The Four Most Fantastic Things in the 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' Trailer
01:19:18 Share

Have you ever spotted McDonald's hot, crispy fries right as they're being scooped into the carton? And time just stands still. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.

When the game tips off, the NBA action is just beginning on FanDuel, America's number one sportsbook. Because FanDuel is your home for NBA live betting, however you want to play. Now is the perfect time to join. Make every moment more with FanDuel, official sports betting partner of the NBA. 21 plus and present in Virginia. First online, real money wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable bonus bets which expire seven days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

Greetings!

And welcome to House of R, a Ringerverse podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin and joining me today to tell Herbie that she wants to add a couple cloves of garlic to the sauce. Just a little bit of zip. It's Joanna Robinson. Cousin! Cousin!

As a family. We're going to do this podcast together, Mallory. As a family. We're going to add that garlic as a family. It is the Fantastic Four today. It's you. It's me. It's John. It's Steve. We got four people on this Zoom. We do. Everyone else at The Ringer has gone to New Orleans. Everyone else is at the Super Bowl. We're here. We're here. We're here. Joanna, we are here.

to talk about, as everybody can already tell from the opening clip and the numerous Fantastic Four references already, the Fantastic Four First Steps teaser trailer that got moved up. We thought we were going to have to wait until the Super Bowl, but no. Here it is with us this week. Thrilling. But before we welcome everybody into the Baxter building for some family dinner time, a couple quick programming reminders. What do you got?

People are probably like you said, you're going to have a mailbag. But yeah, then they drop the trailer early. So we are going to do a winter mailbag, but it's going to be next week, next Tuesday. So keep the questions coming. Hobbitsanddragons at gmail.com. Send us questions on...

that are coming out. Daredevil, Invincible, Our Personal Lives. Will we answer them? Our Personal Lives. Oh, wow. We can ask the questions and we will answer them together as a family. That's beautiful. If the questions that you sent us about our personal lives don't make the winter mailbag, maybe they'll make the second pod next week, which is our new tradition, the annual V-Day Quickie. Yeah.

We're going to be doing a little romantic-y check-in for our Valentine's Day pod. TBD definitively, if we will be doing that, if we have the privilege of doing that together in person, it feels likely based on, we've got some stuff to figure out about our recording schedule next week. John and Steve, stay tuned. But we will be doing that. We're looking forward to it very much. So when you're sending mailbag questions, send them about Onyx Storm,

romantasy, your favorite couples, anything. It's always fun to hear from you all when we do a V-Day Quickie. Wing-based porn. Okay. No? Yeah. Sure. I just want you to remember the moment where you said on a podcast, send us porn. I said wing-based porn. Why did you just give me that look as if that's not the very premise of the podcast that we're doing next week? I think...

the blurbs on the books, the links to...

fanfic, all of this. It's going to be a robust week for submissions from the bad babies, I think. I'm excited. Do send me your fanfic recommendations because I really have just one lane that I travel. Am I going to go off into the dark and deep, smutty woods that you guys recommend? Maybe not, but I'd like to hear what you have in mind. But

But maybe so. But maybe so. But maybe so. But maybe not. But maybe so. So that's what we have cooking next week. And then, of course, the top of the following week, we will be talking about Captain America, Brave New World, spending Valentine's Day weekend with Harrison Ford. What a time to be us. Meanwhile, over on The Ringiverse, the Midnight Boys. Pew, pew. Pew, pew.

They already have their Fantastic Four trailer reaction up. You can check that out right now. It's called an instant reaction for a reason, baby. Exactly. That's exactly right. Damn it. Here's what you have to look forward to next week. First, actually, the rest of this week. You're getting another Midnight Boys pod. You're getting the Infinity War Black recast. That will be coming on Friday. And then next week, the boys will be talking about Captain America. That's not all.

Button mash. 20 years. 20 years since The Sims. This made me feel old. We've had a lot of button mash teases in the last few months where I'm like, Thing X made me feel old. And this is one of them. And then, the Mint Boys, Mint Edition. We'll be talking about the trailers from the Super Bowl. There's always a lot of nerd culture goodness teased during the Super Bowl. Did The Sims really only come about 20 years ago? I thought it was earlier than that. Never mind. It's actually 25 years old. I couldn't tell you. Steve? Why now?

Yeah, 25 years. I was going to say. It's about a week or two anniversary of somebody putting the wrong thing in the planning doc then. That's what the anniversary is. Sorry. I was like, this is one thing I do actually know, which is when The Sims came out. You going to get on Button Mash? You going to share your gaming takes? Absolutely not. No, thank you. Love and respect to Ben Lindbergh. Joanna, it's a lot. It's a lot now. It's a lot always. It's going to be a lot over the next few months. How can everybody follow along? Oh my God. So glad you asked. First of all,

You know you can listen, but you can also watch these pods on the Ringiverse YouTube channel and also on Spotify app inside of the app. You just fire up the podcast. There are little shining faces are in the Spotify app. It's a joy and a delight. Maybe a jump scare. Who's to say? All right. Also...

You just follow the pod on your listening platform choice, which includes Spotify, but also any other podcatcher that you so choose. Follow us. Subscribe. Subscribe to the pod. Why not do that?

We're on social medias. There are a lot of social media platforms of varying degrees of quality, and we are on them. You can find them. Mallory, as a Valentine's gift to me, will you join Blue Sky next week? Yeah, I'm about to ratchet up my social output. When we're together in person, nothing will stop me. I'll be posting reels and clips of us nonstop. And in order to do that, I have to actually be on some social media.

platforms. So, so yeah, I'll be there. I'll be joining you on blue sky. As you know, I'm always on Instagram looking at sneakers and I'll be posting things about our podcast there as well. Can't wait. Also, we already mentioned it a couple of times, but why not do it again? Yeah. It's hobbitsanddragonsatgmail.com. That's right. For your let's recap, uh, wing based porn.

dark wood, smutty fanfic recommendations, but also questions about process or, hey, listen, I cover Severance every week with Rob Mahoney, but what does Molly Rubin think about this season of Severance? We could tell you on a mailbag episode if you write in about it.

Let us know. What are we most excited about for White Lotus, which we'll be recording in person every week for two months of delight. I genuinely can't wait. Yellow Jackets. Mallory's been doing complete rewatch and live insta-ing it. So you can ask her about that. There's a lot of stuff. Daredevil? What are we most excited about for Daredevil? Come on. What are the logistics of a romantic Valentine's Day quickie with Harrison Ford's Red Hulk?

Mallory would be happy to answer that question. Hobbsanddragons.gmail.com. That's it for me. Back to you in the studio, Mallory. I'm always thinking about Harrison Ford's Red Hulk, if you know what I mean. I do. And I think you do. And everyone else does as well. God, this is being good. Spoiler. I'm so sorry. I missed you, bees. Spoiler warning. Welcome back. I know. We've gotten a couple bees, a couple bees returns recently, and it has felt, frankly, right. It has felt right. So thank you, bees. Thank you, Steve.

