Marvel's Fast-Approaching Epic Is a 'No-Homework-Required Movie'
Call it the summer of not worrying if you understand superhero movies. After DC's Superman dropped audiences into a sprawling world with very little exposition, the next Marvel epic, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, will do much the same, but in an entirely different way. In fact, although the post-credits scene of Thunderbolts* teased a huge connection between Fantastic Four and the rest of the MCU, this next Marvel film requires no previous knowledge of any Marvel movie, ever.
"It is a no-homework-required movie. It literally is not connected to anything we’ve made before," Marvel boss Kevin Feige said in a new, wide-ranging interview with Variety. "We always were planning, even before that became a talking point, to introduce them [the Fantastic Four] in their own world in which they are the only heroes."
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So, while longtime Marvel fans should certainly expect a post-credits scene that teases how the Fantastic Four will connect to Avengers: Doomsday next year, the actual movie itself won't be jammed with references to the rest of the MCU. As all the trailers have teased, The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in an alternate timeline, in which the titular heroes are astronauts, and the technology of the 1960s is much more advanced than it was in our universe.
How all of this connects to the larger MCU isn't really the point. For now, Marvel wants you to simply enjoy the story of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm on their own terms. The Fantastic Four were created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, and first appeared in Marvel Comics in 1961. At the time, the success of the title was something of a surprise in the world of comics and led to a Marvel Comics renaissance in the 1960s.
Can the new Fantastic Four do something similar for the MCU in 2025? We won't have long to wait. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is out everywhere on Friday, July 25.
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