Before the Fantastic Four make their MCU debut on the big screen, Marvel Comics released a one-shot comic book issue detailing the superhero team’s first adventure. In “Fantastic Four: First Steps #1” by Matt Fraction and Mark Buckingham, readers got a full look at the latest take on Marvel’s First Family. The prequel issue — meant to be a comic released in the universe of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” — portrayed a world that treats the Fantastic Four as Beatles-level celebrities.
Fans have only gotten glimpses of what Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s takes on these characters will be. As the first extended look at the world of the MCU’s Fantastic Four, “First Steps #1” gave readers a few new details that hint at what to expect from the Matt Shakman’s film, releasing July 25.
So, what did we learn from Wednesday’s “Fantastic Four: First Steps #1”?
Before you continue reading, note that this article may contain minor spoilers regarding potential events and casting in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” If you want to go in cold, check back with us in a few weeks to see what we got right.
Paul Walter Hauser is Mole Man?
By far the biggest revelation of the issue, “Fantastic Four: First Steps #1” seems to confirm what fans had long suspected: Paul Walter Hauser will portray Mole Man in the film.
Hauser is one of several actors — including Natasha Lyonne and John Malkovich — who was long ago announced as part of the “Fantastic Four” cast without a character attached. Based on Hauser’s typical acting style and past filmography, many fans suspected the character actor would portray the Fantastic Four’s first villain, Mole Man.
In the comic, readers got their first look at the MCU’s take on Mole Man, a subterranean villain who often attacks the surface world with his army of Moloids. Buckingham’s depiction of Mole Man bears a strong resemblance to Hauser, all but confirming speculation that the actor will indeed portray the classic Fantastic Four foe. At this point, Hauser’s appearance as any other character in the film would come as quite the shock.
Marvel Comics are canon
Marvel Comics actually exists in the world of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” In fact, “Fantastic Four: First Steps #1” is treated as a comic created by Marvel in partnership with the in-universe Future Foundation operated by the Fantastic Four. To honor the team’s anniversary, the Marvel Comics Group received permission to print a comic book retelling of their first adventure — meaning this events of this issue may not be fully canon in-universe, but the issue itself is.
It’s about as easy to explain as the movie “Lightyear.”
At the start of the issue, a letter from the Future Foundation explained the partnership between the team and Marvel. The letter, sent from the Baxter Building in New York, stated that the issue was produced as an educational tool under the testimony and advisement of the Fantastic Four themselves. This page also introduced the acronym “S.T.O.R.M.” as the Future Foundation seeks to promote careers in Science, Technology, Organizing, Reading and Mathematics.
Characteristics of Marvel’s First Family
First and foremost, “Fantastic Four: First Steps #1” gave readers a better idea of the individual members of the team. Through the primary adventure, fake newspaper features and break-out interviews, details about the characters and their histories were gradually revealed throughout the issue.
Reed Richards was the commander of the space flight that gave the team their powers. He was repeatedly referred to as a “polymath” with PhDs in astrophysics, engineering and mathematics and research conducted in biology, chemistry and physics. In this universe, Reed created the world’s “first functioning spaceship,” eventually taking his family on the trip that gave them their powers. There was also a repeated implication that, in contrast to the original comics, Reed and company may have gained their powers on a sanctioned flight rather than an unapproved flight.
Sue Storm, a PhD in archaeology, served as the mission specialist for their fateful flight. Sue was shown as a confident leader in the story, getting a significant focus in the comic. It’s Sue who sent the team on their first mission, overtook Giganto and diplomatically resolved the conflict with Mole Man.
Ben Grimm (the team’s pilot) and Johnny Storm (the flight engineer) were shown as being genuinely close despite their occasional bickering. Johnny ribbed Ben a couple times throughout the issue, but he also called him a “magician in the kitchen” and apparently cited Ben as his best friend. Throughout the issue, real-world images depicted Joseph Quinn with a haircut closer to that of Johnny Storm in the comics than he has in the film, giving fans a more comic-accurate look at the character. The book also made strangely frequent mention of Johnny being an aspiring golfer — potentially setting up a gag in the movie.
The team’s first adventure mirrors their comic book origin…
There are a lot of similarities between “Fantastic Four: First Steps #1” and 1961’s “Fantastic Four #1,” showing that the team has an MCU origin reminiscent of the comics. Both comics featured the Fantastic Four fighting Mole Man in their first adventure, taking on Monster Isle residents like Giganto and Ugu. This hardly came as a surprise, as the cover of “First Steps #1” mirrors the iconic cover the team’s 1961 debut.
Rather than wearing the light blue sweaters shown in “First Steps” promotional material, the team wore more classic Fantastic Four costumes in “First Steps #1” — though, in the original comics, the team wouldn’t don these iconic suits until Sue designed them in the third issue.