Spoiler warning. It's the friendly neighborhood one, and here it is for today. We've not seen the film, The Fantastic Four First Steps, so we're going off what's in the trailer, which we will be talking about in detail. We will be talking about some casting nuggets for the film. Anything that's ever happened in the MCU. Yes, quite a few TBDs for this cast. Anything that's ever happened in the MCU is fair game today, and some comics canon could come up. Yeah, we're going to cover all of that as a family.

You've landed on a bit, and I love this for you. Listen, it's Marvel's first family. What else are we going to talk about here today? You know what I mean? Should we get matching suits? Space suits or super suits? You don't already have one? I mean, I did wear blue today. I did wear green, which has nothing to do with anything. All right. Let's do it. Okay. It's not Sunday at 7 on the dot.

but it is time to pod. Let's get to the opening snapshot. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet. ShopPay boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning fewer carts going abandoned and more sales going cha-ching. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit Shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. Okay, Joe, here's what we're going to be doing today. We are going to be sharing...

our respective four most fantastic things from this trailer. And I don't know what you're going to pick. You don't know what I'm going to pick before we get into our four most fantastic things, the highlights, the things that made us most excited, the things that filled us with joy, the things that upped the already high hype. I had a moment last night where I was like, who picked fantastic four in the hype draft? And I was like, fuck right, of course.

Sean. Fantasy. Fucking fantasy. Why would you bring this up? I don't know. Because I can't stop thinking about it. Bury it forever. Vibes only. Vibes only. Vibes only. Before we get to our four highlights, though, just a very quick little opening snapshot here. The

Fantastic Four First Steps film is, of course, going to be the first film in Phase 6. We are not yet through Phase 5, but we are nearing Phase 6, and that's honestly crazy. I remember, I am old enough to remember when the Infinity Saga ended, and now we are entering the final phase of the Multiverse Saga, and I just don't know where the time has gone. It's been a messy few years, let me tell you, for many, many different reasons. My goodness. Yeah, Phase 6. Wild. Wild.

Is this when it all comes together? Is this when it all starts to gel? That would be late, but let's hope. Let's hope it happens then. It would be a little late, but better late than never. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Matt Shackman was with us at the beginning of the Multiverse Saga early days with WandaVision, and now he is here directing this film. And in Phase 6, this will be followed by Avengers Doomsday in May of 2026, Spidey 4.

July of 26 and adventure secret wars in May of 27. What else is coming out on the movie front in phase six? Surely something, right? Maybe I would assume maybe Joanna, maybe give us a little context here.

What is your history with the Fantastic Four? Are these comic characters you love? Have you just been absolutely riveted by every moment that they have spent on the silver screen previously? Certainly enjoyed some MCU cameos more recently when we got to see Krasinski as Reed Richards in Multiverse of Madness. We got to see Chris Evans as Johnny Storm in, spoiler, in Deadpool and Wolverine.

Are you a big Tim Story head? Are you a big Josh Trank head? Are you really loyal to the let's fuck with the ownership of the rights, the character rights on release 1994 installment? Great, great questions. Take us through it. Do you think there are more story heads out there or more Trank heads out there? It's a really tough, tough call, I think. I don't know.

which has the bigger following at this point. Listen. There's nothing more powerful than story. That's something I know. Oh, yeah, yeah. But also Trunks. So what are you going to do? Listen. Have I seen all these movies? Yes. Uh-huh. Have I revisited any of them? Possibly not. I think the one that I've seen the most is actually Rise of the Silver Surfer, and only because I saw it a second time in the background, it was playing in a bar.

And thus is my relationship with the Fantastic Four on silver screen. I've seen them. I would not say I enjoyed them. Those films. I think that's a reasonable take and probably not a super rare one. So that's part of what's exciting about this, you know? On the page. Yes, the printed page. You know, I sort of took it upon myself. I was not, as I've said many times, a huge comics reader when I was a kid. But in, you know, in my like 20s thereabouts, I like sort of

said about educating myself and this is Marvel's first family. This is a very important... I don't know if you've heard that, but they are a family. This is a very important...

piece of comic book history so have i read the lee and kirby original run i have as an educational uh thing that i did have i read the jonathan hickman run i have have i read the mark wade run yes and i really liked that one and i gotta say i really really like ryan north who's one of my favorites did the dinosaur comics back in the day did some

absolute banger squirrel girl run um he's been writing you love squirt girl i love squirrel girl is my favorite comic book um ryan has been writing uh fantastic four since 2022 so i've been actually dipping into that because i love ryan so much and so the fantastic four the night of doom omnibus uh is something i really just like issues one through nine i think uh i uh had a great time with so that is my relationship

Marvel's first family. How about you, Mallory? How long have you been in the family? This could be a Fast and the Furious pod. That's what's fun about it. Dom Toretto's always with me in my heart, in my soul. Mr. Fantastic of a different sort. Big Dom. You know? Sure. Another genius. Yeah. He likes to stretch certain things. I have, like you, known

And I would like to apologize formally to Jomie for both of us, you know, saying this out loud. No attachment to the prior films. I certainly watched them, but can't say I love them. Wait, does Jomie love the original, the other Fantastic Four movies? He has a deep, like it's part of his origin as a consumer of comic book movies connection, which is wonderful and sweet. That's great.

Yeah. And what's fun to think is how many people might that be true for with this impending film, First Steps? I really love Fantastic Four comics. And actually, the Fantastic Four are my dad's favorite comic characters, which is just like a nice little thing he really loved. And it was always fun to listen to him talk about when he was a young person and would look forward to a new run with Marvel's first family. Yeah.

So I'm hyped. Like, I really have been, like, so many MCU fans and so many comic book movie fans eager for a good Fantastic Four movie, eager for the full, formal, not just cameo, arrival of the Fantastic Four into the MCU. And, you know, obviously we've talked a ton about both the Fantastic Four and the X-Men in this respect, but there is...

The stakes are high. Like a lot is riding on getting this right and what this means for the rest of phase six, the rest of the multiverse saga, but also just the continuation of this larger grand experiment in a way that feels like it is vibrant and- The MCU. Yeah, a resource that can be rejuvenated. Superhero cinema.

And cinema. So I'm excited. Yeah. We're not just getting this in July, too. We're getting this and Superman. Like, what a July. We've talked about this before. What a moment for comic book movies. Now that we've seen trailers for both films, you're feeling...

more confident that it will be a positive July in this sliver of the universe? I do. I think, I think people are going to, as you, as I've already stated on many podcasts, I have my own personal reservations about Superman, but I think people are going to love this shit out of Superman. I think they're going to love it. And I think they're going to love this as well. And also the, the tone is fun watching that trailer and this trailer and, and, and absorbing the sort of majestic, um,

bassoon score on both of them, you really feel a sort of similar hopefulness. You know what I mean? Yeah. Superman always has been, of course, like that sort of Boy Scout optimistic, except when some people have control of him, kind of character. I don't know about you, Mallory, but I'm having a really fun,

Frazzled is a very mild way to put it, 2025 so far. I'm feeling a little, I think a lot of people are feeling a bit on edge about what's going on. And I think, I think, excuse me, bug. Oh, bug. Do that again. Oh my God. Bug. I think a lot of people are feeling on edge and I feel like a sort of hopeful, uplifting superhero cinema thing.

will be very important to people in the summer. I think that the appetite is interesting. I was just thinking about the appetite for this kind of storytelling in July of 2025 versus...

