Fantastic Four Trailer: Shot-by-Shot Breakdown and Analysis

The first trailer for Fox’s Fantastic Four reboot has arrived, and it’s clear that the movie will not be taking any cues from the two previous movies. Given that we still don’t know very much about this one, there’s a lot of material to chew through here, so let’s hop right in.

First off, here’s the trailer if you missed it:

We open with some scenic vistas.

The fade in kind of obscures it, but that building definitely has “Grimm Salvage” written on it. In the comics, Ben Grimm is the alter-ego of The Thing, although there’s no comic book precedent for his family to own a scrap yard.

In some of the newer iterations of the character, Johnny Storm is really into cars, and even dabbles with becoming a professional race car driver for a time.

I’m pretty sure this is a young Ben Grimm and Reed Richards, with Richards showing off his scientific prowess at a young age. Grimm and Richards were childhood friends.

Here’s our first shot of the device that gives the characters their super powers. In this version of the story, instead of going to space, Richards invents technology that lets them travel to another dimension.

 

Some military types looking over blueprints, presumably of the device we just saw?

An older Reed Richards.

Kate Mara as Susan Storm. Given the people seated behind her, it looks like she’s involved with the military in some capacity.

This is a really cool Easter Egg. See that red dot on the map, situated in eastern Europe? Well there’s coordinates for that location in the bottom left of the frame. Type those numbers into Google (23.21.190.125), and you’ll probably get search results for Latveria. In the Marvel Comics Universe, Latveria is a small European country ruled by Doctor Doom, the arch-nemesis of the Fantastic Four. A version of the character, this time a computer hacker who goes by the alias “Doom,” will appear in the film. He’ll be played by Toby Kebbell.

A pre-Thing Ben Grimm.

Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm, working on his car.

Suiting up for the transdimensional journey.

Reg E. Cathey as Dr. Storm, Sue and Johnny Storm’s dad. He’s also the narrator of the trailer.

Making some science.

Reed Richards inside the device.

Another shot of military folks. A long time ago, rumors about a previous draft of the script had the characters escaping from a military facility. Maybe that bit of the story made its way into the final version.

Another shot of Sue Storm.

Crawling out from under a pile of debris, presumably after something goes wrong with the transdimensional device.

A military plane.

Now we’re going to get a look at the Fantastic Four one by one. First up is Reed Richards.

The Thing!

A military base of some kind.

Sue Storm.

And finally Johnny Storm, showing off his fire powers.

New York’s in trouble, as is often the case with these sorts of movies. It’s worth noting that the energy bubble looks similar to Sue Storm’s powers (we’ll get a look at those in a few seconds). Could the two be related?

Next we get a couple of quick shots of a volcanic wasteland. The group seems to be wearing the suits from the transdimensional device, which makes me think that this is where they end up.

Our first and only look at Doom, taking on a group of a soldiers. We still have no idea what the extent of this version of the character’s powers are, but he does seem to be attacking those guys without touching them.

Is this Johnny Storm’s “superhero” costume? I’m assuming like other versions of the character, he’ll need to be wearing something fireproof.

Johnny and Sue Storm are both showing off their powers. In the comics, Sue can generate force fields, which is what I’m pretty sure she’s doing in this shot. They appear to be fighting, so that’s weird (speculation, maybe that’s not Johnny? Maybe in this movie, Doom is able to steal the powers of the Fantastic Four?).

Reed Richards doing his stretchy thing, his signature power from the comics.

I believe it’s pronounced “Fantfourstic”

Who’s on the table? Given the ominous tone here, is it Doom?

Group shot! What is that pillar of light? Why is there a plane in there? Why won’t The Thing wear pants? These answers and more, when Fantastic Four hits theaters on August 7, 2015.