…but it’s not exactly the same
One of the big differences between the MCU and the comics is how the Fantastic Four ended their first encounter with Mole Man. While the Mole Man of the comics remained an antagonist of the team’s, the two ended on better terms in “First Steps #1.” After capturing Mole Man and stopping his attack on the surface world, Sue Storm found common ground with their momentary enemy.
As the leader of an underrepresented civilization, Mole Man saw himself as a leader and freedom fighter seeking to establish rights for his people. Mole Man noted that he learned these leadership skills from Sue’s grandfather, J. F. Storm. After this conversation, Sue helped Mole Man establish sovereignty for Subterannea through the U.N.
This moment reflects an increase in focus and agency for Sue in comparison to the character’s first comic. It took years for Sue Storm to graduate from the nickname “The Invisible Girl” and begin using forcefields in Marvel Comics. In the beginning, she was often used as little more than a damsel in distress, someone to turn invisible and get captured. It wasn’t until John Byrne began writing for the team that Sue would take on the moniker of “Invisible Woman” and start reliably using her force field powers.
In “First Steps #1,” Sue started off as the Invisible Woman, controlling forcefields with ease from the jump. The comic heavily focused on Sue, as does marketing for the film. With Sue taking a back seat in the Fantastic Four’s previous big-screen outings, “First Steps #1” may be a sign that the character will have a larger — and more well-rounded — presence in the MCU adaptation.
Four years later…
An early page of “First Steps #1” called the book the “Fantastic Four 4nniversary 4dventure,” noting that the team gained their powers four years prior to the comic’s release. The following panel shows the team in the Oval Office with figures resembling JFK and Jackie Kennedy (with Jackie in her iconic pink Chanel suit). This places the movie timeline somewhere in the mid-to-late-1960s. In fact, JFK’s in-office appearance may signal that the MCU team also formed for the first time in their universe’s 1961. This would place the film somewhere in 1965.
While the “First Steps” marketing has teased the film’s setting as 1960s-inspired, these details in conjunction give readers a better idea of when exactly the movie takes place. Of course, there are plenty of deviations in this universe that could affect this timeline — the retro-futurism and existence of “ANSA” rather than “NASA” show that this universe isn’t a one-to-one comp. Other MCU detours into the multiverse have shown that parallel universes generally progress along the same timeline, so it would be a deviation to literally place the Fantastic Four in the 1960s while Marvel’s main universe is in the 2020s.
Celestial radiation
In one of the book’s most intriguing details, an early page in “First Steps #1” revealed that the team gained their powers from “Celestial radiation” during their original space flight. This is a departure from the comics, which have always cited “cosmic rays” as the origin of their powers. Though cosmic rays were mentioned in an article about Reed Richards within the issue, “First Steps #1” seemingly tied the team’s genesis into the MCU by connecting their powers to the Celestials. Who knows — maybe Galactus will be called a Celestial in the film to connect the team to their big bad.
Reed Richards has already started to “solve everything”
A famous comic book storyline — created by Dwayne McDuffie and most notably explored by Jonathan Hickman — saw Reed Richards attempt to “solve everything” with his scientific prowess. By following his “Plan #101,” Reed sought to stop all war, eliminate famine, eradicate poverty and generally fix every notable problem mankind faced.
An article about Reed in “First Steps #1” revealed that Pedro Pascal’s take on the character is already well on his way to solving everything. The oft-described polymath used his scientific acumen to make notable improvements to the worlds of agriculture, transportation, science, education and medicine, among others. An advertisement in the issue even seemed to imply that Reed’s flying Fantasticar would eventually become available for consumer use. As seemingly their world’s only costumed adventurers, the MCU’s take on the Fantastic Four has already made contributions extending far beyond typical super heroics.
The Fantastic Four are explorers, not superheroes
Near the end of the issue, Sue gave a brief monologue setting up an important aspect of the Fantastic Four:
“This couldn’t be how these tremendous gifts we’d been given were meant to be used: Encountering new people, new worlds, new cultures … and hitting them?” she pondered. “I refuse to accept that.”
When Sue chose to help Mole Man, she highlighted a core component of the team’s place within the Marvel universe. While other characters see themselves as fighters and protectors above all else, the Fantastic Four are not traditional “superheroes.” They are explorers, adventurers, scientists and, above all, a family.
In this dialogue, Sue showed that this aspect of the team was baked into their MCU counterparts from their first mission. Though the group stepped up to fight Giganto and the rest of Mole Man’s New York army, they equally searched for ways to improve the world around them and respect the unknown culture they stumbled into. They’re not Avengers — they’re explorers.