I don't know. Is it going to be that kind of thing where it's like, when things are bleak, we really need superhero cinema. And then when things are, are going kind of okay, like we get antsy for other kinds of, of storytelling. Obviously superheroes will always be here with us, but like, will they sort of wax and wane depending on this is a, this is like, this goes back to a unified theory that, that our pal Dave Gonzalez has about when zombie movies are popular and when vampire movies are popular. And it depends who's in the white house at the time. So anyway, I,

I think that people are really thirsty for hope and optimism. And I think the tenor of this trailer, which is a retro, warm, loving, we can do this sort of energy meeting the uplifting message of the Superman trailer of...

It might just be exactly what we need exactly when we need it. Versus perhaps last year what we needed was Deadpool and Wolverine, which is a wildly different tone. So yeah, I'm really interested to see what happens if people will show up for this. I know everyone seems to be pretty...

for the Fantastic Four, which I have my reasons why I'm excited. We're about to talk about like four fantastic reasons why we got excited about this trailer, but I'm interested that it has permeated. It feels like to me, anecdotally beyond comic book fans into like the gen pop seems pretty excited for this movie. Is it, is it the Pedro effect? Like what are, what's, what's happening? It's, it's thrilling. Yeah. Pedro and Kirby. Yeah.

Eben and Joe. Like, what a time. Yeah. What a time. What a family. This is for us. What about you, Myron? The masses gathered Joe at the crack of dawn at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. There was a rocket above them. A real one. What did you... Actually, what did you think of this? The kind of like launch event, eventizing of the trailer release. Obviously, trailer releases have now long been an event in and of themselves, but...

The little teaser for the trailer the day before, the release of the marketing material, the posters, the crowds rushing to see inside of the fictional universe, the characters, the way that hopefully fans will in real life. I got a real kick out of the... I thought, frankly...

for a bunch of very charming people, incredibly awkward. Deeply tilted. Yeah, very odd. But I did think it was all worth it just for Pedro to describe the outfits as retro go-go boy kind of vibe, which I watched a few of the interviews. I believe he did that on Good Morning America. That was special. Can we with love and respect...

Get these incredibly charming people some media training around this. My theory is this, because I've seen them all give interviews and they're all like quite charming. I've seen them give interviews for all of their various properties. I feel like they're scared.

As Marvel people, Marvel actors often are of like saying the wrong thing or saying, spilling secrets that they're not supposed to spill. There's a lot of people wondering how this connects to this, that, or the other thing. For sure, yeah. Maybe they're just sort of haven't yet figured out how to unclench from the like, I have so many secrets I can't share. Yeah.

surely Pedro who had to keep Grogu a secret for a very long time. He seemed ready to me. He's like, I've done the big IP press tour before, but yeah, there were, there were nerves. So certainly in the, in the, the group at large, the combination of like the pressure on the movie. And yeah, I think you're right. The, what can you tell us about thing X? Oh God, I, please don't let me like pull a Tom Holland and say something I'm not supposed to say. Don't let me do it better than Cumberbatch did. And then quickly walked back, but like,

He's like, don't believe anything I say. I'm like, okay, Ben. Sure. Great stuff. Great stuff. Joanna, before we get into the four most fantastic things from the Fantastic Four First Steps trailer, anything else you'd like to say in a big picture sense about this viewing experience? No, I think I can wrap everything I want to say inside of these four fantastic points that I've assembled here today for us as a family to feast upon. Great.

Is there enough garlic in this feast? Yeah, just enough to, you know. Mostly I'm just excited to talk about a Marvel movie that everyone is excited for. I know. That's just like in a meta way, very exciting to me because like Deadpool and Wolverine, I think people thought it was going to be really, really popular, but I can't, I don't know that anyone was sort of like emotionally like sort of keyed up for Deadpool and Wolverine the way that I feel like they are for Fantastic Four. So. And that we are for Thunderbolts.

And that I am very personally for Thunderbolts. And also, part of this anticipation comes from Marvel's patience around this property, right? That the Fox merger happened so long ago and they were like, slow and steady. We really want to make sure we get this right. And every step along the way, all these first steps that we've seen from this new family has given us...

given us more reason to be excited. I've never felt a moment of like, oh no, the way I have with some of other things that we can talk about, you know? And they've done a good job of giving us little drips, you know, the first Instagram illustration, the reveal of the new Marvel logo in the style of this 60s retro future alt world. Nugget after nugget, and obviously still plenty more to come between now and

July 25th. My only thought on the patience is I hope they weren't too patient. Like, obviously there was a carryover of many characters and properties from one saga to the next, so hopefully...

This version of the Fantastic Four will be with us beyond one phase. I'm not really prepared, having not yet seen the film or knowing if it's good. I'm not prepared to have like a year and a half with Pedro, Pascal, or Richard. That would just be unfair. Mallory's like, we've already seen the trailer. That means we're already on the way to it being over. I'm mourning the loss in the end. Half a year before it's even begun. Totally normal. Totally normal. Okay.

It's time for the four most fantastic things from the Fantastic Four First Steps trailer. I don't know what that accent journey was. I don't either. Okay, Jo. I don't know what your list is. You don't know what mine is. I suspect we'll have some overlap. I don't think we need to go in any particular order. No, we don't. I might have some backups. Like, I'm ready to swap in if you, like, pick something that I picked. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, great. Yeah, I have a couple honorable mentions, but I also have some that are very specific picks and some that are, like,

as broad as they could possibly be, which might complicate this exercise. You love a large tent under which you can smuggle a large family of ideas. Okay. Hit me with your first most fantastic thing or your fourth most fantastic thing, depending on how you're thinking of it. I'd be thrilled in order to. And this one is inspired by, I was not at all sure what order to go in and you made the decision easy for me because you did that very bizarre thing

And I think we can all agree, mildly off-putting accent when you introduced this segment. Yeah. Yeah? No, a true delight. And so I take us now to accent corner, and I take you to this theoretical accent corner, which is... John Malkovich shows up in this trailer very briefly. We don't know for certain who he's playing. There's a lot of guesses running around, a lot of theories. But one theory...

is that he's playing a character called Red Ghost. And you're sitting there at home and you don't know anything about the comic books, but you're like, I heard the word red. Could he be Russian? Yes. And to me, that means that perhaps we could get the return of the Malkovich Rounders accent. Oh my God. He beat me straight up.

Take that man, his money. All right. So it is to me, the appearance of John Malkovich, the prospect of John Malkovich, perhaps playing a Russian character and taking us all back in time to a Morrison era of rounders. One of the best worst movies I've ever seen in my entire life. So that is my number four is just the appearance of John Malkovich.

A frankly remarkable place to be in this exercise. I felt very confident that we would be talking about John Malkovich's very brief, mysterious appearance in the trailer, but I did not know we would be talking about rounders, and I'm thrilled. If anyone is like, John Malkovich was in this trailer? Who was John Malkovich? I don't know what. 120. You could see him with the long white hair. You think people missed Malkovich in this trailer? The long beard? Probably not. Okay. Just in case. Just in case.

If you went and got a soda while Malkovich was like swooping out of the shadows. He's just a second. He's in the, yes, the black background. It looks like the void that Sean records in for Big Pick. He does. He's over there in Studio 5 with Fantasy. Do you think Sean could pull off long silvery locks? Without question. No doubt.

Absolutely no doubt. No doubt in my mind. And the beard as well. Yeah, I think so. Certainly. Guys, can we get a Photoshop, please, to prove the point? Thank you. Haven't we seen Sean do like a beard let? Haven't we seen that? Oh, yeah. Yeah, he had a beard for a while in the early ringer days, and it was frankly resplendent. Bring it back.

Agreed. So you've moved on from your Mole Man hopes and dreams, which was a thing that you were, you wanted John Malkovich to be playing Mole Man. Yeah, but now I don't. And now I want him to be playing Red Ghost. I like it. Mole Man is fine. I think that's one of the two leading theories. There's some like, is he Franklin Storm? Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's like, there's like six decent theories. A number of possibilities. And really only two or three good theories. Yeah.

Paul Walter Hauser as perhaps a mole man is way more exciting to me. That feels right. That's sort of where I put my mole-based hopes and dreams. I love an accent. I love a choice. And we didn't hear from Malkovich in this trailer, but someday we will, and then we'll know. We have a lot to look forward to on the getting to hear this character speak front. I mean, we did not get to hear Galactus talk yet. Yeah.

Yeah, but Ralph Innocent's voice booms through my every dream and nightmare. So I feel like I know what that's going to sound like. It's going to be heaven. But Malkovich is a wild card. You just don't know what he's going to do. And I feel like Shockman is the kind of guy who would just be like,

Sure. Go for it. Full rounders. Go for it. I'm asking you to answer this question. I don't know how you would. Is he going to, at one point, open an Oreo near his ear? Yes, that was the exact question. Okay. Yes, you anticipated it perfectly. How much of the movie do you think John Malkovich is going to be in? Barely. Barely any. I would say.

Over, under on five total minutes of screen time. Oh, I'm going to take the over, but just over. Over, under on seven minutes of screen time. Yeah, that feels right. Seven feels right to me. Okay. How about you?

Like slight under on seven, I guess. I would take the under on seven. Yeah. I could see it being like six and a half. Six minutes and 45 seconds. I like it. Lock it in. Yeah. Okay. Here's my first or fourth, however, whatever order we're going in, who could say? I mean, probably John and Steve when they put together a graphics package for this episode, but us in real time, who the fuck knows? Okay. This is my like kind of big one. Stop me if you've heard this before. The vibes.

Just an immaculate vibes trailer. And I have some subsets that contributed to the vibes being so immaculate and really contributing beyond some of the particulars on the character front and the story front, which also got me excited. I really liked this trailer. I was already excited for this. I'm even more excited now. I'm frankly obsessed with this. I'm frankly obsessed with the exercise being pick four things and you were like,

Let me list it. And now I will pick other things inside of him, all of which are also sort of just like large things. And then I will have more specific things for the rest of them. Sort of. And we'll get to a couple of the rest of them. Right.

Don't worry. I knew this was going to happen. I knew you knew that this was going to happen. Okay. I went hyper specific because I was pretty sure you were going to go abroad. Vibes. What could have been broader than vibes? I don't know that anything could have, frankly. Yeah, no. Because all I can think of is sentiment. The mood. The look. Well, that's part of it. So here we go. Okay. So just at the most basic level, the true pan out, what did we see? How did it make us feel?

There was just something so fresh about this. Marvel's First Family, Joe, have you heard? Oh, are they family? On-screen adaptation for Marvel's First Family, and it just felt unmistakably new. Genuinely unmistakably new on the movie front. You could not confuse this for one of the prior Fox films. You couldn't, whether it's because of the shifting aspect ratios across the trailer, which I love. That was awesome. The particular...

Color grading of the trailer, the spacesuits, the shade of blue, just the distinct shade of blue compared to the prior films, right down to the Marvel logo tweak that we already talked about, which really helped bring together and really cement this unified visual palette. That...

feels very connected, not to the prior films, but to that comic's DNA, right? Like the debut of these characters in the 60s, you just feel that connection here and that appreciation for it and the desire. We'll talk as we go a little bit about some of the particular comics arcs from that era that are going to be part of this adaptation on the Galactus front, but it just felt so radically distinct from the prior arcs.

template and saturated with comics energy in a way that I really enjoyed. That retrofuturism made me think right away in terms of the 60s aspects, that olden feel of WandaVision, makes sense because of Shackman, of Loki. You're like, oh, this kitchen doesn't look all that different.

different from the TBA. It felt so mad. There's a light rig that is like very similar. Yeah. The fashion, the settings. It's just like, I'm like, I'm waiting for Peggy or Don Roger to walk around the corner. I really was watching it. It just felt like that. Even, you know, obviously Captain America first Avenger does not have that specific decade feel, but just the idea of like these characters, um,

It's stylish. We're doing something with style. Being a specific time and moment in time place that feels different from the rest of the MCU. I really loved. I have a very important multiverse question for you. Hit me. Would you blink twice if Roger Sterling walked around the corner inside of this universe since we are not in the universe where Howard Stark is necessarily? Howard Stark could be here, but look differently. Like, you know, like all that sort of stuff like that. So like,

Oh man. Can you, can you. This is a good question. Roger Sterling and Howard Stark in the same. Yeah. You know what? If Robert Downey Jr. Is playing doom, why the fuck not? Exactly. All right, Kevin, I hope you're listening. I hope Roger Sterling shows up. Joanna has an idea for you. I love it.

The alternate earth that you're mentioning here felt clearly right away like an alternate earth. The Baxter building and the way it looked, the fantastic cars zipping through the trailer, the monorail in the city. Like it's recognizable to us immediately as New York, but it is recognizable as a distinct New York in this continuity. Some other vibes that are less visual and more like thematic.

That family focus, you know what, Joe? I love this. This is honestly one of your most audacious cheats you've ever done in your life. We're not even close to done. No, we are actually. We are close to done. The thing that I loved about the family focus, which you were talking about, that need and longing for hope, and I love thinking about that, like the shared experience in the summer that just feels like a balm, how nice that would be. This trailer was...

super corny. Like really earnest and really corny. Ben has always been a rock. That's really corny, but I loved it. And there's like not only just the... Ben has always been a rock is corny, but then to follow it up with like, and I'm right here. I'm right here. Whatever life throws at us, we'll face it together as a family.

Johnny's family. Johnny is Johnny. Shouldn't skip that. But I just loved that. Not only the focus on family and their bond, the four of them, but like that aspect too in that quote that we picked to open the pod, there's a kind of like...

