I have recently rewatched an infamous Marvel flop, and finally understand whyThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsis hiding part of its story. The MCU reboot of The Fantastic Four is the most immediateupcoming Marvel movie, set for release on June 02, 2025. As the lastMarvel movie in 2025, there is some pressure on the release.
This pressure comes from thestory ofThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsand its importance to the culmination of the Multiverse Saga.Avengers: Doomsday’s release dateis around a year and a half away, meaning Marvel Studios needs to set up more elements before Doctor Doom unleashes himself on the multiverse.
Beyond that, though,The Fantastic Four: First Stepsfaces pressure in another, more distinct way.This aspect of the film has mostly been hidden fromThe Fantastic Four: First Steps’trailers, and, after rewatching a Marvel box office bomb, I understand why.
2015’s Fantastic Four Struggled To Make Reed Richards' Powers Believable
As Other Iterations Have
The aspect in question is Reed Richards' stretchy powers, which came to mind in a big way when rewatching 2015’sFantastic Four.Fantastic Fouris regarded as one of the most unwatchable superhero movies of all time, primarily due to its boring story and deviations from the source material. Moreover,Fantastic Four’s visual effects were highly inconsistent.
The film focused a lot on Reed’s stretchy abilities in the final act, yet the effects were never up to scratch.Be it just the general stretching of Reed’s limbs to his action sequences and one in which he stretches his face as a disguise, the CGI ranges from unbelievable to downright terrible.
Fantastic Fourcould not break this streak of shoddy CGI, begging the question of whether future iterations can manage to do so.
This is a common theme where stretching abilities are concerned; The MCU’s ownMs. Marvelshow was criticised for removing the titular character’s abilities and replacing them with light-based constructs.Netflix’sOne Piecelive-action series managed to make stretching look great, but this has never been a reality for Mister Fantastic.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Still Hasn’t Shown Reed Richards' Powers Completely
Mister Fantastic Remains A Mostly Unknown Quantity
This brings me on toThe Fantastic Four: First Steps.The marketing for the film is in full flow, given its release in July 2025, with all characters featured in a big way. However, one aspect of a specific member of the team is being kept hidden in a big way.
Reed Richards’ stretchy powers have only been shown a few times in the trailers forThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, yet other characters have been shown more heavily. This reinforces the earlier point about the powers of Ben, Sue, and Johnny being easier to depict believably in live-action.
Reed’s are not, explaining Marvel’s hesitance.
Admittedly, there could be story reasons for this.After all, it makes logical sense that most of Reed’s action sequences would come in the film’s third act, which it seems Marvel is keeping under wraps. Nonetheless, for a character as important as Mister Fantastic, many expected bigger displays of his powers inThe Fantastic Four: First Steps’ marketing.
The Director Took A Different Route With The Team
Going back to 2015’sFantastic Four,that film arguably had an excuse to showcase Reed’s powers more, and in a weird way.Director Josh Trank took on the film in an era where superhero movies were content to be less faithful to their source material or common tropes, with Trank’s own filmChronicleepitomizing this.
The filmmaker took this intoFantastic Fourby leaning into the body horror elements that could be derived from four people who received incredible powers. Trank explained this toEntertainment Weekly(viaThePlaylist) upon the film’s release:
“I just kinda jumped to ‘body horror’ in my head. ‘Chronicle’ is about the evolution and strengthening of unique powers. This movie is really viewing them as a curse.”
This could provide an explanation for the somewhat strange portrayal of Reed’s powers inFantastic Four.The film shows them exactly like Trank stated, as an unknown curse rather than gifts. Beyond the limited budget and regular difficulties portraying stretchy powers, this could explain whyFantastic Four’s depiction of Reed’s was overly uncanny compared to normal.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Faces Pressure To Make Reed’s Stretching Look Good
Based On The Past & Future
Unlike 2015’sFantastic Four, The Fantastic Four: First Stepsdoes not have much of an excuse for Reed’s powers, adding to the pressure it has to make these look good.The Fantastic Four: First Stepsis not aiming for a darker take on the family, meaning body horror elements are likely going to be few and far between, if present at all.
Stretchy powers have been an Achilles heel for studios in the past, placing more pressure on Marvel Studios to finally get them right…
Therefore, there is less leeway in making Reed’s powers look realistic.This only adds to the pressure the film already faces in this regard; Reed is an important member of the Four, meaning his powers need to look good. Moreover, stretchy powers have been an Achilles heel for studios in the past, placing more pressure on Marvel Studios to finally get them right.
Finally, Reed Richards is part ofAvengers: Doomsday’s cast list.Given the rivalry between Doctor Doom and Reed, it can be assumed that the latter will play a big role in the film, as will his abilities. IfThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsdid not manage to perfect Reed’s powers, they will continue looking strange inAvengers: DoomsdayandSecret Wars.
However, if Marvel Studios makes Reed’s abilities look natural and believable in the 2025 film, his future in Phase 6 seems more promising. All of this just proves howThe Fantastic Four: First Stepshas a lot of pressure in making Mister Fantastic avoid errors of the past. Avoiding him in marketing seems to have been intentional as a result, but we can only hope the final product delivers.
