Marvel's First Family is finally part of the MCU with "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," and they have a truly storied history. But that might make you worry that you have a lot of homework to do before seeing the film.

Having been consistently building for the last 17 years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline is quite complicated... and the arrival of The Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn't exactly make things much clearer.

First Steps is the fifth Fantastic Four movie, though it is only the fourth to come to theaters. Previous movies adapting the comics include an unreleased Roger Corman-produced feature from 1994, pirated copies of which have made it something of a cult classic.