Again, very true to the spirit of the Fantastic Four, but also in the MCU era, very like Erskine, Good Becomes Great, Super Soldier, Serum, like amplify the thing that was already a part of you aspect to that that I think MCU fans will really enjoy. And I like how central that felt here. And then the other thing on the vibes front to me

This was sexy. It was a sexy trailer. Like, Reed and Sue are cupping each other's faces. 45 second mark. They're in bed, basically, in the entire trailer. I have no notes. They share a kiss. One minute and six seconds into this trailer, Ben talks about how handsome he is, right? Best looking, he means. Ben's like,

They look great and everybody knows it. And we got a kiss in the trailer. They're cuddling. There's an intimacy. Yeah. And like a hot quality that I loved because that's an important, I think, element to mix in with the... Yeah.

It's important that your family be sexy, I think. Exactly. Certainly if this is your cast. Certainly if this is your cast. Great. Joanna, what is your next most fantastic thing? We've got the potential for a John Malkovich Russian accent, and we've got the vibes. What is next for you? I'll pick another specific thing, and I'll say... But I can extrapolate. I can play this game. I can extrapolate it out, and I will say the moment in the trailer when...

Ben looks in the window and sees, you see his Rocky face sort of hovering over his human, his former human face. So something that Josh Trank wanted to do with the fantastic four was this idea of like body horror. That was the, the, the,

lofty aim that we sort of fell short of in that particular experiment the fantastic four you know we've got we've got reed here and i think it's really noteworthy as we meet this version of reed because there are different versions of reed that we meet in the comics um

And there could easily have been a version of it, though not after they cast Pedro Pascal, but there could easily have been a version of Reed that reminds us a lot of Dr. Stranger Tony Stark, this sort of arrogant braggadocio sort of thing. There is a version of that that they could have done. This reads...

doubts and insecurities like last time we did this these are the things that happen and as he's saying you're feeling his sort of his guilt over that the responsibility he feels and so already i'm glad you mentioned earth's guy and we're getting that sort of like captain america like introspective conflicted uh leader quality that makes you just want to follow him anywhere um and so

This moment of transformation, this moment of reckoning for all of them. What do I do if I have a body and it disappears? What do I do if a body bursts into flames? What do I do if I have a body that stretches? What do I do if I'm now a rock and I can't even pass the way that the other three people in my family can pass? So all of that is fundamental to the Fantastic Four. And as fun and as exciting as it is to see them have their superpowers, this is like a real moment of agitation. So there's like, it's a corny moment

it's a little goofy. We're talking about like cooking with a robot in an apron, like all of this stuff is here. Um, but there's also that sort of slight melancholy and introspection that comes along with a fantastic for a really good, fantastic for a story. And I think with Shackman as like his visuals, giving us a visual like that, uh, inside of the trailer, I think

along with a lot of the vibes that you mentioned, make me optimistic for a film that's really trying to look great. So that's my...

How am I labeling that? The shot of Ben in the window, but I can spin it. It was great. It was one of the most striking visuals. Like him looking at an earlier other version of himself on the read point. I was that I was really struck by the absence of the read Richards is a dickhead. It was an asshole element in the trailer. And I wonder if that is because it didn't feel like the,

opening tone they wanted to set and, like, the mood they want to strike as they begin to market the film. But it will bloom inside of the movie or if it will come later. I think it has to come eventually. I don't know because I feel like maybe they...

I think they feel like they already have that represented and they're missing it because I don't know if you heard, I'm sure you did. Chris Evans is like, no, no, no, no, no. I'm not in the Avengers movies. And I'm like, I kind of believe him genuinely. I could be wrong, but I kind of believe him. But Downey's coming back. So we're going to have the Downey energy. We're going to have the Dr. Strange energy, which is just Downey again, essentially. But we're going to be missing that earnest Steve Rogers energy. And so like,

As they have reshaped and reinvented some of these comic book staples for the movies to create the sort of chemical balance they need of heroes, I could see Reed Richards. Or actually, what might be most interesting is if Reed Richards, we get this sort of before and after, this aspect ratio shift. If Reed Richards before all of this happens...

I'm sorry, is that the point you're trying to make? That's what I think is... Yeah, that we need a character on an arc? Would you say? We love a character on an arc, you know? Has it ever come up before? We do love a character on an arc. Also, this is about Marvel's first family. But yeah, I feel like that's...

that guilt that you're citing, which is such a central part of Reed's journey. Like I'm the smartest guy, not only in the room, but in the whole fucking place. Yeah. And look what happened under my watch to the people closest to me. Look what it's like now for like Ben to make his way through the world. There's the superiority, but also then what is that? How does that shame manifest? Yeah. And I think that,

The earnestness can be a specific... Overall, these characters are earnest. They come from a world where that earnestness is at home and rewarded, but I feel like it has to morph into something that feels central to Reed. I think that what you're citing, though, about they've got the kind of like...

snark corner really well covered cocky yeah that's a really good point but i i think that they can um and they can still imbue some of that into into the read experience without making him a clone of of tony and strange it's a good point i think when you look at um when you look at something like um

Ultra on my bat. Like the way in which Tony Stark handles grief and remorse versus the way that Steve does. Yeah, I think we just need more Steve energy back in the MCU. And we have Peter Parker, which is like a different kind of earnestness, you know, just younger. This is like I've lived and I've done something and I feel the weight of that and I feel the responsibility of that.

that. And I think you can do that in a way that doesn't feel like boring or stiff because we already saw them do it in Captain America. So we'll see. Yeah. And Pedro is so charming. I do think of him, not obviously there's tons of variants and Reed Richards is one of the archetypes, but if you had to pick the Tony path or the Steve path, I think he's Tony path all the way. Well, historically in the comic books, I would say yes, but I think, I think they might be reshaping it because I mean, they, they,

have done that before in their adaptation of comics. So we'll see. And, you know, like, I think especially when you're trying to balance the equation with, like, someone like Johnny, you know what I mean? Who is cocksure for, like, a different reason. But, like, that sort of cockiness, like, it would be nice to balance that out a bit more. We'll see. You know, and I think if they do it well, I feel like there are people who could see a version of that. And I'm not working with any insider knowledge here, but, like, I think that people could...

See that version of Reed and say, hashtag not my Reed Richards, right? Like, where's the asshole? Where's the dick Reed Richards that I really want? You know? But then I think if it's done really well, I think it might, it could ultimately reshape what we think of when we think of Reed Richards. So the way that I think Downey reshaped Tony Stark in people's minds. I can't believe we're getting Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards. What a thrill. What a joy. Truly. Okay. Here's my next one. Yeah.

