Disney’s Marvel Studios launched its highly anticipated first look at “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” on Tuesday (Feb. 4), by broadcasting live from a site that is well-suited to fit into the 1960’s-inspired, retro-futuristic world that serves as the film’s backdrop.
The U.S. Space Rocket & Center in Huntsville, Alabama hosted the star-studded, fan-packed release of the movie’s first trailer. Cast members Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing) came together as Marvel’s “First Family” to press a physical launch button while standing under a massive piece of U.S. space history.
“What better for this launch than here among one of the world’s largest collections of space artifacts, rockets, engines and spacecraft?” said Angélique Roché, a journalist and content creator, who led the live countdown. “Excitement is in the air and, as you can see, so is the Saturn V rocket that took America to the moon — developed right here in the Rocket City in the 1960s.”
As the trailer shows, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” follows four astronauts who are turned into super heroes during a flight into space.
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“Before we went up the first time, you couldn’t turn invisible, Ben wasn’t a rock and Johnny never caught fire,” says Reed Richards (Pascal) to Sue Storm (Kirby). Though not included in the minute-and-a-half promo, Richards can stretch any part of his body to great lengths.
In “First Steps,” opening in theaters on July 25, the Four are forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond while defending Earth. The action takes place in an alternate universe (even different from previous Marvel Cinematic Universe films), so, while the aesthetic looks similar to our Space Age, the history of spaceflight is different.
Nevertheless, fans tuning in early to the countdown on the live webcast were taken on a virtual tour of the Space & Rocket Center, with sweeping views of the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, U.S. Space Camp and the center’s grounds.
Among the space artifacts on display were the aforementioned Saturn V 500-D, a prototype used to fit-check ground support equipment; “Casper,” the Apollo 16 command module that carried the penultimate crew (to date) to land on the moon; an Apollo-recovered moon rock; and a SpaceX pressure suit worn on the first privately funded orbital space mission.
The montage also included a vertical replica of the Saturn V standing 363 feet (110 meters) tall; mockups of International Space Station modules as are used by Space Camp and Space Academy attendees; and a partial recreation of the mission control room from where station science experiments are managed at NASA’s nearby Marshall Space Flight Center.
Established in 1970 on land that was donated by the Army, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center is overseen by the Alabama Space Science Exhibit Commission, an agency of the State of Alabama. Nearly 17 million people have toured the museum, including the more than 900,000 trainees who have attended Space Camp. The center’s artifact collection encompasses more than 1,500 objects spanning the six decades of human space exploration.
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” is directed by Matt Shakman, produced by Kevin Feige and executive produced by Louis D’Esposito, Grant Curtis and Tim Lewis.
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