The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Official Teaser Trailer (2025)

[Umbran]

....isn't that also Kang?

There are two men named "Nathaniel Richards".
One is Reed's father.
The other, who was named after Reed's father, becomes Kang.

 

[Rabulias]

That said, a female Surfer is also a meaningful part of the comics, and pretending this is somehow a new twist rather than an existing plot is a misrepresentation. I am fine with this timeline choosing one of the female Surfers, I just hope there is some clear "this is an alternate timeline" mention in the film. Which I think there will be. Of all the "multiverse" comics, FF was historically one of the most consistently multiversey of the comics, beginning with the negative zone early on.

The teaser makes it pretty clear this is an alternate timeline. I think the narrative point of having Shalla-Bal be the herald is that it sets us up to wonder what is happening in the equivalent situation in the MCU. I would expect Norrin Radd to be the herald there, when the time comes.

The gender swap here does not bother me so much. For those who hope to see the MCU Norrin Radd as the Silver Surfer, I doubt we will see any version of the Surfer or Galactus again in the MCU. As others have speculated, maybe the FF lose against Galactus in their universe, come to the MCU, encounter the MCU's Galactus (with Norrin as his herald), and are able to save MCU Earth. That way we could see them. Or we may see them in some animation or TV production. But unless a villain is set up as the BBG like Thanos, we won't see anyone fight them again.

Galactus seems small - at least compared to the petrified Celestial from Eternals, could be just perspective.

Agreed, but he has never been as big as Celestials, IIRC. And Galactus has always been able to change his size to some degree. Additionally, he gets smaller if his hunger grows extreme.

Keaton is a really good actor and fine for Bats under the cowl. Physically, I don't think that he makes a good Bruce Wayne. That stated, I still prefer the two movies with him to the Nolan movies with Bale (which themselves are far better then the Batman movies with Van Kilmer or Clooney).

I thought Keaton did a good job as Bruce Wayne, which I think is the true test of an actor playing Batman, IMO. As many have said, Batman is the real person, Bruce Wayne is the masked identity. And technically, there are three movies with him as Batman.

*Charlie Cox is still a better Daredevil/Matt Murdoch!

Agreed!

 

[Greg K]

I'm not yearning for a big tiddy silver girlfriend, Mark. My opinion is just that Marvel should try to have more female characters on screen, because, y'know, women exist.

Cool. I am all for bringing more female characters to the big screen and/or small screen. There are so many possibilities. For starters, there are Dazzler, Firestar, Hellcat, Magik (based on the Magik mini-series), Mockingbird, Shanna- the She-Devil, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), and Tigra. I'm also down for an MCU Cloak and Dagger movie (Dagger is female) as well as a White Tiger (Ava Ayala) movie (although, for the latter, my preference is the they use her uncle Hector first).

I would be down for a well-written She-Hulk movie rather than the drek that was the TV show (Tatiana Maslany deserves a better vehicle for portraying her) and a well written big screen Ms Marvel movie (edit: and Photon movie). Plus, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing should get a Daughters of the Dragon movie or their own series.

What about an Alpha Flight team led by Vindicator (Heather Hudson)? Include Aurora and Snowbird whom are both female and original members (in addition to the original male members Box, Northstar, Puck, Sasquatch, and Shaman). Depending on the storyline, the team could also include Marrina and/or Talisman.

In addition to Ms. Marvel and the Ava Ayala White Tiger mentioned, there are other modern age female heroes they can draw from.

I am not against a Shallah-Bal Silver Surfer. In my opinion, they should do an Earth-X project if they want to use her..

 

[Rabulias]

... as well as a White Tiger (Ava Ayala) movie (although, for the latter, my preference is the they use her uncle Hector first).

The upcoming Daredevil show may grant your wish.

I would be down for a well-written She-Hulk movie rather than the drek that was the TV show (Tatiana Maslany deserves a better vehicle for portraying her)

Amen! Her work on Orphan Black is phenomenal; I had such high hopes for She-Hulk...

What about an Alpha Flight team led by Vindicator (Heather Hudson)? Include Aurora and Snowbird whom are both female and original members (in addition to the original male members Box, Northstar, Puck, and Shaman). Depending on the storyline, the team could also include Marrina and/or Talisman.

Oooh, Alpha Flight would be interesting. I loved Heather's arc, and how she came to be Vindicator. It would be hard to duplicate the shock and surprise of the moment that ultimately lead to her taking the mantle, what with spoilers all over the place. But I guess it is a 40-year-old story at this point...

Edited to add: Alpha Flight might be more suited to a TV series to build up everything.

 

[Mistwell]

This does not bother me, but to be fair, I've never touched a Fantastic Four comic nor seen any of the movies.

Apparently the Silver Surfer is important. I frankly think the whole premise of a giant dude who eats planets who has a shiny guy as his herald or whatever sounds pretty silly, and adding space empires on top of it doesn't make me compelled. The backstory you described sounds too complicated to fit into this movie, so if they tried to use it they wouldn't end up making the movie, so it feels like a Catch 22 to be upset about the change.