The celebrity factor. Ooh, great one. This was so interesting to me. Like, it is very, very, very clear in the marketing material for the movie so far, the posters, again, that they released, so you can see them all on Marvel.com. Inside of the trailer, the Fantastic Four are...

mega famous in their world. Mega famous. When we are joining them and also seemingly before we are joining them. The logo already up on the Baxter building. The kids, you can see it, a minute and 14 seconds, the kids in the thing masks. These are famous heroes and it seems like before that they were already famous for the space race reasons. The fact that they always seem to be on TV was just inescapable. There's again the Shackman

I made WandaVision where TV and how we watch things on TV was such a big part of it. And also he's like a, such a prolific TV director aspect of this that is really fun to think about, about why he might've been interested in that as part of the creative direction. But like, okay, what's the opening to the trailer? It's Reed and Sue welcoming a TV host, a reporter, a,

someone into their home to film their life so that the masses can consume it. And the idea that Reed Richards' uber genius was famous before he became Mr. Fantastic because he was about to go to space because he's got the brain the size of a devourer of worlds, that again feels like very where we found Tony in Iron Man 1 to me, right? Yeah. The footage of their...

expedition prep throughout the trailer before we went up the first time. So like, obviously with the superhero masks and the kids, et cetera, there's the, the, the welcoming embrace of them as the fantastic for the heroes. But the fact that they were so present in people's lives and that people flocked to them and watch them and wanted to know what they were going to do and what they were going to achieve before they became powered. Yeah. I really love. And I think like,

Also, there's, of course, the end shot of the trailer of them all standing there in suits ready for their team photo. It's just like, yeah, these are the people on this world. But there are a couple things about it that I find really interesting. One, what does it mean? What do we think it means about the likelihood of the origin story focus in the movie? Because the fact that they have this level of standing in the world as heroes already feels like we're going to either...

very quickly move through, potentially flash back to in this footage. Or maybe any, like, when you can do what I do and you don't and the bad things happen, it's on you, Peter, kind of way. Assume that people know how they got their powers. I think it's going to be the latter. I think it's assume people know, but also...

a little bit show us. Right. Right. But not give us the origin story when there are two... Since The Sims were invented 25 years ago, we've already seen two origin story Fantastic Four movies. Right. Which is like, this is exciting to me because it's more time to spend with the characters in their form. And the other thing I really love about this is like,

Fast forwarding through the origin story stuff, but again, just their standing among the public, the masses on their earth. I like what this promises about establishing them as hyper-entrenched and visible in their world and as people who have a relationship with the public, the people they're saving and protecting in their world before they... And again, we don't know what's going to happen in this movie, but inevitably...

They leave that world. Or leave it, right? They're making it to Secret Wars. Like, we're not bringing the Fantastic Four into the MCU to not have them in Secret Wars. So they're leaving. They're going to a different continuity. They're traveling across the multiverse. And to understand what they meant to this Earth before then feels really crucial. I love that part of the trailer. That's brilliant. That's a brilliant call. I love that. What's next? Number two...

Joe Quinn's Johnny Storm wig. No, I'm just kidding. I'm not doing a wig watch, but I could. I was expecting a wig watch. What are your thoughts on this wig? Please. I actually love it. I think it's really cute. I think it's really cute. Joe Quinn always rocks a wig. Uh, does a great job with it. So, uh, I love that. Um, Eddie, we miss you still. It is a great little blonde wig. It's very, it's really, really nice. It's a little wiglet and it reminds me of Steve Rogers, little wiglet. Okay. Moving on from the wiglet. Um,

I'm going to call this gadgets and gizmos aplenty. And I'm going to say that we got so used in the, in the strange magic or Tony Stark, billionaire genius, et cetera, era. We got really used to a specific thing.

look of the tech of marvel the nanotech we got we went small we went digital we went all this sort of stuff we were just sort of like everything was just like really tidy and slick and shiny and all this sort of stuff like that uh and then you go to this world this retro you already called out the retrofuturism of this of this look but when you get um when you get all

the sensational, absolutely instant icon with his like reel to reel tape face. Or you already mentioned the fantastic car, but like the fantastic car looks so cool, but doesn't look slick. It looks, you know, like a Pontiac, like a beautiful Pontiac, like,

And, you know, if you look up various designs of the Fantasticar, like that's not necessarily, you know, what it's looked like on the page. And so this is a choice they make to, you know, we've got inventive scientific geniuses here, but what they're making is not going to look like the Marvel tech that we've seen over and over and over and over ad nauseum. Even to the point of like comparing and contrasting

the very iconic, we've seen it a million times, Tony Stark with his sort of like heads up, not his heads up display, but like, you know, with the like hologram sort of like working things out in his lab versus an absolutely covetable, uh, retractable blackboard, uh,

curved arc situation. Like all of that, all of that tech, that low high tech stuff makes me really excited for something. Again, this is something you said beautifully in your vibe section, just like it feels new. It feels different. And that's exciting. When you saw Reed on his scribble and research calculations on his chalkboard, what did you think? Do you want to sit in that class?

And blink I love you on my eyelids to him. Exactly. Great reference. Speaking of that chalkboard, since it has just come up, should note, you can see this at the 39 second mark, we do see wormholes on there. He's drawn wormholes. He's got enter and exit written around them. This is fine. It'll be fine. Don't worry about it. Read...

I love that. I thought Herbie looked so cool. Amazing. The eyes that you're calling out were just delightful. Plus he's wearing an apron. That's very sweet. I know, but like, does a little robot, does a little robot, does a little droid need an apron? No, but he has one because he's just Herbie. Great. Great one. Okay. My next one is, this is a daily double for G's. This is Galactus and Grimm.

You already talked about Ben, so I... Ben! Ben! This was just on the Ben Grimm front, the Thing front. This was a real Ben-centric, Ben-heavy trailer, and that felt great and right. Like, I loved... You know, we get a little kind of like clobber in time action when we're charging down the street, we're in the thick of battle, but it was mostly just...

the charm and the heart. And there's the comics accurate, like look, that was so cool to see. Which I really like. Yeah. It was great. I mean, I think it's reasonable and fair to say that that's, this is one of the things that,

everyone could be nervous about. How's the thing going to look? Oh, for sure. I wonder if we have anything in our recent cinematic past to inspire that fear. And it just looked awesome. It looked great. I thought that Ben Herbie sequence, like, I guess you could watch the trailer and be like, why is this opening with, like, a 30-minute ode to Richie and the Bear? That was not my reaction to it. No. I was like,

Like, this is opening with a 30-second... Oh, to Richie and the bear with Herbie and his swirling eyes, and this is fucking great. I have a follow-up question for you. You said cousin as, like, part of the intro, and that was great. Loved it. Do you have the same reaction that I do when people call his character cousin rather than calling him Richie? It's like when people call...

Like, when people would say Khaleesi in this, like, weird, wrong way when they were talking about Daenerys. I don't know. I'm just sort of like... There's only one right way to say Khaleesi, and it's to pretend you're Jorah and spread your arms like this and look up the House of the Undying and go, Khaleesi! That's it. I don't know. People are like, he plays cousin on the bear. I was like...

What? They call each other cousin. He's Richie. Anyway, whatever. Everyone just wants to be carmy. Maybe that's the takeaway. This is like a really weird problem that I have with something very dumb and stupid. Anyway, go ahead. Would you have felt differently if they had been organizing forks in the trailer? I would have felt even better than I already did.

