Marvel has released the final trailer forThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, and we’re finally given hope that Mister Fantastic’s powers will look amazing in theMCU. The highly anticipated2025 Marvel moviewill finally be released next month on July 25. In recent trailers and teasers, Marvel has been offering a better sense of where the story is going.
In the early trailers, Marvel focused on showcasing the Fantastic Four’s family dynamic. However, as the release date approaches, they’ve felt more confident showcasing the action sequences. We finally have a good taste of howevery Fantastic Four member’s powerswill look on-screen, and Mister Fantastic’s may be the most exciting of all.
Mister Fantastic’s Marvel Powers Are A Hard One To Get Right On-Screen
The Stretching Powers Look Great In The Marvel Comics
Mister Fantastic’s powers allow him to stretch his body in a way that elastic would. It’s an incredibly cool ability that’s helpful in the heat of battle, yet Marvel has never quite been able to nail it in on-screen.There’s an inherent uncanny valley nature to stretching powers that is hard to get right, especially in live-action adaptations.
While Reed Richards' powers in 2005’sFantastic Fourare decently executed, it has a more cartoon-like style. It looks good for the time, but it doesn’t quite hold up by today’s standards. On the other hand, 2015’sFantastic Fourhad lackluster CGI, among other things, leaving Mister Fantastic’s stretching powers looking subpar.
Marvel is well aware of the difficulty of getting stretching powers right on-screen. Past abilities in the MCU have even been fully changed to avoid this issue, as seen in 2022’sMs. Marvel. Kamala Khan has similar powers to Reed in the comics, butMs. Marvel’s MCU powers were changed to manipulate lightinstead.
Even with better CGI technology now, Marvel hasn’t always been known to nail it. Some CGI moments look stunning, while others have brought fans out of the movie entirely. This usually comes down to the production timeline and how much time Marvel gives the CGI artists to work, which was also a potential concern going into this film.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps' New Trailer Has Proven The MCU Can Make Reed Richards' Powers Work
The Latest Trailer Shows Reed In Action
In the earlyFantastic Four: First Stepsteasers and trailers, there was a notable lack of Reed’s powers on display.Mister Fantastic was mostly absentwhile the other members of the family were showcasing their powers. Fans were concerned that Marvel was purposefully leaving out action shots of Mister Fantastic, perhaps because the studio knew they looked bad.
However, the finalFirst Stepstrailer has largely quelled those doubts and proven to me that Marvel can make his powers work in live-action. There are two substantial clips of Reed using his stretching abilities in the trailer:one where he’s stretching away from an explosion, and another where he’s swinging through falling building debris. It may just be two snippets, but it’s more than we’ve seen before.
The shots of Reed using his abilities look smooth and natural, as if his body is truly made of elastic. The well-executed abilities are partially thanks to the advancements in CGI, but as Marvel has proved before, it’s still not a guarantee that every film’s effects will look amazing. They, fortunately,seem to acknowledge their past MCU CGI blundersand have largely avoided the major uncanny valley concern with Mister Fantastic’s powers.
The finalFantastic Four: First Stepstrailer confirms many things that we were already theorizing about the film’s story,such asFranklin’s birthand Silver Surfer working for Galactus. The footage also shows off more of the family’s dynamic. Marvel could’ve left Mister Fantastic’s powers in the dark once more, but they decided to feature them instead.
If Marvel still wasn’t confident in the execution of Reed’s stretching powers, they could’ve left them out of the trailer completely. Letting fans find out in the theater certainly would’ve been an option and perhaps even been one of the draws for audiences to see it as soon as possible. However, it was ultimately the right choice to show them off prior.
There was no better time for Marvel to put Mister Fantastic’s powers on full display than the month leading up toThe Fantastic Four: First Steps’ release. The studio showing audiences that they’re capable of getting Reed’s powers right will quell the concern that some fans may walk into the film with. Without having to worry about bad CGI, fans can just enjoy the film as a whole.
