'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' takes off with 1st awe-inspiring trailer

The Fantastic Four: First Steps has become a new beacon of hope for the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe as Marvel Studios fights to regain a firm footing in the pop culture space after too many ups and downs in recent times. Its first trailer is now finally with us, and we gotta say it's a corker.

With a distinct marketing campaign dripping in Space Race nostalgia, the new take on Marvel's First Family started on the right foot. Another plus was the recruitment of the director behind WandaVision, Matt Shakman, to captain the ship after Jon Watts left the project to focus on Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. While we've yet to see how the script and final edit turn out, this first look at the blockbuster is filling us with a lot of confidence.

This 'official teaser' is a short but exciting one that jumps right into the action and the gist of these characters. Family drama and the aftermath of the changes each member went through during a trip to outer space take priority in this iteration, and the massive retrofuturist sets and costume design are simply dashing. Of course, the preview is light on actual plot at this stage, but it does a great job of selling us on the key characters (especially Ben Grimm aka The Thing), their dynamics, and more importantly, their origins and powers without overdoing the story that almost everyone knows by now. Reed Richards' weird stretchy abilities are being kept in the dark for now, however.

Fans are expecting the film to tie into Avengers: Doomsday, which will be spearheaded by Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom, for obvious reasons, but it remains to be seen how that will play out. As a reminder, the Earth we'll see in this movie isn't part of the 616 continuity that's been the MCU's 'Sacred Timeline' so far, so the First Family will have to hop between universes to meet up with the bulk of the Marvel heroes we know and love.

The packed main cast should also attract lots of casual moviegoers, as Disney and Marvel have clearly gone all out with the project. It includes Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm aka The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm aka The Thing. They're joined by Julia Garner as one Silver Surfer and Ralph Ineson as Galactus, among others. The latter can be seen towering over New York towards the end of the trailer, hoping to consume the planet, probably.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps will finally come to theaters on July 25, 2025. It will land after two other massive blockbusters: Jurassic World: Rebirth (July 2) and James Gunn's Superman (July 11). Plan accordingly!