If Olivia Colman showed up and she was just like living her life. Great stuff. Okay. So we were both thrilled with our time with the thing in the trailer. I also love the moment that you talked about with, with him watching himself in the TV and that trench coat. Great. Great. On the Galactus front.

It's a cool feeling when you're a nerd to watch a trailer and gasp out loud when you see something. And that's what I did when I saw the shadow. You see a shadow. This was fucking awesome. So this is a minute and 20 seconds in. The first thing we see is the shadow over Manhattan. Then a second later, we get the back of Galactus's head. We did not in this trailer see Galactus in full, see Galactus's face previously. Was it at a

Comic-Con or D23? I can't remember when they released like a... They previewed a still of his face, but that's not been in the trailer. I assume they're not prepared to put that on main yet. I don't know. We have not seen Galactus' face in the trailer yet. But the back of the head and the shadow, this was just awesome. Joanna, I love the power cosmic. I love a planet-eating cosmic being. I really want Galactus to be cool and good. And...

You called out some of the comics arcs already. The coming of Galactus. Girl, girl. It's like adapting. Squirrel girl. Yes, exactly. Yeah. Squirrel girl. Adapting the coming of Galactus, 61, issues 48, 49.

49, 50, that arc, that early arc is cool and fun. And I really hope I'm going to, I'm just going to spoil it. I've got some Silver Surfer thoughts coming later, which I'll save, but I'm really hyped to get hopefully a good, cool Galactus, uh, who is not a cloud. And that would be a positive change and a positive development. And I'm excited about this. So I like also just the restraint, even though I think rationally, it's just like, they're still

They're working on it. Like they're making their movie still. It's not literally not ready to show. Yeah. I don't mind. I can spin that as like the anticipation builds. Just, just the tip of that helmet. Are you hyped for Galactus? That's an awkward tip. Yeah. Yeah. You love a devourer of worlds. I love Ralph Innocent. He is fantastic. Yeah. I think it's, it's going to be great.

And what it offers up for us is, you know, there's like a number, this idea that like a number of minor villains and then a big bad inside of a movie. Sounds very...

Invincibles, to me, sounds really fun. That's right. This is why we have to cap John Malkovich. It's six and a half minutes, or six minutes and 47 seconds. Is that where we landed officially? Because we have enough room for Galactus. Do you think I could ask Kevin to give me a scene where we get Mickey Rourke from Iron Man 2 and John Malkovich with the rounder's accent from Fantastic Four and

And of course, your guy, Hopper, his Russian accent, the Red Guardian. They're in a dream. Will they sing? All in one team together? As you know, I expect the Red Guardian to be singing. Anyway.

is possible in the multiverse and this is my wish for the multiverse. Okay, so here's where you've sent me. You're taking me to so many places today. Where... If we get you another bird, will you come? This is exactly what I was going to say. Alright, so I understand. Uh...

You know, I know you know now what I'm going to say. I understand that this is Marvel and that the Penguin is DC. However, if you're going to invoke Mickey Rourke in Iron Man 2, we can only really talk about one surprising how are these people on the screen together mashup, and it's the bird mashup. Yeah. Talking about Boyz? Boyz. Oz, come on in. What if we get...

Whiplash is Bird, the Penguin, Whiplash is Boyd, the Penguin, who is a Boyd, and also Boyd Crowder from Justified. Does that work? Holy shit. Imagine what Boyd would say about people drinking orange wine. We already wasted Goggins in the MCU, but anything's possible in the multiverse. We could do something better with him. We really did. What a mistake that was. That shouldn't stop us from bringing Goggins back. It shouldn't.

It shouldn't. What's your final item? Yeah, my number one. Or your number four. I don't know if you've heard this, but this is Marvel's first family. I really did. I watched it a number of times. I wrote down a bunch of different options. And I just kept, you know, family opens and closes this trailer, right? Reed says in this trailer.

different aspect ratioed flashback tour. We have family dinner. And then we end the trailer with Su saying, as a family, we'll face it together as a family. So, yeah. Have I already burned my way through a bit? And is it already over? Perhaps. But I do think that, like, Fast and Furious invocation aside, I think we underestimate what...

how much we sort of long to see family inside of these Marvel movies. Um, guardians is obviously an example, but the Avengers team as this like sort of beautiful dysfunctional family, um, the X-Men, should they ever get it right? Uh, inside of this is this like beautiful found family team already built in team. So yeah, this unit of four, um,

Um, both literal family and, and sort of figurative family and the dynamics that can come from it and the way in which that unit of four inside of this movie, but then transplanted into other people's movies, uh, is going to be profoundly interesting to me. So it might seem like really,

it's unprofound to say the fact that they're a family, but the fact that they're a family actually, I think matters a lot to this story. And Matt Shackman knows it matters a lot. Matt Shackman, we keep invoking WandaVision, one of our shared favorite things that we saw ever in the MCU. And, you know, so to take this idea of like 60s retrofuturism, TV, celebrity, all this sort of stuff like that inside the package of a family, a picture perfect sitcom family, but the

the picture is actually a little warped on the inside. Shackman's already knocked that out of the park. I mean, we'll miss you, Jack Schaefer. You're always welcome. Uh, we don't want to say that that was a Shackman joint only, but it makes me really excited for what, what we could do in the family front here. So Johnny, you mentioned this is a very Ben heavy, uh, trailer. It's a very Johnny light trailer. Uh,

Flamon looked fucking sick, though. Flamio hot man. Flamon looked great. Human Torch looked great. Oh, great. Yeah. Even better, I think, is that scene where it's like Johnny's just Johnny. It's the shot of him sprawled out being like tumbling off the couch. Yeah, goofball teen energy. Love it. Also, his fear when he flames out above Earth.

Above Earth. That was a gorgeous shot. That was really cool. Yeah, but Johnny is a part... We hear from everyone else and we don't hear from Johnny. I don't know if it's because they're still working on Joe Quinn's American Accident ADR. Who knows? Who knows? But it makes me curious to see. So, yeah. I love this. It's a...

One of the things that we've talked about this before, Jason and I used to talk about this with the Marvel pods during the binge run, like the surprising mashup of characters who you wouldn't think would get along or who shouldn't be able to find a way to work together is one of the really interesting and rewarding things about watching a superhero story. But this other side of it,

one of the many, many, many, many, but one of the many reasons that we love and are so invested in Bucky and Steve is because like they knew each other before, you know? They've been pulled together.

That idea of the bonds that exist before this extraordinary thing happens to you and what that means and how it shapes how you respond, how you feel about this thing that has happened to you, how you then feel about the thing that has happened to the other people who you care so deeply about and what those prior bonds like

mean for this kind of I mean they do this again and again in Marvel when you've got like Tony and there's all the people who know Iron Man but then there's Pepper who knows Tony right or Happy who knows Tony and there's like you know with loving and respect to Sharon Carter she's never gonna hold a candle to Peggy because Peggy knew loved Steve when he was just Steve you know it's like it's so Anna she kept a photo of him before he got the muscles on her desk skinny Steve

All right. It's beautiful. What's your last one? All right. Here's my last one. It's another big one. It's the stuff we didn't see. Yeah. Now, this is a teaser trailer game. This is how it goes. This is inspired, Mallory. I love this. This is great. It weirdly got me really excited how many things we didn't see. All right.

