The Fantastic Four: First Steps will finally bring Marvel's First Family to the MCU, and the studio is taking a page out of its Spider-Man: Homecoming playbook for the movie. Despite being among Marvel's most popular heroes, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four have both been later additions to the MCU due to rights issues.
Eight years after a teenage Tom Holland brought Peter Parker to the MCU in Spider-Man: Homecoming, this summer's First Steps will arrive with an all-star cast of Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Mass-Bachrach.
How The Fantastic Four Is Taking Inspiration from Spider-Man: Homecoming
From development history to the final product that will hit screens on July 25, The Fantastic Four: First Steps has three key similarities to Spider-Man: Homecoming, but also three glaring differences in Marvel Studios' approach:
SIMILARITY: Joining the MCU After Rights Issues
Before the MCU, Marvel sold off film rights to many heroes, sending Spider-Man to Sony Pictures and the Fantastic Four and X-Men to 20th Century Fox.
Spider-Man was finally allowed to join the MCU in 2016 thanks to a collaborative deal between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios. This win-win deal allowed Sony to distribute the movies and hold onto the rights while Marvel handled the production and, as such, allowed Spider-Man to play in the MCU sandbox.
Equally, Marvel Studios were originally unable to use the Fantastic Four as those rights were tied up at 20th Century Fox. At least that was the case until Disney acquired Fox, adding its Marvel heroes to its repertoire of usable characters.
DIFFERENCE: They're Not on Earth-616
One major way the two approaches differ comes from exactly how they are joining the wider MCU. While Peter Parker had always lived on Earth-616 and been Spider-Man for around a year, the Fantastic Four have been living elsewhere in the Multiverse and will travel to the main timeline for Avengers: Doomsday.
This makes things easier for Marvel's First Family as The Fantastic Four can maintain an Elseworlds setting away from the Avengers. As the team will be celebrities and seasoned heroes in their solo outing, it would be tough to explain how they had gone unmentioned and why they sat out the battle with Thanos.
SIMILARITY: Skipping the Origin Story
While Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men had their origin stories told in their first solo outing, Marvel Studios skipped that chapter for Tom Holland, writing it off as a story fans were beyond familiar with.
Similarly, The Fantastic Four will jump right into the team's superhero careers, several years after a cosmic accident gave them superpowers. While their MCU movie won't be an origin story, there's every chance of flashbacks to them getting their powers given the trailers featured a pre-Thing Ben Grimm.
Even though fans never saw Holland's Spider-Man get his powers, No Way Home director Jon Watts has described his whole first trilogy as an "origin story."
DIFFERENCE: No Ties to Existing Heroes
Thanks to Spider-Man's role in Captain America: Civil War, he had already met or fought the MCU's leading Avengers. Particularly, he had Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark on his side as a mentor who even offered him some tech upgrades.
By contrast, The Fantastic Four takes place in its own universe where they are the only heroes, and it officially won't feature cameos from any Avengers.
While the team won't be linked to the wider MCU in their first solo outing, their crossover days next year as the whole Fantastic Four were included in Marvel Studios' cast announcement for Avengers: Doomsday.
SIMILARITY: Multiple Villains from Day One
Michael Keaton's Vulture was the main antagonist for Spider-Man: Homecoming, but he was joined by other wall-crawler villains - Shocker, Tinkerer, and Aaron Davis (aka Prowler) - all of which were somewhat linked to his operation.
The Fantastic Four will similarly feature a few villains from their rogues' gallery, with Mole Man, Red Ghost, and Doctor Doom rumored to appear, while the chief villain duties fall to Galactus and his herald, Silver Surfer.
DIFFERENCE: This Isn't a New Fantastic Four
Yes, when Peter Parker joined the MCU he had already been operating as Spider-Man, but only for around six months, largely tackling street-level crimes.
A report from Deadline recently reaffirmed what fans already knew about The Fantastic Four, being that this isn't an origin story, while also revealing they have been heroes for four years when the movie begins. So, in contrast to a still relatively fresh Spider-Man, Marvel's First Family will already be seasoned heroes.
While Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures sought out a young newcomer to play Spider-Man before finding Tom Holland, The Fantastic Four is taking a different approach. These older, more experienced heroes are played by established, A-list talent: Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Mass-Bachrach, and Vanessa Kirby.
