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The Fantastic Four: First Steps came to Disney’s D23 movie and TV preview at Anaheim’s cavernous Honda Center with just a little bit more than they showed at San Diego Comic-Con two weeks earlier. With the movie now two weeks into filming and the cast working in London, Marvel’s First Family—Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm)—delivered a video greeting to the 12,000 fans in the arena.
The four were seated around what could have been the gang’s kitchen table, but what drew the most attention, of course, was that Quinn was also wearing what looked very much like our first look at a Fantastic Four costume from the movie. But it’s not the classic 1960s suit you might have expected from this superhero period piece.
The costume appeared to be all blue from the shoulders down, with the shoulders, collar, and top of the arms all in white. Quinn was wearing a white belt as well that was adorned with a few high-tech gizmos, black gloves, and the quartet’s famous logo featured the number “4” in blue against a white circular background with a blue and white border.
Now, at the moment, we don’t know if this is the official Fantastic Four uniform or perhaps a flight suit or prototype design from earlier in the movie. But as with most things Marvel, there is precedence for this look in the comics.
The ‘80s were all about the blue and white
The original costumes worn by the team starting in issue #3 of the Fantastic Four comics were jumpsuits in the classic blue with black trim around the collar and waist, along with black boots and gloves (the only exception was Ben Grimm/The Thing, who quickly switched from a full costume to his famous trunks). With minor tweaks and a couple of exceptions (like an extra outfit in red for Johnny/Human Torch), this look lasted for nearly 20 years.
Enter legendary writer/artist John Byrne in 1981, whose run on the book introduced a new look for the Four that is a clear inspiration on the suit Quinn is wearing in the D23 video. This one still featured the standard blue, only with white collars, gloves, belts, and boots. The blue and white look is definitely what Quinn is sporting, although it’s notably different in the extension of white along the shoulders and top of the arms, stopping just short of the “4” logo on the actor’s chest.
The Four went through a number of other costume changes in the years to come (including a red and black suit at one point), but it appears that this signature look from the Byrne era is what the movie may be striving for—unless, of course, there is a final costume we have yet to see. After all, everything else about this movie is going for the ’60s era of the comics, so it stands to reason a more classic look will also show up in the film.
We’ve only seen the beginning of the MCU’s Fantastic Four
Aside from the video greeting from the cast, Marvel brought the same prepared sizzle reel to D23 that it showed off at SDCC this year. The footage teases various aspects of the Four’s life: Reed teaching kids on what appears to be a TV science show, the First Family sitting down around the dinner table, Ben (in shadowy Thing form) appearing on a TV dating game, and most importantly, the team preparing for a flight in space, with a very quick glimpse of Galactus peering into a skyscraper window at the end.
As Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige mentioned on the D23 stage, the Matt Shakman-directed movie just wrapped its second week of filming, so there’s not much more to show right now. But with Byrne’s five-and-a-half year stint on the comics (1981-1986) widely considered the book’s best run since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby first introduced Marvel’s First Family, the inclusion of a costume that seems to be channeling his era—a period that brought back the Four’s cosmic adventures and family dynamic—can only be a positive sign.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is out July 25, 2025.
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