Add any that you have. Here are a few of mine. We already talked about actually one of the ones I had high on this list, which was not seeing Reed being an asshole. But on the Reed Richards front, we did not see Mr. Fantastic's powers. We saw everybody else. Not a single limb was stretched. No. And again, they were in bed for most of the trailer. So there were opportunities. You could stretch all kinds of appendages in bed. There were opportunities. What do you think? What do you think? Okay. Okay.

you're the perfect person to talk to us about in the richards uh family bedroom scenario um what's more exciting the stretch factor or the like oh invisible where are you you could come from anywhere factor

Well, why not both? Well, obviously both. A stunning combination. I don't know if I want the force fields in the bedroom, but... And I don't want fire, and I don't know about the rock situation. We can think about it. We can think about it. We can think about it. But the invisible and the stretch is...

It's a potent combo. Joanna, my assumption, I assume is your assumption, which is that they simply give us more time with the VFX here. We're not ready to show you this and we want it to look good. Joe Quinn's accent and the stretchiness. Those are the two things we're working on. Great. I'm going to spin that as keep us waiting, keep us wanting, get it right. Everything you withhold just leaves us wanting more and I love it. Absolutely. This trailer did not feature the Silver Surfer.

Now, I would not be... I would not be me if I did not say, quickly, shout out to my victory in the Ringer superhero draft, my opus, where the Herald of Galactus was also the Herald of my victory. So I always like to mention Silver Surfer whenever I can. Julia Garner is playing... is not playing Nornrad. This is going to be Shala Ball. I just can't wait for this. What's your...

over under on screen time, five minutes, 10 minutes, et cetera, et cetera. I think we'll see more Silver Surfer than Galactus. Does it worry you at all? No. That she is low, billed low on the cast list? Maybe. But there are just so many people in these movies. A real Carrie and Moss and the Acolyte sort of situation. You know what I mean? Oh, boy. Steve, you have to reset the how many pods since we mentioned the Acolyte board.

Get the dryer race out. Put it back to zero. We did it again. It's just an Etch-a-Sketch at this point. Shake the old Etch-a-Sketch. We got enough late mention. We did it again. Okay. We already mentioned that we see John Malkovich, but don't get any confirmation of who he's playing. Most importantly, we do not hear him speak.

I love this for you. Okay. I want to be clear about this. We do not see Franklin or Valeria Richards. We have no reason to expect them to be in the movie. We don't know that they're going to be in the movie. It's entirely possible that they're not in the movie and don't yet exist. But this is a big source of fan speculation. Will Franklin be in the movie? So just interesting that that is not clear coming out of the trailer. We...

Do not see Downey's Dr. Doom, which is not a surprise. I do not think we will see Downey's Dr. Doom until the stinger of this movie when we are in our seats watching it. But this is part of then my final point here, which is the restraint. The thing that we did not see, we mentioned there are wormhole sketches on the chalkboard. The thing that we did not see in any way was

the multiverse. It's there. It's understood. We know where this is going. But the trailer focused on these characters in their world and us understanding what their life is like and where they came from. And we did not spend time

you can start to think and wonder, is he drawing the wormholes because this is prep for the space travel that led to them getting their powers? Is it because he's calculating what Galactus' arrival time is going to be? Is he seeking another continuity to escape to, to evade Galactus? Any number of possibilities. But this was about where they are now. It's not about how they're going to get... I mean, it will be in the movie at some point, but in the trailer, it's not about how they're going to get to...

the multiverse and the rest of the MCU that we have spent all this time with. And I just like really appreciated that. And I hope that that is the case for the bulk of the film as well, so that we have the opportunity to form an attachment to them before they poured over into this larger thing. Do you think there's a possibility that Galactus wins in this movie? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they're refugees essentially. Yeah, I do. Which would be incredibly grim. Yeah.

Ben Grimm? Incredibly Ben Grimm, but also then a really interesting place to take those characters. I hope that the Fantastic Car and Herbie escape with them. Sorry to everyone else. Sorry to all those little kids and their thing. Sorry to everyone else on this earth, but as long as Herbie and his little real-to-real face makes it. Oh man, sweet Herbie. You think we'll get some Herbie merch?

Obviously. I mean, no question. Yeah. I got my Neil merch this week. Are you so happy for me? I'm thrilled. Yeah. I'm thrilled. I ended up with two Neil Funko Pops because we got our mystery angel who sent us this Neil kit at Lucasfilm. Thank you. And then Adam, who was mostly very moved by all of the Neil items and then enraged by the Neil Funko Pop because he had bought me one for...

Hanukkah. So now I have two, so I'll be bringing one into the studio. Guys, great news. You get to add a Neil Funko Pop to Studio C. Get hyped. Oh my God, I can't wait. Yeah. Anything else, Jo? You said you had some backups. Any other honorable mentions that you want to call out? Well, actually, the only thing that I haven't mentioned, I have a bullet list that also includes the aspect ratio and this, that, and the other things you've talked about.

Of all the like, we're in the 60s, but not, but we're in the 60s, the sunken couch, the conversation pit. Dude. I have always, if when you find out I've really made it is when you come to my house and I have a conversation pit because I've always wanted one. So, you know. Well, you could have one on this earth or on Ad Atin. What do you pick him? Obviously, this earth. It seems like bad things are going to happen just in all of these places. So.

So why not the perilous planet you know? I love a sunken living room too, but I do wonder. My aunt, as I might have mentioned already, has one. I loved it when I was a kid, but I always thought if this were my everyday life, how often would I stumble? You would be free. You would just be thrilled and overjoyed and delighted. I think I'd have to have a low, wide couch that I could just kind of flop down onto. Yeah.

Okay. And I believe we can get that for you. Great. Okay. Okay. Add it to the list for the family compound. A conversation pit and a low wide couch for Mallory upon which Mallory can flop. I texted you about pit girl this week during the, the yellow jackets rewatch pits abound pits everywhere. You're potting about the pit. The Pittsburgh Steelers embarrassed themselves in the playoffs. I don't know that I really get to say that given what happened to my team eventually, but it is true.

Lots of pits. I think we're done with the pod. We did it. What a way to end it. On pits. Peach pit. Peach pit after dark. It's always peach pit after dark. Thank you. To our Fantastic Four. Steve Ullman. John Richter. On the edit. Arjuna Ramgopal. He's not with us today, but he's with us in spirit. In spirit. Jomia Deneron. On the socials.

Reminder to submit your winter mailbag questions. We would love to hear from you and send us your V-Day Quickie Romantic-y questions and emails as well. Who knows how, if or how we will incorporate them into the podcast, but surely in some capacity we will. Until then, Joanna, remember, whatever life throws at us on the Google calendar, scheduling front, or otherwise, we will face it together as a family.