Hidden Back To The Future Reference In The Fantastic Four: First Steps Goes Way Deeper Than You'd Expect
By Dan Bibby
October 1st, 2025
Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Fantastic Four: First Steps!
The Fantastic Four: First Steps sneaks in a clever reference to the Back to the Future franchise, and the moment is filled with an amazing amount of detail that makes the nod especially worthwhile. The iconic time-travel trilogy is still as beloved now as it was when it was released decades ago, and for good reason.
While First Steps doesn't linger on its brief tribute to BTTF, it ends up being woven quite tightly into the movie's plot. The First Steps writers could quite easily have resisted paying homage to BTTF altogether, but I'm not just glad that they decided to do it. I'm also thrilled that they pulled it off in such an incredibly fitting way.
While First Steps doesn't linger on its brief tribute to BTTF, it ends up being woven quite tightly into the movie's plot. The First Steps writers could quite easily have resisted paying homage to BTTF altogether, but I'm not just glad that they decided to do it. I'm also thrilled that they pulled it off in such an incredibly fitting way.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Sneaky Back To The Future Reference Explained
In one of First Steps' most exciting sequences, the Fantastic Four are forced to improvise a dangerous way to shake Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner) by taking their ship into close quarters with a black hole. After the Silver Surfer has been taken care of via a plan that drains most of the vessel's fuel, the team's ship needs to be hurled around the black hole in a slingshot manoeuvre. The required speed to do so? 0.88 times the speed of light.
Even casual Back to the Future fans know that the franchise's famous DeLorean needs to hit 88mph for its Flux Capacitor to kick in and allow its passengers to traverse the timeline. It's a very specific and oddly aesthetic figure, so I think it's fair to say that the First Steps writers didn't just pluck the number out of thin air. It's a fun moment among dramatic goings-on, but the reference isn't quite as blink-and-you'll-miss-it as it seems.
Even casual Back to the Future fans know that the franchise's famous DeLorean needs to hit 88mph for its Flux Capacitor to kick in and allow its passengers to traverse the timeline. It's a very specific and oddly aesthetic figure, so I think it's fair to say that the First Steps writers didn't just pluck the number out of thin air. It's a fun moment among dramatic goings-on, but the reference isn't quite as blink-and-you'll-miss-it as it seems.
First Steps' "88" Reference Makes The Fantastic Four Travel Through Time (Just Like Marty McFly)
Let's get one thing straight: The Fantastic Four: First Steps isn't a time-travel adventure, and I'm not claiming that it is...but it's not NOT a time-travel adventure. Sure, the movie generally plays with temporal themes by having the story unfold in a retro-futuristic setting where the 1960s has far more advanced technology than in many other universes - but even THAT's not what I'm talking about.
Being in such close proximity to a black hole has an interesting impact on how the Fantastic Four (and Shalla-Bal) experience the passage of time. This may seem like sci-fi mumbo jumbo, but it's not. It's based on genuine physics. Time dilation is a real thing, and interacting with a black hole can set it in motion.
When the team returns to Earth after successfully sling-shotting from the black hole in question, a month has passed on the planet they left behind. For the Fantastic Four, they haven't been away nearly that long. Similarly, it takes Shalla-Bal a month to escape the black hole's pull and reach the human homeworld again. So, just as Marty McFly's reaching 88mph allowed him to travel through time, the Fantastic Four's reaching 0.88 times the speed of light allowed them to do the same. Cool, huh?
Being in such close proximity to a black hole has an interesting impact on how the Fantastic Four (and Shalla-Bal) experience the passage of time. This may seem like sci-fi mumbo jumbo, but it's not. It's based on genuine physics. Time dilation is a real thing, and interacting with a black hole can set it in motion.
When the team returns to Earth after successfully sling-shotting from the black hole in question, a month has passed on the planet they left behind. For the Fantastic Four, they haven't been away nearly that long. Similarly, it takes Shalla-Bal a month to escape the black hole's pull and reach the human homeworld again. So, just as Marty McFly's reaching 88mph allowed him to travel through time, the Fantastic Four's reaching 0.88 times the speed of light allowed them to do the same. Cool, huh?
First Steps' Lightspeed Travel Mixes Real Physics With Sci-Fi Tropes
In reality, it's theoretically impossible for anything to travel faster than the speed of light. That hasn't stopped decades of sci-fi movies and TV breaking this rule, as it often allows for more epic tales of interstellar exploration. Weirdly, First Steps seems to both acknowledge this scientific fact while also ignoring it.
The team's ship, Excelsior, falls into the category of being capable of faster-than-light travel, at least with the attachment that's waiting for it in Earth's orbit. When the team loses that helpful piece of kit during their escape from Shalla-Bal, the black hole is their only option for approaching the speed required to reach home.
That's where it gets interesting. Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) makes the calculations required, and Excelsior needs to hit 0.88 times the speed of light to escape the black hole's immense gravity and fling it in Earth's general direction. 0.88 times the speed of light is obviously close to, but doesn't exceed, the speed of light.
To still include their coy BTTF reference, the First Steps writers could have had Reed reveal the speed necessary as 88 times the speed of light, but that would have been...excessive. Instead, a more "realistic" velocity of 0.88 was chosen.
So, the Fantastic Four involving themselves in time dilation and traveling just short of the speed of light is one of the most scientifically accurate moments in the entire film, despite the sequence coming directly after the loss of Excelsior's FTL engines. I'm not criticizing, I swear. It's cool. I'm just pointing it out. Besides, it allowed The Fantastic Four: First Steps to reference Back to the Future - and how could that be a bad thing?
The team's ship, Excelsior, falls into the category of being capable of faster-than-light travel, at least with the attachment that's waiting for it in Earth's orbit. When the team loses that helpful piece of kit during their escape from Shalla-Bal, the black hole is their only option for approaching the speed required to reach home.
That's where it gets interesting. Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) makes the calculations required, and Excelsior needs to hit 0.88 times the speed of light to escape the black hole's immense gravity and fling it in Earth's general direction. 0.88 times the speed of light is obviously close to, but doesn't exceed, the speed of light.
To still include their coy BTTF reference, the First Steps writers could have had Reed reveal the speed necessary as 88 times the speed of light, but that would have been...excessive. Instead, a more "realistic" velocity of 0.88 was chosen.
So, the Fantastic Four involving themselves in time dilation and traveling just short of the speed of light is one of the most scientifically accurate moments in the entire film, despite the sequence coming directly after the loss of Excelsior's FTL engines. I'm not criticizing, I swear. It's cool. I'm just pointing it out. Besides, it allowed The Fantastic Four: First Steps to reference Back to the Future - and how could that be a bad thing?
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