The Incredible 4: First Steps is the newest entry within the 2025 film schedule to dominate the field workplace, and for a lot of, together with me, it’s an important mushy reset of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of many issues I most preferred about it was that it wasn’t heavy on the MCU-cameos like so many others have been.
That doesn’t imply there weren’t any cameos, nevertheless. In incredible nod to an oft-forgotten little bit of Marvel film lore, all 4 solid members of the ill-fated, Roger Corman-produced, unreleased Incredible 4 film from 1994 turned up within the newest. I’d like to see Marvel do extra of this.
First Steps Is Full Of Tributes
The most recent MCU film options a number of tributes to the historical past of Marvel, most notably a serious, long-overdue tribute to Jack Kirby, the co-creator of The Incredible 4. Not solely is there a quote from Kirby on the finish of the movie, however the Earth-828, the place the film is ready, is in honor of Kirby’s birthday, August twenty eighth, 1917. There’s additionally a scene portraying Kirby and co-creator Stan Lee within the film.
These aren’t all, nevertheless. One cameo (or cameos) that you just may need missed is the 4 actors who performed the First Household of Marvel within the wild adaptation that B-Film legend Roger Corman produced in 1994. The film was famously shelved on the time and has but to see the sunshine of day. Nonetheless, First Steps director Matt Shakman discovered an exquisite approach to pay tribute to the film.
At first of the film, there’s a montage of individuals thanking The Incredible 4 for the whole lot they’ve performed. In a kind of floating bubbles are 4 unassuming actors who categorical their gratitude. These 4 actors — Rebecca Staab, Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, and Michael Bailey Smith — play Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben, respectively, within the notorious adaptation. I say, why cease now? Let’s get some extra cameos from actors in long-forgotten Marvel variations in a pre-MCU world.
There Is A Wealthy Historical past Of Pre-MCU Films And TV Exhibits To Draw From
The MCU is nice about together with cheeky cameos. This reached a zenith in 2021 with Spider-Man: No Means House when Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield returned as their pre-MCU variations of the web-slinger. I believe they might go deeper. A lot deeper.
The primary present within the pre-MCU world that stands out to me, as a Gen Xer, is the Seventies tv present, The Wonderful Spider-Man. Nicholas Hammond performed Spidey in that model. Hammond, who’s most well-known for taking part in Friedrich von Trapp in The Sound of Music, continues to be working, together with his most up-to-date movie credit score coming in As soon as Upon a Time in Hollywood. We’ve bought a brand new Spider-Man film coming subsequent yr, let’s see a cameo!
One other enjoyable selection for a random cameo could be David Hasselhoff, who performed the position Samuel L. Jackson has made most well-known, Nick Fury, in Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., a made-for-TV film that was meant to be a pilot for a present that by no means occurred in 1998. How a lot enjoyable would that be? Hasselhoff, after all, did make a cameo as himself in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
The listing will not be countless, however there are such a lot of choices. Eric Allan Kramer, who performed Thor in a TV film within the ‘80s, Matt Salinger, who starred in a straight-to-video Captain America film within the ‘90s, and Peter Hooten, star of the forgotten 1978 TV film, Physician Unusual, are all glorious candidates.
Let’s pay tribute to these actors who took on these roles in low-budget, virtually doomed-from-the-start productions, however helped preserve Marvel going within the lean instances, in some upcoming Marvel motion pictures. It is the best factor to do and a enjoyable approach to do it!