple villains into its movies.Ant-Man and the Waspglossed over the obscure Egghead, whileCaptain Marvelsimilarly struggled to juggle the Supreme Intelligence and Yon-Rogg, and the less said aboutIron Man’s Mandarin fakeout/making Aldrich Killian a last-minute villain, the better. There’s a reason the MCU tends to stick to one villain, with theGuardians of the Galaxymovies continuing to waste Benicio del Toro’s Collector as a prime example. IfFirst Stepshas four ‘villains’, it’s more than overkill and could repeat a major mistake thatSam Raimi’sSpider-Man 3made when it tried to balance Green Goblin, Venom, and Sandman.
CGI Super-Apes seem like too much to cram intoFirst Steps, although groundingFirst Stepsin the midst of a space race against the backdrop of the Cold War would at least give some ties between this reality and the ‘main’MCU of Earth-616. It’s also this meddling in the cosmos that could draw the attention of Galactus and Shalla-Bal. The official synopsis teases that Galactus is connected to the bigger picture, with The Walt Disney Company confirming:
“[The Fantastic Four] 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.”
It’s harder to weave Mole Man into things, but just likeThe Incrediblesgave its own tease of the Mole Man-inspired Underminer in its final scene, Shakman could sow the seeds for future movies.
Even before the Fantastic Four were confirmed as early cast additions toAvengers: Doomsday, it was always likely that the team was going to stick around into the next phase of the MCU. The problem is, there’s no word on what’s next for the Fantastic Four or the trajectory of the MCU following the rumoredreboot coming alongsideSecret Wars. There’s also the frustrating fact that the MCU continues to be called out for post-credit scenes from the likes ofEternalsandThor: Love and Thunderleaving fans on cliffhangers for years. WithThe Fantastic Four: First Stepstipped to add some of the team’s most iconic foes, it sadly seems inevitable that some of them will be devoured by the sheer might of introducing Galactus to the story. Just be thankful Annihilus hasn’t been thrown into the mix.
