The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review
While First Steps isn’t the movie that will turn things around for Marvel, things are moving in the right direction with the best on-screen version of the Fantastic Four.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Marvel Studios
The latest Marvel film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, is a long-awaited adaptation of Marvel’s first family, the titular Fantastic Four, the comic that transformed Marvel Comics in 1961. The team of heroes was foremost a family, and their characterizations were human—fallible and with faults—as opposed to unimpeachable demi-gods. This set the tone for Marvel’s most lasting contributions to the medium that were to come.
Marvel Studios has been in a downturn, with productions that have become increasingly formulaic and bland, in part thanks to the glut of films and TV shows they produce. This film is doubly important to the studio. The challenge was not only to make an adaptation that does justice to the importance of the heroes to its pantheon, but to make a movie that would turn the ship around and show critics and the public that the studio was back on its A-game. This film follows three previous adaptations at Fox, one of which was a reboot, that ranged from mediocre to terrible. In my mind, anything Marvel could do with these characters was bound to be better than those, so I was cautiously optimistic, especially after seeing the trailers. The bar was low, and First Steps cleared it and then some.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Marvel Studios
The film takes place four years after the protagonists returned from their fateful mission to space that left them irradiated and permanently transformed. Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach)—Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing—live together in the Baxter Building, headquarters of the Fantastic Four, in New York City. As beloved heroes and scientists, they have ushered in an era of peace on their retro-futuristic 1960s version of Earth. Reed and Sue celebrate that she is pregnant with their first child, but their joy is cut short as a new threat arrives. The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) appears from space and announces that humanity’s days are numbered—Galactus (Ralph Ineson) will soon arrive and consume the planet.
The movie notably leans into a retro-futuristic 1960s aesthetic, giving the movie a unique feel. Director Matt Shakman, cinematographer Jess Hall, and the VFX team came through with one of the best-looking Marvel films in a long time. On IMAX, the picture wasn’t as muddy as I’ve grown accustomed to seeing from the studio’s house style. The quality extends to the action sequences, which were clear and dynamic.
The performances were great and a large part of the reason the movie worked so well as an adaptation, while others haven’t. The four principals were able to carry one of the most important things that made this version different: the focus on family. Their dynamic was convincing and endearing; they had great chemistry together.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Marvel Studios
Fans clamored for John Krasinski to play Reed Richards, which would have been fine, but now I’m not going to be able to imagine anyone but Pedro Pascal in the role; the vulnerability in his performance was one of the things that grounded the film. While the special effects that make the Thing’s stone-skinned character possible are impressive, I wish we could have seen Ebon Moss-Bachrach onscreen as himself more, even though there wasn’t much room in the lean movie. I admire that Marvel chose to go all-in with a comics-accurate Galactus, and Ralph Ineson was great casting for the imposing, skyscraper-tall figure. Paul Walter Hauser makes a short but memorable appearance as the Mole Man.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Marvel Studios
The Fantastic Four are refreshingly disconnected from the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was nice to jump into this movie without feeling the narrative baggage. This won’t be the case for long, as their next appearance will be in the phase-ending Avengers: Doomsday with the rest of the MCU. I hope we still get at least one more stand-alone adventure that lets us spend more time with this version of the characters. Shakman and the people at Marvel Studios clearly understood what makes them special.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens exclusively in theaters on July 24, 2025.
