The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first MCU entry in some time where prior knowledge of previous films/TV Shows is not entirely needed. 

Admittedly, I was thrown off at the start when I found out the setting was Earth-828, which is not the main earth from the prior MCU films  (that was…let me check…oh right, Earth-616). This is an interesting approach, since the Fantastic Four are, as far as I can tell, behind only Spider-Man and the X-Men when it comes to the most prominent of Marvel characters.

Without getting too much into spoilers, the plot is basically in any of the trailers you have seen (sadly, all too common these days). Like The Batman and Superman (just a few weeks ago), the film takes place not too long after the origin story (though it is briefly mentioned: four astronauts go up and get hit by cosmic rays, resulting in superpowers). The four, of course, are Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and his ability to stretch (not to mention being the smartest man in the world, his wife Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, who can generate force fields along with her invisibility, her younger brother Johnny/Human Torch, who is basically made of fire, and Ben Grimm/The Thing, Reed’s best friend who is made of Rock and basically super strong (that was all from memory, so I’m sure I missed something there).

The plot is somewhat thin. As the trailer shows, we get warning from the Silver Surfer that the almight Cosmic God Galactus (I legit almost typed Thanos but stopped my muscle memory) from coming to literally eat the planet.

Now, I have decided to limit myself to just 4 things that make the film work (get it? 4, because….oh, nevermind).

1. The Cast: Not all of the cast is spot on, but they are passable. Reed is portrayed by Pedro Pascal, who is just one or two movies away from being too much in my movie watching life (this is his third movie this year), yet he still does a decent job of being the team leader. As for Johnny Storm, Joseph Quinn is not as arrogant as Chris Evans made him back in the day, nor is as hot headed. Still, again, he gets the job done. As the Thing, I don’t blame Ebon Moss-Bachrach for not having too much too do with a CGI character (there are times it is a bit cringe), but he does manage to make him a semi sweet gentle giant (who does not want to say what “time” it is), while crushing on the local school teacher (Natasha Lyonne). The best cast of the four by far is Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, who (again, this is in the trailer) has to deal with her powers, her husband, and her pregnancy. Ralph Ineson also does what he can voicing Galactus, and fun is being had by Paul Walter Hauser as “Mole Man.”

Note: Yes, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) is a woman. Get over it. 

2. The setting: I could tell right away this film had the same vibes of the MCU show Wandavision (still possibly their best to date). It is no surprise to find out that the film was directed by the same person, Matt Shakman. He and others behind the scenes have given the film a retro 60s look sprinkled with kitsch that will rub off on even the most skeptical of viewers.
3. The score: Oscar winning composer Michael Giacchino knows a thing or two about scoring super hero films (he did one of the best themes with The Incredibles). Looking back at the MCU, I can’t think of any theme (save The Avengers) for any of the super heroes, yet the Giacchino score is almost a borderline earworm for me, and that is not a bad thing.
4. The runtime: Any superhero movie that goes less than two hours is not wrong.

Parents, the film is a rather soft PG-13, mainly for some swearing (no F bombs). If they have seen anything in the MCU before, they are fine here.

It is indeed hard to judge this without thinking of the prior Fantastic Four films. I have not seen the Roger Corman film from the 1990s, but I am more than familiar with the other three from this century. 2005’s Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel were rather poor (despite a young Chris Evans trying to have fun). Then came Fant4stic Four in 2015, which is probably in the top three most dreadful superhero films released in my life time.

In other words, this time around, 4th times is the charm.

Overall: