Captain America: Brave New World didn’t build on the insane box office momentum of Deadpool & Wolverine and was met by mediocre fan response. Despite that, there’s still a lot of reason to be excited about upcoming Marvel movies and the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The early buzz for Thunderbolts* seems to be much stronger, but beyond that, the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps has fans very excited. And FF director Matt Shakman just shared some more BTS details on the film that have me pumped.
I for one, have been very excited about Fantastic Four ever since I heard Kevin Feige compare its retro-future aesthetic to the iconic 1964 World’s Fair. The movie is looking to have a vibe unlike anything we’ve seen in the MCU before, and Shakman recently told Empire that from a filmmaking standpoint, he took inspiration from the great Stanley Kubrick, who directed perhaps the best sci-fi movie ever made. Shakman said…
I really wanted it to feel like it was made in 1965, the way Stanley Kubrick would have made it. Within reason. … [We’ve] used old lenses, and taken an approach to filmmaking that feels more of the time. Of course, we still have a lot of CG.
I’ll be the first to admit that hearing somebody talk about “the way Stanley Kubrick would have made" a Marvel movie is an inherently hilarious statement. It’s pretty difficult to imagine that Kubrick would have had much interest in such things. That doesn’t mean I’m not excited by the sentiment, though. Whatever the inspiration, filming a movie set in the 1960s like a movie actually made in the 1960s, should only enhance the period feel of the story.
And while there may be “a lot of CG,” as Shakman says, it’s not all computer graphics. There are a lot of practical sets, physical props and a 14-foot tall miniature of the Reed spacecraft, not unlike the kind that Stanley Kubrick used in his iconic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Of course, Fantastic Four: First Steps isn’t actually set in the 1960s. It takes place in an alternative universe and, thus, an alternative version of the decade. The “retro-future” design will give us a world that looks like the past and the future in equal measure. Shakman says in many ways it’s a very tangible movie, with the fantastical elements kept to a minimum. He explained…
I really wanted to go with as grounded a version of space as possible. So, no wormholes. Their tech is very much retro-future, but it's also booster rockets. It’s a combination of Marvel and Apollo 11.
I love the retro-future vibe that Fantastic Four is going with so much that I called for the characters to appear at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, rather than Disney California Adventure’s Avengers Campus. That's because Tomorrowland itself has a ‘60s era retro-future vibe. So, needless to say, I'm ready to witness Marvel's First Family make their triumphant return to the big screen. (Also, Disney is actually going to be adding the Fantastic Four to Tomorrowland this summer because they know what they’re doing.)
Here's hoping that in crafty this somewhat retro superhero flick, Matt Shakman and co. manage to do Stanley Kubrick proud. You can check out The Fantastic Four: First Steps when it hits theaters on July 25 amid the 2025 movie schedule.
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