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A recurring piece of speculation for Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps might have just been confirmed by exclusive preview footage shared by the studio at CinemaCon 2025 — and that’s not all; theater owners at the event were also amongst the first to see what the new cinematic Silver Surfer looks like, as well.

The Hollywood Reporter’s description of the footage revealed that, in addition to seeing Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer for the first time — “she is fully chrome from head to toe,” they shared — the footage shown at CinemaCon also features the ThIng ask the Invisible Woman, “are you pregnant?” Deadline, meanwhile, reports that the footage also shows Johnny Storm telling Reed and Sue, “You’re going to be the best mom and you’re going to be the best dad in the world.”

All of this suggests that, as many have speculated, the movie won’t just introduce the FF, Silver Surfer, and Galactus to the MCU, but also Franklin Richards, the son of Reed and Sue.

There’s potentially a plot-related reason for this; in the most recent comic book Secret Wars, Franklin Richards ends up rebuilding reality after the whole thing is over — could a similar fate await a far younger Franklin on the big screen after 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars?

Suddenly, the fact that the movie is subtitled ‘First Steps’ kind of takes on a different meaning, doesn’t its it…?

The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters July 25.

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• The MCU needs Anya Taylor-Joy's Magik in it (and not just for the X-Men connection)
• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.