Popverse's top stories of the day

• Disney & Lucasfilm are quietly planning a 50th anniversary Star Wars movie that's focused on all-new characters
• MEMBERS ONLY: Follow along live to the Mandalorian & Grogu movie panel from Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025!
• WATCH NOW: The gentleman villain Mads Mikkelsen tells us how he balances being charming and despicable in our favorite movies & TV series

Earlier today, we shared the new trailer for Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps with its distinctly retro attitude — and, for that matter, its retro name for Marvel as a company. Turns out, Marvel Studios’ commitment to the bit goes far deeper than that… and into places where fans normally don’t get to see.

Take, for example, the press release accompanying the trailer’s release, which was specifically designed to look not like the email that it was, but an old-school print press release, complete with a location stamp of “RETRO-FUTURISTIC NEW YORK CITY, Planet Earth” and denoting the end of the text with ‘-O-,’ an old-school publishing code. (Those of us with grey hair are thrilled to see this kind of thing pop up unexpectedly, I swear.)

Take a look at the press release (with contact info at the bottom obscured) for yourself — and enjoy the official plot synopsis of the movie, while you’re at it:

The Fantastic Four: First Steps soars into 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.