Marvel’s LAZIEST Villain Trend Continues with Fantastic Four Poster!

Marvel Studios has consistently featured a movie’s main villain prominently on its official posters, and they continued this tradition with “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”. Galactus, who will serve as the primary antagonist (though not the only villain) in the upcoming film, is making a striking appearance on the poster for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”, which is set to release in Marvel Studios’ 2025 lineup. This ensures that fans won’t overlook Galactus when they see the poster.

In a recent reveal, Marvel Studios unveiled an official poster for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”. The poster features prominently the four key characters of the Fantastic Four, displaying each one’s unique abilities. It also offers a new perspective on Herbie and Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer, as well as the Baxter Building. Interestingly, Marvel chose to include Galactus, the primary antagonist of The Fantastic Four, in an identical manner as they usually present villains in their movie posters.

In the upper left area of the “Fantastic Four: First Steps” poster, a shadowy outline of Galactus is depicted, dominating the entire scene along with the other characters and elements within it. Although his complete design has been unveiled elsewhere, this poster only shows Galactus in silhouette form.

In this design, the poster follows Marvel’s pattern by placing the movie’s antagonist prominently at the top, while intentionally concealing the villain’s entire face rather than revealing it fully.

Marvel Studios has frequently repeated this approach since the beginnings of the MCU, which has become a commonly recurring trope across the entire franchise.

It’s not entirely clear why the company does this for numerous movies, but it might be an attempt to suggest that the antagonist is covertly active and will eventually reveal themselves to the protagonists. Some viewers, however, hope Marvel could introduce some variation and possibly depict the villain on the poster in a unique way.

The movie titled ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ is set to hit theaters on July 25, 2025. In this film, Pedro Pascal portrays Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby takes on Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn embodies Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays Ben Grimm.

The latest teaser for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” has just been unveiled, offering Marvel Studios enthusiasts a tantalizing glimpse of the character Johnny Storm wielding his extraordinary abilities.

Examples of Marvel’s Villain Trend on Official Movie Posters

Captain America: The First Avenger

On the promotional art for “Captain America: The First Avenger,” Red Skull is positioned high up and has a notably larger head compared to other characters, much like how Galactus was displayed on the poster of “Fantastic Four.

Typically following the pattern, Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter conceal Red Skull’s face on this occasion.

Thor: The Dark World

In the poster for Thor: The Dark World, the main antagonist, Malekith, is prominently displayed in the upper left corner. It’s noteworthy that Malekith is directly facing forward, unlike some other posters, although his head remains partially concealed.

In my opinion, while the character is noticeable, there’s an ethereal quality about him that makes him seem somewhat transparent, which might explain why he isn’t the primary focus on the movie poster.

Avengers: Endgame

It seems fair to say that among all the villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos deserved a more prominent spotlight on the poster for Avengers: Endgame. Regrettably, this didn’t occur; much like others, he was placed in the top left corner, leaving fans with just a glimpse of his profile.

On the poster, Thanos’ face was skillfully blended with its background, concealing the authentic shade of his skin and the hue of his helmet, ensuring that only the overall design stood out for Marvel Studios.

Black Widow

In the poster for Black Widow, it was deliberately avoided to feature Taskmaster prominently. Although he does appear (located in the upper left corner), his transparency makes him almost invisible to the eye.

Without carefully scrutinizing the Black Widow poster, one might easily overlook Taskmaster at the top. It’s quite challenging, in fact, to spot any of the other supporting characters there because they are all rather small and not very noticeable.

Thor: Love and Thunder

It seems that Marvel Studios has been following a similar design for most of their official posters, as in previous instances. In the case of “Thor: Love and Thunder”, the main antagonist, Gorr, is only partially visible, tucked away in the upper left corner of the poster.

Regardless of whether a well-known actor like Christian Bale plays the antagonist, they are all given equal consideration in the storyline.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania

The poster for “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” is yet another attention-grabber, not just because of the literal turn of Kang’s head, nearly facing entirely away from the camera, but also in a metaphorical sense.

Initially, it was planned for Kang to take over Thanos as the primary antagonist in the MCU during the release of “Quantumania”. It might seem logical for Marvel Studios to emphasize his role by featuring him prominently in his debut movie. However, that expectation wasn’t met.

Captain America: Brave New World

In terms of style, the poster for “Captain America: Brave New World” deserves some recognition as it deviates from the typical design used in posters for Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.

Nevertheless, the pattern persisted by keeping the antagonist (Red Hulk) positioned at the upper-left corner of the frame. For a second time, his face remained hidden from the camera and he didn’t face it squarely.

2025-07-12 20:05