THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS (2025)

Is 4th Time the Charm for Marvel's First Family?

Grade: A-

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The comic book industry owes a lot to the Fantastic Four, the superhero team created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby which kickstarted the Marvel Age of comics in the early 1960s. Without the FF, there would be no Spider-Man, no Avengers, and no X-Men; the whole landscape of comics would be vastly different. It is strange, then, that they have had so little success when it comes to movies. Their first film, produced by Roger Corman in 1994, was a hokey and cheap affair which was never even intended to be released in theaters and instead exists in bootleg versions. In 2005, the Four came to the screen for the first time in a franchise that fizzled out after only two movies. Then came the infamous Fant4stic (2015), which was torn to pieces by critics and audiences and was swiftly buried. Now they make their long-awaited debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (sort of; more on that later), and it appears the filmmakers have learned from all the mistakes made by their predecessors. Hollywood has finally done Marvel’s First Family justice.

            The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in a universe parallel to the mainstream MCU, Earth-828, a retrofuturistic 1960s world. In this time, Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Susan Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) are a well-established team and global celebrities. Newsreel footage at the beginning briefs us on their origin, as well as some of their battles over the years (did you know the Human Torch can absorb flame as well as generate it himself? Now you do!). At the story’s outset, Reed and Sue are preparing for the arrival of their first child, when Earth is visited by a mysterious alien, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), who warns them that their world will soon be devoured by an all-powerful cosmic being, Galactus (Ralph Ineson). The Four venture into space to confront this new threat, only to be given an impossible offer; Galactus will only spare Earth in exchange for Reed and Sue’s unborn son, who apparently is destined to have vast, godlike powers.

            The two biggest shortcomings with First Steps are the runtime and the fact that, like the recent Superman, it doesn’t feel like the first film in a new franchise. At one hour and fifty-five minutes, it is considerably shorter than a typical Marvel movie. Sometimes, being longer would hurt a movie like this, but that’s not the case here. I for one would’ve loved to have spent even more time in this fantastic new world, seeing more of these characters, their adventures, and their development. As it is, it feels a little bit rushed. If this had been a sequel, it wouldn’t matter as much, but this is the first time we are seeing this iteration of the Fantastic Four. It also seems like there was originally more to it; apparently, John Malkovich had been cast in the movie (possibly as the supervillain Red Ghost), but this reviewer never once caught a glimpse of him. Still, Pascal, Kirby, Moss-Bachrach, and Quinn make the most of their characters’ relatively limited time to establish themselves as a family unit, fueled by love for each other, their planet, and Reed and Sue’s son Franklin.

            The fact that the pacing and runtime are the biggest problems in First Steps means that everything else-the direction, acting, production design, visual effects, etc.-is done very well. The New York of Earth-828 looks like a cool place to be, mixing 1960s aesthetics with visions of a future that might have been. We are also treated to a few impressive glimpses of Subterranea, an underground world ruled by former FF villain the Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser). And the effects look incredible. The sequence where the Four first encounter Galactus and escape from the Silver Surfer, for example, is full of hair-raising action and beautiful imagery. Apparently, producer Kevin Feige took inspiration from Gareth Edwards’s relatively low-budgeted The Creator (2023) in making First Steps a third cheaper than the average MCU flick, but what money they did use is bright and clear on the screen.

             One of the movie’s biggest strengths is its urgency, courtesy of the villain. Many movies with huge antagonists struggle to convey a sense of scale, but not this one; Galactus both looks and feels like a gigantic, all-consuming monster, and the Four truly have their hands full in trying to come up with a plan to stop this essentially godlike being as he draws ever closer to Earth. The effects, combined with Ineson’s performance, will surely wipe away the painful memories comic book fans harbor of the previous film version of Galactus-an oversized space cloud-in 2007’s Rise of the Silver Surfer.

            It was made clear in a post-credits scene of this year’s Thunderbolts* that the Fantastic Four will be appearing in the primary MCU. They are set to battle their greatest enemy, Doctor Doom (Robert Downey, Jr. No, seriously-it’s Robert Downey, Jr.), in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday. But in the meantime, The Fantastic Four: First Steps feels like a breath of fresh air for Marvel. Completely unbound by the endless storylines, movies, and Disney+ series, the world of the Fantastic Four is one of the MCU’s greatest triumphs post-Endgame (2019). This reviewer would be just fine leaving the mainstream Marvel universe behind and just chilling on Earth-828. Just like the title, this movie could be the first step in a better and more fantastic direction for the franchise.

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Director: Matt Shakman

Screenplay: Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer (Based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby)

Producer: Kevin Feige

Cast: Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Susan Storm/Invisible Woman), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), Julia Garner (Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer), Sarah Niles (Lynne Nichols), Natasha Lyonne (Rachel Rozman), Paul Walter Hauser (Harvey Elder/Mole Man), Ralph Ineson (Galactus)

Rated: PG-13 (for action/violence and some language)