Marvel’s first family finally joined the MCU in The Fantastic Four: First Steps! After the movie barreled into theaters and the 2025 movie schedule earlier this summer, audiences were treated to a jaw-dropping final act that brought the family of superheroes into a street-level showdown with Galactus as he came for young Franklin Richards. Per co-writer Eric Pearson, though, the battle wasn’t always going to unfold against the backdrop of New York’s skyline. In early drafts, the climax was staged entirely in space—until creative and emotional priorities pushed it down to Earth.
Eric Pearson, one of five credited writers on First Steps, revealed the change in a wide-ranging interview with The Hollywood Reporter. During that chat, Pearson traced his journey from Marvel’s Writers Program to becoming one of the studio’s most reliable scribes. Over the past 15 years, he's had a hand in numerous superhero blockbusters, both released and upcoming Marvel movies. With First Steps, though, he says it was his call to pull the climactic battle with Galactus out of space and set it on Earth:
