Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in The Fantastic Four 2025
Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Image: Disney

QUESTION: if there is an ongoing branding exercise and no one cares about it, is it still a branding exercise? This summer, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe enters “Phase Six”. If that means something to you, it means you’ve been paying attention to the MCU – from its launch with 2008’s Iron Man – to its current woes in Phase Five. If this corporate jargon doesn’t ring a bell, it could mean you’re a cinemagoer who enjoys superhero films but doesn’t care about overarching franchise plans. And I would not blame you. But even the least fanatical of Marvel-heads may have noticed an almost impressive lack of quality control in recent efforts (though “effort” feels like a generous word to assign projects like Captain America: Brave New World). But with two, intriguingly singular-seeming projects on the horizon, could the studio turning this damn thing around?

The first piece of evidence: upcoming anti-hero flick Thunderbolts*, which, yes, comes with that annoying asterisk but also a lead in the never-less-than-compelling Florence Pugh. Technically – according to Esquire’s Marvel fan-in-residence Joseph Furness – it’s the last film in the much-maligned Phase Five. The film, which also stars Sebastian Stan and David Harbour, was accompanied with a trailer that many said resembled a movie from cult distribution and production company A24. Indeed, the film is being directed by Beef writer-director Jake Schreier and The Green Knight cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo. I should note that on YouTube, these indie-leaning credentials are listed in capslock below this trailer, which is entitled “Absolute Cinema”. Cool or desperate? I’ll leave that with YOU.

The second and stronger indication that times are a-changin’ at Planet Marvel is the summer tentpole, The Fantastic Four: First Steps (the first film in Phase Six, FYI). Pedro Pascal places one incredibly stretchy foot into the MCU as Reed Richards; British actor Vanessa Kirby plays Susan “Invisible Woman” Storm; erstwhile Beatle Joseph Quinn takes on Johnny “Human Torch” Storm; Ebon Moss-Bachrach will make The Thing come alive (I’m not really sure what that character does, but I trust Moss-Bachrach to bring his rock-hard A-game). While I confess to being very confused by the plot from the trailer, it’s hard to take issue with the general, hmm, what’s the word . . . vibe. The Sixties aesthetic – check out the retro-futuristic interiors! – has piqued an interest in even the least superhero-inclined among us (the last superhero film I enjoyed was Spider-Man 2). WandaVision director Matt Shakman is behind the camera, which is promising.

Marvel is taking a few swings, as big a swing as a multi-billion studio can take anyway, and we shall know soon enough if any of it pans out. There is, to be honest, a checkered history: while previous gambles have paid off (especially on television), others have floundered (jury is still out on Chloé Zhao’s The Eternals). The most obvious takeaway for me is the studio’s intimacy with the industry’s leading talent. No matter how decent the CGI, how well-timed the quips, these films depend on actors: some of our most expressive, eccentric and elegant faces are wrapped up in these ventures. It is inevitable, intriguing and slightly depressing at the same time.

‘Thunderbolts*’ is out 2 May, ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ is out 24 July in Australia.

This story originally appeared on Esquire UK.

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