The Fantastic Four: First Steps Trailer Finally Shows Off Reed Richards' Superpowers

The first full trailer for Marvel Studios' "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is finally online for fans to examine frame-by-frame like it's the Zapruder film, which means we'll soon be flooded with two kinds of takes. Some superhero obsessives will pore over the 164-second trailer looking for easter eggs, hints of unexpected character introductions, and perhaps some plot details that haven't been revealed yet. This all totally innocuous and worth encouraging.

Then there's the dark side of fandom, which is populated by folks determined to find evidence that every new event movie will, in fact, be utter, irredeemable trash. They'll nitpick every little element that seems a little bit off, and take this as inarguable proof that a massively expensive bomb is about to detonate in multiplexes the world over. Sometimes, it's hard not to draw dire conclusions. Just about every piece of advertising for "Captain America: Brave New World" made it look like a TV movie decked out with subpar visual effects that'd be right at home in a Syfy original series. But there are times when a studio knows they've got the goods and feels confident enough about the finished product that they keep the spectacle under wraps until opening day. This is how Universal and Steven Spielberg played it 32 years ago with "Jurassic Park."

Had Marvel Studios' Phase Four and Phase Five slates performed better with moviegoers, they probably wouldn't feel like the need to go all-out with the trailer for the long-awaited "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." Alas, the once mighty superhero factory has been sputtering of late, so some marketing swagger seems necessary. Also, coming off the film's first teaser, they've got to address the doomsayers' concerns about the stretchy powers of Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) aka Mr. Fantastic. We saw Johnny Storm flame on as the Human Torch, and Sue Richards use her invisibility. We also saw Ben Grimm be The Thing. But we did not see Reed elongate at all. A small-scale freakout ensued (with some people speculating that the film would actually change his powers), so this time, Marvel gave us a taste of Reed doing his Mr. Fantastic thing. How does he look?

The good news for folks who've been waiting for a proper Fantastic Four movie is that the trailer goes heavy on the hopeful, gee-whiz tone that we've often associated with these characters. It looks heartfelt and just plain kind (a feeling that is in depressingly short supply right now). But what about Reed Richards? Does he stretch more convincingly than he did in the Roger Corman-produced "The Fantastic Four," Tim Story's "Fantastic Four" movies for 20th Century Fox, or Josh Trank's decidedly non-traditional take on the characters in 2015?

Given that we only get a three-second, slow-motion glimpse of Reed elongating in front of a crumbling building, it's fair to say the jury's still out. At least we can dispel those rumors about Mr. Fantastic being fantastic in a non-canonical way, but having watched that micro-sequence a dozen or so times now, I can't tell you if it works. It seems fine.

As most movie buffs should know by now, we often get bits of unfinished visual effects in trailers, and this bit of "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" marketing is no exception. There's a fireball explosion in Times Square that looks all kinds of dodgy, and I'm not sure it was a good idea to include that footage of Galactus stomping down a Manhattan avenue because it looks desperately in need of polishing. I'm sure those aforementioned doomsayers are hopping all over these scenes as I type, but it's simply not worth getting worked up over because we know Marvel Studios will be polishing and tweaking up until the very last second. This is how films are made in the digital age, so there's no cause for alarm.

"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" will rocket into theaters on July 25, 2025.