I literally don't know either storyline. That's not part of my calculus.


I'm not yearning for a big tiddy silver girlfriend, Mark. My opinion is just that Marvel should try to have more female characters on screen, because, y'know, women exist.

It is not vital to me that this character be a woman, and it wouldn't be enough to make me rage and cancel the movie if the silver surfer had a dong (which . . . I don't think he does, right?). I'm just inclined to assume most people who get bothered by gender swapping characters are, y'know, being misogynistic, and they should stop being bothered by women having prominent roles in things.

I could talk more about why I think it's valuable to have representation, but Eric's Grandma has a no politics rule.

So to be clear you don't actually care which backstory she uses, as long as she's female. Gotcha. Then...why did you reply to me in the first place, given I said up front I have no issues with using the female Surfer?

 

[Umbran]

The argument being made here is that the female Surfer, who already exists in the comics, should have her backstory REPLACED with the male Surfer's backstory.

By who? Not me.

I already noted, back before you shouted at me, that I didn't say they would or should do that. Go check. I'll wait.

What I did do was make the argument that the important point of Norrin Radd's backstory is not gendered. Anyone, of any gender, could choose to sacrifice themselves into servitude to save their loved ones and/or planet, and that would be plausible. It is not specifically a "manly" thing to do.

I also made the argument that the original backstories for Shalla Bal with the Surfer's powers don't seem to make sense in the context of this movie. Originally, in "the one tied to Doctor Doom"*, it is Norrin Radd who gives her the Power Cosmic! That version of her isn't even the Herald of Galactus!

Later, in another universe (Earth X), Franklin Richards becomes Galactus, and gives her the powers. But, well, we don't have a Franklin yet, much less one ready to be Galactus, so that doesn't seem to work either.


*It is complicated - I expect too complicated to be in this movie.

Spoiler: the short version

First, Galactus visits Earth. Alicia Masters convinces the Silver Surver (Norrin Radd) to turn on Galactus and help them. Galactus is driven off. As punishment, Galactus makes it so the Surfer cannot leave Earth.

Meanwhile, Dr. Doom wants to free his mother's soul from Mephisto. Mephisto really wants to collect Norrin Radd's pure soul. They hatch a scheme, in which Shalla Bal, Empress and beloved of Norrin Radd, is stolen from her world, and made into a peasant in Latveria. Doom arranges a highly public marriage, to lure the Surfer to fight the Fantasic Four.

Meanwhile, Galactus, having been betrayed by the Surfer, goes and eats the life force of the the Surfer's home world. He's nice about it, allowing the people to evacuate and come back if they wish.

The plot to make the Surfer fight the FF fails. Reed helps the Surfer get off Earth, who discovers his planet's life force has been eaten, and figures out that Doom and Mephisto have Shalla. He comes back, is thus re-trapped on Earth, and gives Shalla Bal some of his Power Cosmic as Mephisto sends her back home. She uses the power to give life back to her world.

 

[Marc Radle]

You know what I find frustrating, but hardly unexpected, is that this is supposed to be a discussion about the Fantastic Four trailer, yet it has devolved into bickering back and forth about the gender, backstory, etc. of Silver Surfer … who was not shown or even mentioned in the trailer :/

 

[Micah Sweet]

You know what I find frustrating, but hardly unexpected, is that this is supposed to be a discussion about the Fantastic Four trailer, yet it has devolved into bickering back and forth about the gender, backstory, etc. of Silver Surfer … who was not shown or even mentioned in the trailer :/

Maybe people really liked the trailer and had nothing bad to say about it. That's basically where I am.

 

[Rabulias]

Anyone else bothered by the fact that their uniforms are all slightly different? Maybe I am being too picky, but the idea of uniforms is they look the same. I mean, yes at first glance they are 95% the same and clearly are related, but....

• Ben and Johnny have white collars and shoulders with a flat edge across their upper chests. Sue has a white collar and shoulders with a curved edge across her upper chest. Reed has a blue collar and shoulders (maybe signifying he is the leader of the team?).
• Ben and Johnny have white stripes down their arms, but Ben's end at his elbows with a curved end, while Johnny's end with a flat edge. Sue and Reed seem to have no stripes on their arms.
• Sue, Reed, and Johnny have gloves, but Ben does not. I realize this is true to the comics, but this choice combined with Ben's outfit having sleeves accentuates the larger blue area on Ben's forearm versus Johnny's. Johnny's long gloves cover most of his forearms.
• Ben's boots have a blue gap or stripe above the ankle that Sue, Reed, and Johnny's boots do not have.

Picky, I know, but the inconsistency seems weird to me.

 

[Mannahnin]

Yup. Also, when Heath Ledger was cast as The Joker and Micheal Keaton when he was cast as Batman and Robert Downey Jr. was cast as Tony Stark.

Fans...are not the best judges of things. Especially the so-called purists. No imagination...

Ya don't say?