A Fantastic Step Beyond What’s Come Be-Four
DIRECTED BY MATT SHAKMAN/2025
We all know the origin story… how Marvel Studios, years ago, became empowered as an industry giant. This was primarily thanks to its metahuman ability to transform decades of dense superhero lore into four-quadrant crowd pleasers with top-notch imaginative visual effects, soaring production value, and cosmic-level casting of the second-tier heroes (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, et al) Kevin Feige and company had access to at the time. The established Marvel Comics heavy hitters, like Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four, were already farmed out to bigger, far more powerful studios. Yet, embracing the tried and true “shared universe” model of the source material, the fledgling studio would elevate its stable characters to global favorites, surpassing all other such superhero movies.
Now, after years of speculation and hoping by fans, the corporate stars have aligned to finally usher Marvel’s First Family into the venerable MCU. That said, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first truly standalone film of the franchise since its very earliest offerings. Zero homework required. The film manages this by taking place in a zippy alternate version of 1960s retro-futurized Big Apple. In this, it is quite visually astonishing, brandishing a cool, blue-themed color palette and fun original score by Michael Giacchino.
Despite the film’s subtitle, “First Steps”, this incarnation of the Fantastic Four are in their fourth year as the only superheroes on this rather mod Earth. The closest the film comes to multiverse stuff is a quick scene of genius team leader Mister Fantastic lecturing a bunch of school kids about it. They look as disinterested with the concept as cinema audiences have been.
Like James Gunn’s Superman, which premiered only a few weeks prior to this, the film represents a higher profile effort than what the respective studios have been doing lately. Both films also mercifully forego depicting their origin story yet again. After all, the Fantastic Four is to Marvel Comics what Superman is to DC Comics- the title that started it all. (1963 for the former, 1938 for the latter). Consequently, they live nostalgically in the imaginations of millions of readers from back in the day, even as they have persisted as a core staple of Marvel publishing. Like Spider-Man, the cosmic rays-empowered Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, The Thing, and the Human Torch simply belong in the MCU. It just took a bit of superhuman business action to get them there.
Also like Superman, the iconic FF’s onscreen legacy has been less than stellar. This is no less than the fourth onscreen incarnation of the Fantastic Four, and the fifth feature film. All the previous versions were, to put it kindly, lacking. With the quality bar being on the floor, it’s easy to say that First Steps is handily the best Fantastic Four movie yet. But it’s better than that. Director Matt Shakman, who cut his MCU teeth on the engaging and imaginative WandaVision TV series, imbues the bigger-than-life characters with relatable humanity, familiar flourishes, and a unique bright vibe of World’s Fair-esque optimism. Montages show us that the Fantastic Four has faced dire attacks on New York before, including an invasion by Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser), ruler of the underground kingdom of Subterranea. The inevitable breaking point comes when they find themselves in a true Earth-threatening quandary that goes public, as they are forced to weigh a very Star Trek question of whether the needs of the many outweigh the needs of few or the one.
Vanessa Kirby brings a tinge of mama-bear ferocity to Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, who in comics has all too often (but not always) been the bland, deferential wife of team leader Mr. Fantastic, played by the ubiquitous Pedro Pascal. Immediately in the story, Sue informs her husband that she is pregnant. The eventual arrival of the child sets in motion one of the film’s major plot points. Sue’s brother Johnny, the Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) is less the “hothead” he is in the comics, nor the goofball ladies’ man that Chris Evans played. This Johnny is actually quite smart, and the most outwardly heroic of the quartet. Rounding out the team proper is the beloved blue-eyed Ben Grimm /The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who refuses to say his catchphrase, “It’s clobbering time!”, but thankfully finally sports the character’s trademark brow for the first time on screen.
If there’s a minor nit to be picked in this casting, it must be with Pedro Pascal’s rather austere and low-key take on Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, known for being Marvel’s smartest man in the world. (And not because the actor kept his mustache to play the heretofore clean-shaven stretchy scientist). Richards has never been the portrait of approachable warmth in any incarnation, but for all the complex equations on chalk boards and sleek technical devices he’s built in their skyscraper home, the famous Baxter Building (including H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot helper, voiced by the great Skywalker Sound editor Matthew Wood, best known for voicing General Greivous in various Star Wars projects), Johnny sometimes seems more practically intelligent. They say it’s nigh impossible for an actor to play a character smarter than he is. If that were fully true, no one could ever convincingly play Einstein or Steve Jobs. But still, one quick glint of Carl Sagan-esque wonder regarding the vastness of science! and the universe! would’ve gone a long way to endear us to him. He is, after all, a tremendously vital character in the Marvel world, no doubt facing a bevy of major crises down the road.
But first things first. With First Steps, Marvel has opted to forgo the team’s greatest foe, Doctor Doom (the arch bad guy in the other four FF movies) in favor of adapting one of their landmark storylines: the coming of Galactus. Here, the giant purple-clad devourer of worlds finally appears as the towering menace from the mind of Jack Kirby that he is. In the comic book (issues #48 through #50, from early 1966) and here, his landing on Earth marks the first time a being from space terrified the world with its presence. The character symbolizes the existential dread of the atomic age giving way to the nuclear age, and all its uncontrollable largesse and inevitability as well as the space race. Yet, no one could blame casual fans who witnessed Galactus’ big screen debut in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer for having a cloudy memory of the villain, as he was a disappointing gaseous non-presence in that film. Here, he’s got his glowing eyes set on the newborn child of Reed and Sue.
True to form, Galactus’ arrival is heralded by his shiny scout, the Silver Surfer. Less true to form, however, this incarnation of the fan favorite character isn’t Norrin Radd of planet Zenn-La, but his great love, Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner). The change plays as unwarranted, but for those lamenting this reimagining, just remember that this is Earth 828, as opposed to the main MCU Earth, 616. And soon enough, this Fantastic Four is sure to make its way there. Maybe they’ll meet the Surfer proper there? But, if this be doomsday, it might as well be a little sexy. Johnny finds himself ever so taken with Shalla-Surfer, learning that she sold her life to Galactus in exchange for his sparing Zenn-La of his eternal hunger. She must forever soar the spaceways in search of lush planets for him to drain. But, these Faustian pacts never go well, and perhaps there’s a rebellious streak in her yet…
In the world of First Steps, the Fantastic Four are celebrities- the subjects of TV programs and kids cartoons; prominently featured on cereal boxes, t-shirts, and every magazine cover on newsstands. Whether that love flames on in our world, Earth 001, we shall soon learn.