After hearing Matt Shakman’s newest in-depth comments aboutThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsand its inspiration, I’m even more convinced by the theory that Mister Fantastic accidentally doomed his own Earth in theMCUmovie. As the movie that brings Marvel’s beloved First Family intothe MCU timeline, there’s a lot thatthe story ofThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsarguably needs to get right in its story - especially with the MCU’s Galactus also debuting in the film. Getting the characterization and overall depictions of the now over 60-year-old Marvel team, it would seem, is top of this list.
While the Fantastic Four are by no means Marvel’s most complicated characters to get right, their shared origins, varied dynamics, and extensive comic history do certainly mean a level of nuance needs to be nailed in their stories and introductions. In a unique twist, 2025’supcoming MCU moviemay have already set up a somewhat unusual way to do so with Mister Fantastic, via having his early actions inThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsdoom his own homeworld - with this idea looking even more likely thanks to the director’s latest comments on the matter.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Trailers Already Made It Seem As Though Mister Fantastic Might Have Accidentally Summoned Galactus
The Fantastic Four: First Steps' trailershave revealed a lot about the upcoming MCU movie and its titular cast, with thenewest Fantastic Four trailereven appearing to provide a brief glimpse of Sue and Reeds' firstborn child, Franklin Richards, after previously teasing that Sue would be pregnant within the film’s story. While details like this and the debut of Galactus naturally take center stage in these previews, they also tease other elements of the story, including the notable suggestion that Mister Fantastic accidentally brought the Silver Surfer and Galactus into Earth’s path.
WithinThe Fantastic Four: First Stepstrailers, Reed is shown writing out complicated equations on a chalkboard, which are thought to connect to the concept of the multiverse and potentially multiversal travel. This is something that would make sense since we know the Fantastic Four’s ship arrives in the MCU’s main universe in thepost-credits scenes ofThunderbolts*, and that the team’s story will tie closely into the Multiverse Saga itself.
WithThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsbeing the next MCU movie to release afterThunderbolts*, it appears the stories of the two films will tie directly together, with the Fantastic Four movie’s events no doubt explaining how the ship and the team end up appearing inThunderbolts*.
Combined with Reed confessing to Sue that “It’s my fault. I stretched the bounds of space… and they heard”, the trailers appear to set up the idea that Reed’s work looking into the nature of the multiverse and perhaps testing its boundaries are what place the Fantastic Four’s Earth in danger, since this would be a solid justification for why Galactus begins targeting this world that is also far more engrossing than it simply being random chance. Interestingly, the latest comments fromThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsdirector Matt Shakman reinforce this idea.
Matt Shakman’s Latest Comments About The Fantastic Four: First Steps Make This Theory Seem Even More Likely
Matt Shakman wrotethe foreward for the new Marvel Premiere Collection release “Fantastic Four: Solve Everything”, going into detail about the Fantastic Four’s comics, but also how they inspired his work onThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, and his depiction of the titular team within the MCU movie. Interestingly, the inspiration Shakman takes for Reed Richards certainly seems to align with the idea of the MCU character’s research inadvertently having colossal consequences for him and his family, as the director stated:
As we developed the script for the film, I returned again and again to this epic run — thrilled by brain-bending innovations like the Council of Reeds and riveted by heroic standoffs against the likes of Annihilus. But it was Hickman’s deep insight into the specific family dynamics of the Four that affected me the most.
His Reed Richards is part Steve Jobs and part Oppenheimer, always on the edge of saving the world or destroying it. The author runs right at Mister Fantastic’s weakness: believing that he can and should do it all on his own.Reed is determined to “Solve Everything” — but he learns that the cost of solving everything is… everything. Ultimate knowledge risks ultimate sacrifice: the loss of his family.
WithThe Fantastic Four: First Stepstaking inspiration from this Reed - who is determined to “Solve Everything” and is thus forced to learn this approach’s high price, and that “ultimate knowledge” places his family in danger - it seems all the more likely that the MCU movie’s story replicates this characterization via linking Mister Fantastic’s research and the arrival of the planet-devouring Galactus together. This would also allow the movie to draw more from the comics without needing to introduce some of its more complicated concepts, which has extra benefits for both the source material and the movie adaptation.
This also ties in nicely with the core themes that appear to have been conveyed thus far as part ofThe Fantastic Four: First Steps. With the family and their bond being such a fundamental focus of the film, having one of their members inadvertently place them all in harm’s way would allow the MCU film to not only add further drama to its story, but also delve further into what the family’s bond means to them, and what they’re willing to risk in order to protect one another and their world with the knowledge they’re partially responsible for this new threat.
Introducing Mister Fantastic With One Of His Biggest MCU Mistakes Could Be A Perfect Debut For The Hero
Mister Fantastic is conventionally one of the most intelligent characters in Marvel’s mythos - or, at least, one of its most intelligent heroes. This particular skill is one that can be tricky to depict effectively in the comics and movies alike, both in that showing a character being inordinately smart without resorting to just having them use a lot of fancy words is a complicated task, and in that this skill can often some across as overpowered depending on how its handled, since it can sometimes seem to give said character an almost omnipotent understanding of things.
Having Mister Fantastic be smart enough to crack multiversal travel would certainly be an effective way to show just how smart Reed Richards is supposed to be in his MCU debut. Having him accidentally summon Galactus via his research delving into parts of reality that he perhaps should or could have been more cautious with works for the other side of things, highlighting the limitations of his intelligence and its potential to be a double-edged sword, and reinforcing that his know-how isn’t a simple “fix everything” kind of skill.
With the Fantastic Four being introduced 17 years into the MCU’s real-world release timeline, there’s perhaps more pressure than ever on the franchise to make sure it pulls off these iconic decades-old Marvel heroes effectively in the movie world. Somewhat ironically, having Mister Fantastic accidentally place his Earth in immense danger inThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsmight just be the best way to introduce the MCU iteration of the character, and to best ensure he mirrors the three-dimensional depictions of Reed Richards that have come before.
