‘Marvel, you won me back’: The MCU’s fallen fans take their first steps back to the franchise as ‘Fantastic Four’ trailer wows

It’s time to say goodbye to your Fant4stic PTSD, everybody, because the Fantastic Four are finally back, and they might just be better than ever. Marvel Studios unveiled the first teaser trailer for its incoming reboot of the phenomenal family this Tuesday morning, and it’s immediately convincing old-school MCU fans to give the franchise another go.

After a flashy DC’s own Superman trailer last month, the First Steps teaser is hooking audiences in with its retro feel and focus on its characters that harks back to the superhero movies of yesteryear. There’s nary a Deadpool-esque quip in sight!

Skipping straight over the usual origins story, the trailer presents the Fantastic Four not just already transformed but already operating as celebrity superheroes in an alternate space-age version of the 1960s (, this one takes place elsewhere in the multiverse, not in the Sacred Timeline). Although it seems the arrival of a certain planet-eating giant is about to turn their world upside down.

All in all, perhaps finally learning from all the mistakes Fox’s Fantastic Four films have made in the past, the First Steps trailer promises something extremely authentic and comic book-y in its vibes and visuals. And it’s basically all fans could ever have asked for. Just look at this shot!

Everybody say “thank you, Matt Shakman!”

Here’s the Thing… He looks great.

GALACTUS HAS HIS BUCKET HEAD, PEOPLE. THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

All it took was 90 seconds of old-fashioned Marvel goodness for lapsed believers to return to the flock.

Well, hello Infinity Saga-level hype!

We Scorse-see the vision.

i’ve seen enough marvel is back pic.twitter.com/4IiR4hctr4

— isaiah (@tlop444) February 4, 2025

Fans who’ve been paying attention have already had a taste of First Steps‘ vibrant retro-futurist visual style — the sneak peeks shown at last year’s SDCC and D23 both leaked online — but we still didn’t expect the film to look quite like this. The extremely comic-accurate Ben Grimm is an absolute delight, and, yes, seeing Galactus’ supremely silly helmet realized in a movie at long last hits surprisingly hard. No more space clouds for us!

The best part about the trailer, though, is surely how much it actually holds back. There’s no Silver Surfer, as played by Julia Garner, and John Malkovich’s Santa Claus-looking character still remains a total mystery. And even if Robert Downey Jr. does show up as Doctor Doom, as we’re all expecting, at least Marvel isn’t leaning hard on his star-power to sell tickets. Even though we’ve had three films already released about these heroes to varying levels of success, Marvel is hinging the fate of First Steps on the appeal of its titular foursome. And, by the looks of how well this trailer is going down, that bet may well pay off. We’ll find out come The Fantastic Four‘s release into our orbit this July 25.