The Fantastic Four: First Steps SDCC '24 panel recap: Everything we learned from Hall H

Marvel Studios Hall H Presentation at San Diego Comic-Con 2024 was filled with exciting announcements and reveals. We went into the panel with some speculation and rumors about Marvel's slate of movies and as usual, Marvel continued to surprise us.

While the announcement of Avengers: Doomsday and who will be playing Doctor Doom stole the presentation, we did get more details on the upcoming Fantastic Four film, which is now officially titled The Fantastic 4: First Steps.

Set to hit theaters next year on July 25, 2025, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is directed by Matt Shakman (WandaVision) and will officially begin filming on Tuesday.

I was actually a bit surprised by this as a year to film and do all that post-production work doesn't seem like much time. I'm hoping the visual effects don't suffer as a result and that those working on the film don't have to resort to working ridiculous hours of crunch time.

In addition to announcing the title and production start date, Marvel also confirmed that The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be set in a "retro-future '60s." This is something many of us had suspected when the cast announcement was first shared.

"Syd Mead was an inspiration. The ’60s, to me, is all about optimism,” Shakman told the audience (via Variety). I love the Fantastic Four. I love their power set. We want to be true to the comics but we want to be true to life.”

While filming won't begin until next week, some very early test footage was shared. Here's how Variety described it:

"The footage had the tone of a news reel, featuring moments such as Mr. Fantastic speaking to a bored classroom under a banner for “Fantastic Science,” the superhero team’s flying Fantasticar, space suits, a rocket launch and the Thing being featured on a dating show as a mystery contestant. The sequence was capped with a shot of Galactus, the villain of the film."

Comic Book Movie went on to elaborate that Galactus was "comic-accurate" and that he's an actual person — not a cloud, as he was depicted in 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing. All four lead actors were present on stage, although there wasn't really anything interesting to note from their comments.

There's a lot of excitement surrounding Marvel Studios' version of The Fantastic Four. While there have been a few movies made of them in the past, none have really done Marvel's First Family proper justice. The most recent movie about the Fantastic Four was Fox's 2015 reboot starring Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell.

Prior to that, Fox had released two Fantastic Four films that starred Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis. While the films were critically panned, they were commercially successful.

Marvel is hoping for both a critical and commercial success with its own take on the iconic super heroes. The Fantastic Four: First Steps will release in theaters on July 25, 2025. It was also confirmed that the Fantastic Four will appear in both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, which suggests they won't remain in this 1960s alternate timeline for too long. Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters in May 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars in May2027.