New Fantastic Four Trailer Supports Dark Fan Theory

Most of the latest (and final) trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps is all good vibes. We’ve got Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) bantering about the Thing’s catchphrase, “It’s clobberin’ time.” We’ve got legions of adoring fans cheering on their heroes in bright, retro-futuristic locales. We’ve got the team all affirming their love for one another as a family.

But there’s a darkness underneath these trailers, and not just because Silver Surfer arrives with terrifying tidings. Between the trailer’s main story beats with the team pledging their commitment to one another, and Reed’s uncertainty, remains the fact that the Fantastic Four will soon be coming to the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe. So it seems inevitable, then, that Marvel’s new heroes must ultimately be the losers in their debut film. Fans online have long been speculating a despairing end to First Steps, and the trailers keep making that theory seem plausible.

What We Know About The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Before we go too far into speculation, let’s take a look at what we actually know about the movie. First we know from the post-credit scene in Thunderbolts* and the casting announcements for Avengers: Doomsday that the Fantastic Four will come to Earth-616. We don’t officially know the reason yet—it could just have something to do with their arch-enemy Victor Von Doom (Robert Downey Jr.), who obviously will be the big bad of Doomsday. We also know that First Steps involves the arrival of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a cosmic being who must feed on planets to survive.

Next let’s take a look at how Galactus is used in the comics. Many of the visuals in the trailer borrow from Fantastic Four #48 to 50 (1966) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In these issues, Galactus arrives to devour Earth, preceded by his herald the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner in the new movie). Technically, the FF do not defeat Galactus, who is far too powerful for even their abilities. Instead they chase Galactus away once Reed—with the help of the Silver Surfer and the Watcher Uatu—threatens to use a universe-ending device called the Ultimate Nullifier.

Lee and Kirby then later revealed the origin of Galactus in Thor #169 (1969), which showed that Galactus was once a scientist called Galan. Galan hales from a different reality that existed before the dawn of creation. His inventions allowed him to survive the death and rebirth of the universe but it left him cursed with the need to feed on the life-force of planets, making him into the Devourer of Worlds. Much later Fantastic Four #262 (1983) by John Byrne emphasized that Galactus is neither moral nor amoral, but is a force of nature. He must exist as part of the galactic ecology, as his world-devouring maintains a larger balance.

Of course multiple alternate universe stories have put spins on the nature of Galactus, some of which are relevant here. In Earth X (1999) by Alex Ross, Jim Kruger, and John Paul Leon, the adult Franklin Richards—Reed and Sue’s son!—becomes the new Galactus to maintain balance in the cosmos after Reed transforms Galan into a star. And in the possible future glimpsed in Jonathan Hickman and Dale Eaglesham’s stories in Fantastic Four #600 to 604 (2011-2012), the adult Franklin has made Galactus into his herald and summoned the world-devourer to battle insane Celestials. Finally, in Fantastic Four: Life Story (2021-2022), Reed spends decades preparing for the coming of Galactus, going mad and alienating his family in the process.

In short a lot of Galactus stories involve the end of the world, and the Fantastic Four don’t often stop him.

What We Can Guess About First Steps

From these known quantities, we can start to speculate on what might happen in First Steps. The title and the trailers make clear that the birth of Reed (Pedro Pascal) and Sue’s (Vanessa Kirby) son Franklin is an important part of the movie. Although we haven’t seen signs of it in the teasers, Franklin in the comics is one of the most powerful people in the universe, a mutant with the ability to create whole new realities. Thus most fans are assuming that Galactus in this film comes to Earth not just because it’s the next planet he must consume, but because the birth of Franklin is a cosmic event that requires his attention.

As in the comics, the FF are sure to fight back, but it’s hard to believe that they’ll win. The latest trailer shows the team on the surface of an alien ship, which suggests that they will have to do some exploring in response to Galactus’s coming. That tracks with the first Galactus story, and we’ll likely see the Watcher (Jeffery Wright, who voiced the character in What If…) aid in some way.

It’s certainly possible that the FF and Watcher, and probably Silver Surfer—who may mirror her comic book counterpart and turn against her master—can chase Galactus away and save the day. After all, the past few trailers have included a scene in which Reed Richards looks at the crowds and says, “We will protect you.”

But he sure doesn’t sound confident when he’s saying it. There’s a lot more conviction in Pascal’s voice when Reed says that he doesn’t know if humanity is safe. And the downbeat moments in the new trailer, which accompany images of massive machines blasting lasers into the sky (which could be some of Reed’s inventions, or they could be part of Galactus’s machines) sure make it sound like this Earth does not have much longer to go.

What This Could Mean for the First Steps

For all of those reasons, a large portion of fans online believe that the Fantastic Four will fail to save their world. Yes, the upbeat, optimistic new addition to the MCU may very well lose. The destruction of their Earth will be what sends them to 616, and the knowledge of what it’s like to lose a reality will drive their participation in the multiverse battle that is to come in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

That’s bleak, especially for Marvel. So there are certainly some alternative theories. One is that Franklin simply recreates the old Earth in the FF’s absence, something he’s done in the comics. Another may be that Reed and Sue, inspired by the Silver Surfer’s decision to sacrifice her life and become Galactus’ herald if he spares her world, take leave of their reality with Franklin, saving the world they love.

Neither of these responses can be understood as a victory for the FF though. Traditionally the Fantastic Four are celebrities as much as they are superheroes, something that the trailers have emphasized. If they have to leave their world and come to 616, they won’t have that status. They won’t have the uniqueness that made them special, and they won’t have the adoration that helped them cope with the strange changes their bodies experienced.

But they will have each other. And as the trailers have shown again and again, that’s what matters most.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps blasts into theaters on July 25, 2025.

The post New Fantastic Four Trailer Supports Dark Fan Theory appeared first on Den of Geek.