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New York City is one of the most popular locations used in TV and film, but that doesn't mean that Hollywood gets it 'right' every time. I remember my dad taking me to see Night at the Museum in 2006, and both of us turning to each other with a look of 'are you kidding me?' when the film featured a completely different interior for the American Museum of Natural History. If I hadn't become a filmmaker myself, I'd still maintain that that was an act of heresy, but now I let it slide in the name of creative license. 

All of this is to say, I have a lot of thoughts about the retro-futuristic vision of New York in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. I can leave whatever personal gripes I have with the Marvel Cinematic Universe aside and say that I think that, on the whole, this franchise has done a pretty good job at authentically capturing New York City. I walked out of the theater the first time I saw Spider-Man: Homecoming saying, "That's the most accurate vision of New York in a Spider-Man movie yet." I know everyone loves Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2, but my hometown pride can't get over how they obviously used downtown Chicago for the climactic fight between Doc Ock and Spidey. 

But I digress. Back to First Steps, I'm impressed by how they managed to marry a retro-futuristic aesthetic with what looks like a well-researched vision of 1960s Manhattan. Because I'm a skutch, I even dug out some pictures from my mother's childhood in Little Italy and the Lower East Side to compare the storefronts, clothing, and other details to First Steps' trailers. Seeing their similarities warmed my heart a little, and I can't deny that there's a part of me that sees this film as an opportunity to view the Lower East Side as my mother saw it when she was a little girl. Yeah, it's a Hollywood production and Yancy Street isn't real, but let me have this. If this film really wants to knock my socks off, it'll have Lower East Siders speaking in that period-accurate, regional dialect shaped by the presence of Yiddish and Italian speakers in the neighborhood. But I'm not getting my hopes up. 

So where does The Fantastic Four: First Steps take some creative liberties? For one, there's an above-ground train that runs through Times Square. In one shot, there is no Empire State Building in the Manhattan skyline, either, just the Chrysler Building. I guess this version of New York got selective during its Art Deco period. That said, there's another shot in the trailer where Galactus's shadow stretches across Manhattan, and the Empire State Building is clearly visible there. So where did it come from? In that same shot, you can also see the MetLife Building (which would have been the PanAm Building back in the 60s) to the right, which isn't visible at any other point in the trailer. In addition, there are other skyscrapers in Manhattan that would make the pavilion from the 1964 World's Fair in Corona Park, Queens look like child's play. A lot to unpack here, and we'll have to see the movie to find out the whole truth. 

For millions of us in New York City, this place isn't science fiction. It's home. Seeing "accurate" depictions of it matters to us because our experiences are real. That said, it's a delight to see films like The Fantastic Four: First Steps present a whimsical, alternate New York that still has recognizable neighborhoods. I'm looking forward to seeing the film when it hits theaters on July 25 this summer. 

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