The first look at the Baxter Building design in Marvel’s ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con.
The poster is a Marvel Studios gift—for attendees of the Comic-Con Hall H panel—and could be redeemed with a ticket. It’s a map of Manhattan from ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps.’ You can see it below.
Beside the iconic Baxter Building is the launch pad of The Fantastic Four’s spaceship named “Excelsior”—a nod to Stan Lee’s catchphrase, which is Latin for “ever upward.”
Also, you can see on the Comic-Con collector fan map for ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps,’ across the water by the Statue of Liberty, is the FF Clean Energy Complex.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, director Matt Shakman says the movie will not be an origin story for the group.
Shakman said, “One of the things we decided early on was not to do an origin story.” Shakman added, “One of the ways we’re making it our own thing is we’re not telling the story of them going up and being changed, and starting our story [there]. There’s a lot of well-known narrative that leads into that moment, right? And then you’re making up your new story starting basically at the end of the first act, and we thought, ‘Well, let’s just start this thing off on a completely new foot.’ So we are beginning after that.”
In the first episode of Marvel’s new The Official Marvel Podcast, Marvel President Kevin Feige revealed that ‘The Fantastic Four’ is set in an alternate reality to the main MCU and will be a period piece set in the 1960s.
The first-look footage, which screened in a 4:3 aspect ratio, plays on a retro television. Pedro Pascal‘s Reed Richards is seen teaching in a classroom, asking if the students want to see an explosion. Ebon Moss-Bachrach‘s Ben Grimm appears on the retro dating show “The Dating Game,” but only as a silhouette. At the end, Pascal’s Reed Richards, Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm, Vanessa Kirby‘s Sue Storm, and Joseph Quinn‘s Johnny Storm are shown in astronaut suits entering a retro-futuristic rocket. As the ship takes off, the aspect ratio of the footage changes. Additionally, Ralph Ineson’s Galactus is seen at the end, with part of his comic-accurate face visible behind a building.
Directed by Shakman, the original script for ‘Fantastic Four,’ written by Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, has undergone a rewrite by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. In the film, Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Ineson as Galactus. Julia Garner is set to portray a female Silver Surfer, with Paul Walter Hauser and John Malkovich in undisclosed roles. Additionally, characters yet to be cast include Mole Man and H.E.R.B.I.E.
Produced by Feige, Grant Curtis, and Nick Pepin. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.
Marvel Studios’ upcoming film slate is:
- Captain America: Brave New World — February 14, 2025
- Thunderbolts — May 5, 2025
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps — July 25, 2025
- Blade — November 7, 2025
- Avengers: Doomsday — May 1, 2026
- Avengers: Secret Wars — May 7, 2027
