You might have thought that the introduction of Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four, into the MCU would be enough heavy lifting for one movie. But while all eyes were on the potential ramifications of villain Galactus turning up for planetary snack time, the new trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps delivers a mind-bending revelation: Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) is pregnant.
This looks like big news. As they prepare to take on their colossal nemesis and his gleaming, emotionally unavailable emissary Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards, Joseph Quinn’s Johnny Storm and Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s the Thing will be doing so in the knowledge that they’re protecting more than just the future of this Apollo-era-inspired version of Earth. And if you’ve even lightly skimmed the back catalogue of Fantastic Four comics, you’ll know this is no ordinary pregnancy; and certainly no ordinary infant.
In its print incarnation, the first child of Storm and Richards grows up to become Franklin Richards, a superhero so powerful he once daydreamed an entire pocket universe into existence during a sugar crash.
Imagine Jack-Jack from The Incredibles if he could rewrite the laws of physics every time someone told him it was bedtime, and you’re starting to get the idea. At one point, Reed had to zap his own son with a psychic dampening device to stop Franklin from unconsciously folding the fabric of reality into an origami swan out of existential despair. We’re talking teething problems if “teething” includes accidentally erasing causality because nap time was five minutes late.
How this affects the plotline of First Steps is yet to be seen, and it’s still possible Franklin will remain a foetus throughout the events of Matt Shakman’s film. But there’s every chance that the arrival of this almost impossibly overcooked character is the very thing that’s brought Galactus to Earth.
We still don’t know how the Fantastic Four will end up in the main Marvel reality by the time Avengers: Doomsday hits cinemas next year, or even whether the new Robert Downey Jr-essayed version of Doctor Doom hails from the same timeline as Richards et al. But already the blogosphere is buzzing with theories that Franklin will ultimately be responsible for a soft Marvel reboot, one that prunes the dead weight from the MCU and maybe restores Iron Man, Black Widow and T’Chaka to the main continuity.
In the comics, the Fantastic Four were the first modern Marvel superheroes, debuting in 1961 when Spider-Man, the X-Men and The Hulk were all still twinkles in the eyes of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. So it makes absolute sense for the studio to introduce them in a world where no other capes exist just yet.
What we don’t yet understand is why this particular Earth has caught the attention of a planet-eating space god in a hat the size of a football stadium. But if it’s not Franklin Richards popping into reality, then the movie’s title, Marvel’s relentless teasing of Storm’s pregnancy, and that brooding snapshot of an empty crib are going to go down as the greatest misdirect in comic book movie history.
Is that Galactus himself stomping around at the end of the trailer in size 40,000 boots, striding through this Jetsons-inspired take on Manhattan? If so, it seems Marvel may have rather downsized the supervillain – a cosmic behemoth canonically capable of munching on entire solar systems. Then again, the celestial gutbucket has walked the surface of the Earth in the comics before, and at least Hollywood isn’t rendering him here as a giant cosmic fart lurking menacingly in the clouds.
