Marvel Studios plans to start Phase 6 of MCU with one of the darkest dilemmas a superhero team has ever faced. The Fantastic Four: First Steps will introduce fans to Marvel's first family: Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The unbreakable bond of family is one of the defining features of the Fantastic Four, and that's exactly what will be tested when the film debuts on July 25.
As marketing materials for The Fantastic Four: First Steps reveal, the quartet will welcome a new family member during the film's runtime: Sue and Reed's baby, Franklin. However, a recent video from Marvel Studios confirms that Franklin will be important to more than just the Fantastic Four family.
In a new YouTube clip from The Fantastic Four: First Steps, titled "Are We Safe?", Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four attend a press conference and are questioned about how they defeated the film's big bad, Galactus.
The team admits they failed to defeat the World Devourer, with Reed admitting Galactus "asked too high a price." When the press queries this price, Reed responds, "he asked for our child." This leads to panic as Reed finds himself unable to confirm whether they can protect the people of Earth from this new threat.
This segment reveals that Galactus is seemingly intent on taking Franklin for himself, and when he is refused, he sets his sights on consuming the Fantastic Four's world. This situation puts the superhero family into an impossible dilemma as they are faced with saving their child or saving the entire world.
The decision to include Franklin as the crux of the drama in The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a smart direction. It gives the MCU film personal stakes that audiences can relate to, which sometimes is difficult in the comic book genre when heroes are often faced with larger-than-life, world-ending possibilities.
It also makes the theme of family a clear throughline in the MCU film, setting it apart from the thirty-odd other Marvel Studios movies.
This seemingly impossible choice is one of the more difficult dilemmas Marvel has implemented in an MCU film, although the studio has introduced some challenging moral quandaries in the past.
The MCU's Most Difficult Personal Dilemmas
The Sokovia Accords (Captain America: Civil War)
What dilemma is powerful enough to make the Avengers turn on one another? Captain America: Civil War answered that question when the government proposed that the Avengers sign the Sokovia Accords, bringing them under government regulation.
Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), who was haunted by the deaths at the Avengers' hands, led the side that agreed with the Sokovia Accords (with support from Black Panther, Black Widow, and Vision). Meanwhile, Captain America (Chris Evans) was skeptical of the accords, particularly as his best friend, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), had been implicated in the attack that led to their drafting. Captain America led an opposition with Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man, and Hawkeye.
The Sokovia Accords saw teammates turn on each other and fracture the Avengers, thanks to the complex ethical decision at its core.
Giving Up Asgard (Thor: Ragnarok)
The return of Odin's scorned daughter, Hela, in Thor: Ragnarok and her desire to conquer the Nine Realms leave Thor and Loki with little option but to bring about Ragnarok, the ultimate apocalypse in Norse mythology.
After evacuating as many Asgardians as possible, Thor and Loki reunite Surtur with his crown and let him loose on Asgard, where he destroys Hela and their home.
Peter Parker's Memory Spell (Spider-Man: No Way Home)
Spider-Man: Far From Home came with the twist ending of Mysterio revealing Spider-Man's secret identity to the world. Much of Spider-Man: No Way Home is spent fixing that mistake as Peter Parker (Tom Holland) turns to his Avengers ally Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to attempt to render a spell that would make the world forget his secret identity.
After the spell goes wrong and brings in enemies from the Multiverse who know Spider-Man's identity, Peter has the chance to make things right.
However, it comes at the cost of eliminating everyone's memories of Peter Parker, including his friends and family. Ultimately, Peter makes the sacrifice, giving up his girlfriend, best friend, and secret identity to save his world.
Sacrificing Vision (Avengers: Infinity War)
When Thanos comes calling for the Mind Stone in Vision's forehead in Avengers: Infinity War, it comes with one of the MCU's most impossible decisions. Vision asks Wanda to destroy him to prevent Thanos from assembling all the Infinity Stones, but her love for the synthezoid prevents her from doing so.
This leads them to enact a desperate backup plan, travelling to Wakanda and enlisting Shuri to extract the stone from Vision before it's too late.
This ends with one of the MCU's most tragic moments as the group successfully extract the stone from Vision, only for Thanos to reverse time with the Time Stone and rip it from his head, killing Vision in the process.
The Soul Stone (Avengers: Endgame)
After losing to Thanos, the Avengers decided to go back in time in Avengers: Endgame and gather the Infinity Stones before Thanos could. They did not realize when hunting down the Soul Stone on Vormir that it would cost a high price.
The rules around claiming the stone demand a "soul for a soul", meaning that Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) had to duel it out to be the one to sacrifice themselves for the stone.
Natasha ultimately won the debate, forcing her best friend to let her fall to her death, all in the name of completing their mission. As far as difficult superhero decisions go, this was one of the MCU's toughest.
