Marvel has had an amazing few weeks, starting with the Deadpool & Wolverine premiere in late July. The movie received great reviews from critics and fans. It also topped $1 billion at the box office after just three weeks. Following the premiere, Kevin Feige unveiled the new title for Avengers 5: Doomsday. That’s when we also learned that Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU as Doctor Doom rather than Iron Man.
A few days ago, Marvel took the stage at D23 to showcase some of its upcoming MCU adventures. As is customary, Marvel played a few exclusive clips during the event, which will surely become trailers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Captain America: Brave New World.
That footage was private and was only meant for people in attendance, but the clips that Marvel played during the event have leaked online. You can see more of the Fantastic Four in action and our first look at the villain. Then there’s Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) in his new suit for Captain America 4. Not to mention the Red Hulk (Harrison Ford) reveal at the end of that clip. None of these are spoilers, of course.
But if you want to avoid MCU spoilers at any cost, including the trailers themselves, you’ll want to stop reading right now.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
It’s not the best-quality clip, and Marvel might always take it down. But you can find the D23 The Fantastic Four trailer on X and other social media apps.
It gives us a look at all four superheroes in official uniforms, well, the uniforms they’re wearing on their trip to space. Is it space, however? The entire action takes place in what seems to be the late ’60s. The Fantastic Four aren’t superheroes yet. Instead, they’re a family of scientists exploring an unknown destination.
Given the similarities between the sets and the real-world ’60s, you might think they’re going to the Moon. But I think Marvel is looking to deceive us.
The clip starts with Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) discussing alternate realities. Universes, just like Earth, exist on different dimensional planes. That’s probably the breakthrough discovery that will lead to a space-like expedition.
I’m only speculating here, of course. But these aren’t the ’60s of the main MCU reality, Earth-616. The Fantastic Four happens in a different reality, and I’m expecting these Fantastic Four to meet the Avengers down the road.
At the end of the clip, we also get a brief look at Galactus, the villain of Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot. The reboot will premiere on July 25th, 2025, almost a year after Deadpool & Wolverine.
Captain America: Brave New World
We already saw the first trailer for Captain America 4 a few weeks before the Deadpool 3 premiere. The clip confirmed some early Brave New World rumors. We saw Sam in his new uniform, plenty of action, and we saw Ford’s President Ross. We also got the first teaser of the big mystery left from Eternals, the dead celestial in the Indian Ocean.
The extended clip that Marvel played at D23 gives us additional plot details for Brave New World. For starters, the world obtained adamantium from the celestial island, just like the leaks said it would happen. Moreover, Captain America recovered the precious metal whose discovery nearly ignited some sort of global conflict.
Moreover, President Ross now believes the world needs the Avengers, tasking Sam with assembling a new group of superheroes. He has changed his mind since the events in Civil War, or it’s all just a political ploy. Then again, President Ross wouldn’t be here without the Avengers, and he knows that.
The leaked D23 Captain America 4 trailer doesn’t show any members of the new Avengers team — well, except for Danny Ramirez, who will play the new Flacon, Joaquin Torres. We last saw him in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. We don’t see other Avengers because Sam and President Ross will soon stop seeing eye-to-eye on security matters.
It is unclear what motivated the attacks on the White House and President Ross. We’ll have to wait for the movie to come out to find out. But all this context is required to understand where the Red Hulk shows up. President Ross is speaking at the White House when he’s attacked. He must have been injected with some sort of serum beforehand, as he transforms into the Red Hulk right then and there.
Captain America: Brave New World hits theaters on February 14th. Check out the D23 footage below.