WithThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsfinally hitting theaters worldwide this week,Marvel Studioshas a chance at fully winning back the fans who may have drifted away over the past few years.It’s been a long time since anyone was able to walk into one of Marvel Studios’ movies without having at least watched one other movie or television show beforehand. Even last year’s popular hit,Deadpool and Wolverine, came with so much baggage, in-jokes, and references to other movies that it required a lot from any new viewer to the MCU.
Matt Shakman’s take on the Fantastic Four seems to prove thatKevin Feigeand Marvel have finally figured out what’s been going wrong with the MCU for so long. Whether or not you’ve read a singleFantastic Fourcomic book or watched a single FF cartoon or previous movie, none of that matters. More importantly,First Stepsignores all previous MCU movies and series, so you’re able to literally walk into the movie fresh with no advance knowledge, which has become impossible in recent years. If you think about it, every single MCU movie from the past few years has either been a continuation of a previous story or a prequel to an upcoming one. The amount of knowledge needed to follow that continuity must have gotten frustrating, andeven Feige is aware of the problems, including all the “seemingly-abandoned cameos” that have gone unresolved.
Far Too Many of Marvel’s Recent Movies Have Been Continuations
In recent years, Marvel Studios' biggest problem has been partially due to the introduction of so many in-continuity Marvel series on Disney+, as there was a seeming need to continue the stories from those shows into Marvel’s theatrical movies.That’s why we had to followAnthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson version of Captain America fromThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierlimited series intoCaptain America: Brave New WorldandSebastian Stan’s character from that series intoThunderbolts*. Even more criticisms were bandied atBrave New World, centered around the movie being an ersatz sequel to 2008’sThe Incredible Hulk… with only one other actor from that movie (not including cameos).Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova was introduced in 2021’sBlack Widowas the sister of Scarlett Johansson’s title character, along with her father Alexei (David Harbour), but Yelena made a tangent into theHawkeyeseries herself before they were reunited inThunderbolts*.
An even more extreme example of this was 2023’sThe Marvels, featuringIman Vellani’s Kamala Khan, who was just introduced as Ms. Marvel in the Disney+ series of the same name earlier that year, teamed withTeyonah Parris' Monica Rambeau from theWandaVisionlimited series. Because neither of them appeared withBrie Larsonin her box office blockbusterCaptain Marvel, that was already going to be a problem for anyone hoping for a direct sequel. People outright skipped that movie, and it’s one of Marvel’s biggest bombs to date.
‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Review — Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby’s Brilliance Can’t Save Marvel From Repeating a Common Superhero Problem
The MCU’s latest may seem all new, but it’s very familiar.
Even 2021’sShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which was meant as a standalone to introduceSimu Liuas Marvel’s lesser-known martial arts hero, ended up connecting to other aspects of the MCU, including a scene in whichBenedict WongfromDoctor Strangefights against Emily Blonsky’s Abomination fromThe Incredible Hulk, who would then appear back on the Disney+ series,She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.At a certain point, it felt like going to see a Marvel movie required a lot of advance homework, and audience sentiment towards the worlload was reflected in the box office.
Kevin Feige Says Marvel Is Addressing This Problem
As Marvel Studios took on the task of revisiting and reworking the Fantastic Four into what would become the third-released live-action iteration of Marvel’s first family,Kevin Feige knows that one way to solve this problem is by cutting back on the number of movies and series.“It’s that expansion that I think led people to say, ‘Do I have to see all of these? It used to be fun, but now do I have to know everything about all of these?'”he remarked at a recent press event.First Stepslaunches Marvel’s Phase Six, which apparently will only be four films, ending withAvengers: Secret Warsin December 2027. Feige realizes this major event gives Marvel the chance to really clean things up, both literally and figuratively:
“UnlikeEndgame, which really was an ending… we used it to experiment, and we used it to evolve, and then we used it to expand — too much.Secret Wars, as in the comics, is as much about bringing certain storylines to a close as it is launching a new one. And that’s what’s very exciting: already being well into development of the next saga.”
No MCU? No Problem!
Even if you don’t have an inkling about Marvel’s longest-running superhero family,First Stepsquickly fills you in, even as it pulls you into a story that includes classic FF foes like Galactus and Mole Man.And yet, the movie also introduces Marvel’s First Family in a similar way to howStan LeeandJack Kirbyintroduced their characters in the ’60s and ’70s, as if every comic book was the first one someone had ever read — an art that has gotten lost in recent years in the MCU.
First Stepseven begins by proclaiming that it takes place onEarth-828, a number explained later,meaning there is none of the baggage from dozens of previous MCU movies and series for the filmmakers or viewers to worry about.You can watchFirst Stepswithout having any knowledge of Avengers or Thanos or that five-year blip, which has been mentioned in just about every Marvel project sinceAvengers: Infinity War. With no direct connections to the existing MCU – not even Easter eggs, mind you – many Marvel fans are likely to appreciateFirst Stepsas a warm and welcome return to how Marvel slowly introduced heroes like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America before thrusting them intoThe Avengers. Feige even addressed why the Fantastic Four are kept separate from the rest of the MCU:“I think about it less [as] Earth-828 than I think about it as Johnny and Ben and Sue and Reed and Franklin fitting into the world to come, and the storylines to come.”
Untilwe see how those worlds collidein next year’sAvengers: Doomsday,First Stepsworks as a fully standalone movie, where you’re likely to want to see what happens with the characters next. More importantly, you’re able to also just enjoy the movie as a complete story with beginning, middle, and end, meeting “new” characters without baggage. It’s something that the Marvel newbies should love, just as much as those who have religiously read and adored the comics.This seems to be the perfect way to go with the MCU post-Avengers: Secret Wars,which has been said would be a complete reboot.
