The Fantastic Four: First Steps is out in cinemas next week, but which Marvel shows and films do you need to watch before going in? Read on to find out.
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The 37th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it is the second reboot of the Fantastic Four series and sees Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn step into the titular roles.
It is directed by Matt Shakman, who produced and directed WandaVision for the MCU, and has been written by Marvel regulars Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer.
The film also stars Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, Julia Garner and Ralph Ineson and it arrives in UK cinemas on July 24.
John Malkovich was due to appear in the film, but he has not featured in any of the promotional materials and he does not appear in the trailers, leading many to believe that he has been cut from the film.
Every Marvel film and TV show you should watch before The Fantastic Four: First Steps
First Steps is the first film in Phase Six of the MCU and it incorporates the familiar characters into the franchise for the first time.
The previous Hollywood attempts at the Fantastic Four saw a pair of films from director Tim Story in 2005 (Fantastic Four) and 2007 (Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer), with Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis taking on the central roles. Another reboot in 2015 by Josh Trank starred Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell.
None of those films were critically lauded and First Steps director Matt Shakman has made clear that the new film does not require viewers to have seen any of those predecessors. He also said that it will stand apart from previous films in the MCU.
“We are our own universe,” he told Empire. “Which is wonderful and liberating. There’s really no [other] superheroes. There’s no Easter eggs. There’s no running into Iron Man or whatever. They’re it, in this universe. I love the interconnected Marvel Universe, but we get to do something so new and so different. Eventually this world will meet up with other worlds – but for now this is our own little corner.”
So, from the director’s own mouth, viewers going into First Steps do not need to refresh themselves with any previous instalments of either the Fantastic Four saga or the MCU.