It's been a rough journey for Marvel's first family when it comes to transitioning to the silver screen. Neither the bombastic 2004 series nor the gritty 2015 remake ever managed to lift off in the same way as the MCU's earlier films. Outside a significant cameo in last year's Deadpool & Wolverine, most fans have been happy to leave those movies in the past. Ironically, the past is where we meet 2025's version of the Fantastic Four in the very first trailer: in an alternate retro-futuristic version of the 1960s.
Here's your first proper look at The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Clocking in at just over one minute and thirty seconds, the trailer is actually more like a fairly generous teaser so there's not too much for internet sleuths to dig for. We're introduced to Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal,) Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby,) Johnny Storm aka Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/Thing, played in both forms by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who gets a chance to channel Cousin Richie from The Bear in a brief kitchen scene. We also see that H.E.R.B.I.E, the family's robot companion from the comics and animated series, will play a big part.
Next up we get flashes of each character (except Mr Fantastic himself,) using their powers. First Steps seems to be set sometime after the family's fateful trip to space, where an intergalactic collision with some nasty cosmic rays gave them their powers. But it looks like that origin story will be revisited in flashbacks at some stage.
As the trailer crescendos we're given a glimpse at John Malkovich's mysterious character, some sort of meteor storm or invasion, and finally, an ominous shadow enveloping Manhattan and one last shot of First Steps' cosmic big bad, Galactus (who is reportedly voiced by Nosferatu's Ralph Ineson.)
It's an interesting time for a teaser trailer to drop because these things typically debut during the NFL Super Bowl, which is less than a week away. It's still possible we'll get the first full-length trailer there so stay tuned.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be released in Australian cinemas on Thursday, the 24th of July according to Hoyts' listing. The upcoming Marvel flick was also shot in IMAX; something to keep in mind if you want to watch it on the biggest screen possible.
If you prefer the comfort of your own couch over the third largest cinema screen in the world, you might prefer to wait for the home release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps. While there isn't an official digital release date for the upcoming Marvel blockbuster, we can make an educated guess on its home release based on recent Disney and Marvel movies.
What makes it even easier to predict is that The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits cinemas exactly a year after Deadpool and Wolverine.
Deadpool and Wolverine released in cinemas on the 24th of July 2024. It became available on digital services like Apple TV to buy or rent on the 1st of October 2024 and finally released on Disney Plus on the 12th of November 2024. That's 111 days from its cinema debut to its streaming on-demand release.
Inside Out 2 wasn't all much different. It hit cinemas on the 13th of June, digital services on the 20th of August, and Disney Plus on the 25th of September. That's 105 days from it's initial release date to its Disney Plus release.
If The Fantastic Four: First Steps release cadence falls somewhere in that ballpark, we should expect a digital release in early October and a Disney Plus streaming release around the 4th to the 12th of November 2025.
Here's how much Disney Plus costs in Australia these days:
2 min read
