Face front, True Believers, because the first trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps has arrived. We now have our first look at Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Marvel’s First Family, along with their robot companion HERBIE and a glimpse into the retro-futurism-inspired art design. The trailer strikes the perfect tone for this property and feels refreshingly different from most other MCU projects. While we're eagerly anticipating everything the movie has to offer when it hits theaters on July 25, 2025, the character who (literally) stands above the rest is Galactus, the devourer of worlds.
Where Is Doctor Doom In the Fantastic Four: First Steps Trailer?
We only get a fleeting glimpse of him in the trailer, but Galactus already appears to be far closer to his comics counterpart than the last attempt in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Let’s delve into why The Fantastic Four: First Steps seems poised to finally do justice to this iconic Marvel character.
Who Is The Devourer of Worlds? Galactus Explained
In case you’re not familiar with Galactus, let’s go over his history in the comics. Galactus is a cosmic entity in the Marvel mythos, first created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #48. He began his life as Galan, a mortal being and the sole survivor of the previous universe before the Big Bang that created our own. Galan survived by merging with the sentience of his universe, transforming into the first being of the new one. Now known as Galactus, he became a giant figure who roams the cosmos, needing to consume life-bearing planets to survive. Galactus later employed several heralds to seek out planets for him, the most famous being the Silver Surfer.
In the first confrontation between Galactus and the Fantastic Four, the team was warned of his arrival by the Watcher, who broke his oath of non-interference to try to save Earth from being consumed. The heroes battled the Silver Surfer but failed to stop him from signaling his master, who soon arrived to devour the planet. Despite the Fantastic Four managing to convince the Surfer to turn against Galactus, the Human Torch had to venture into Galactus’ worldship, Taa II, to retrieve the Ultimate Nullifier, one of the few items in the universe capable of harming Galactus. When Mr. Fantastic threatened the devourer with it, Galactus swore to leave Earth in exchange for the return of the Nullifier. Galactus then departed for space, but not before sentencing the Silver Surfer to exile on Earth for his betrayal.
Galactus has been a pivotal figure in the Marvel universe ever since, returning several times to battle the Fantastic Four under various circumstances, and also clashing with Thor, where his backstory was first revealed. He’s not truly "evil" in the traditional sense, but rather a morally ambiguous figure who only consumes to survive. Despite being one of Marvel’s coolest antagonists, he hasn’t been done justice on the big screen. Yet.
The Second Coming of Galactus in The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Although he’s appeared in cartoons and video games, such as the '90s Fantastic Four cartoon and Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Galactus has only appeared in one film before First Steps. That was Tim Story’s 2007 entry, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which wasn’t exactly the best outing for the devourer of worlds. Although the film followed the basic template of the comic story with the Surfer’s arrival leading to Galactus' approach to consume the planet (they also included Doctor Doom stealing the Surfer’s board, which happened a few issues later in the source material), Galactus himself was a letdown. He was reimagined from his iconic comic design with purple armor and a giant helmet to a nondescript cloud with little to no distinguishing features. He also never spoke and was seemingly killed by the Surfer with little effort. It certainly wasn’t what fans expected from Galactus’ first film appearance.
However, from what we’ve seen so far, Galactus in The Fantastic Four: First Steps looks to be a significant improvement. The brief glimpse we got in the trailer, along with the tease from a drone light show at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con, indicates that the new film will stay true to Jack Kirby’s classic design for the character. The fact that Marvel Studios chose Galactus as the villain for their Fantastic Four reboot is a strategic decision. Even though there were plenty of FF baddies to choose from (and we might still see others… does anyone know who John Malkovich is playing?), selecting Galactus shows that Marvel understands fans' dissatisfaction with 20th Century Fox’s previous attempt and are committed to getting it right this time. Since it appears that Robert Downey, Jr's Doctor Doom is being reserved for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars (though we’re still hoping for a cameo in First Steps), Marvel can fully focus on giving Galactus the MCU debut he deserves.
This is particularly crucial given the MCU’s recent struggles in the Multiverse Saga. With numerous movies produced and many villains they've burned through, Galactus is one of the few remaining Marvel villains with enough of a pedigree to help revitalize the franchise. A successful Galactus adaptation could help restore the MCU’s reputation and generate excitement for the upcoming Avengers films, in which the Fantastic Four are set to play major figures.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Trailer 1 Stills
After all, during the time when the Fantastic Four were in exile due to the Fox-Marvel feud over the film rights, fans expressed greater interest in seeing the FF’s rogues gallery, such as Doctor Doom, Annihilus, and Galactus, in the MCU than the First Family themselves. Now, hopefully, we’re all back on the "the Fantastic Four are actually good" train (you should check out Ryan North’s current run on the comics; it’s great), but it is true that Galactus and many other characters associated with the FF could be the secret ingredient the MCU needs to rejuvenate the brand after wrapping up the Multiverse Saga.
Either way, Galactus is one of the best characters associated with the Fantastic Four, and it’s high time we see him in all his glory in live-action. We’ll see how Marvel’s attempt at Galactus and the FF fares this July, but based on this trailer, their first steps seem to be on the right path.
