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Light spoilers follow for The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
It’s not an exaggeration to say The Fantastic Four have been represented poorly on the big screen. 20th Century Fox’s two attempts to launch live-action franchises starring Marvel‘s First Family in the early and mid-2000s were average at best and, at their worst, utterly abysmal.
A well-made film that captures the spirit of the iconic quartet’s comic book adventures, then, is long overdue – and The Fantastic Four: First Steps duly delivers. It falls short of being, well, fantastic but, considering what’s come before, it’s easily the eponymous team’s best live-action adventure to date.
Space oddity
Set in a parallel universe – one designated Earth-828 – to Earth-616, i.e. the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), First Steps reintroduces audiences to the titular team. For those who don’t know, though, the individuals who comprise this group are Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach).
The only heroes who exist in this retro-futuristic alternate dimension, these superpowered scientists-cum-celebrities have not only created a utopia borne out of ground-breaking technological advancements, but also keep their planet safe from those who wish to destroy it.
First Steps is arguably the most accessible Marvel Studios project since 2008’s Iron Man movie
That’s until Galactus (Ralph Ineson), an immortal, world-consuming cosmic entity, and his surfboard-riding lieutenant The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) come calling, anyway. With the duo marking the group’s planet for death unless they hand over Reed and Sue’s newborn son Franklin for reasons I won’t spoil, The Fantastic Four face their biggest obstacle yet as they try to stop a seemingly unstoppable space god from tearing their world and family apart.
Thanks to the rich, vibrant, and fully independent alternate dimension that Marvel’s new-look Fantastic Four inhabits, you don’t need to do any MCU homework before you watch First Steps.
Sure, there are Easter eggs and references to the group’s various villains in the comics. That includes Doctor Doom, who wasn’t considered as First Steps‘ main villain before Galactus and who’ll be played by returning MCU superstar Robert Downey Jr in Avengers: Doomsday. Still, given it’s devoid of ties to the increasingly complex MCU, First Steps is the most accessible Marvel project – for first-time viewers and fans who’ve fallen off the cinematic juggernaut’s bandwagon – since 2008’s Iron Man movie.
But this isn’t your typical origins story. With two prior film adaptations covering the team’s backstory, First Steps takes a leaf out of Tom Holland’s debut as Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War, plus his standalone MCU film trilogy, by introducing heroes who already possess their cosmic radiation-sourced superpowers. As the film tells us, Richards and company have been operating as superheroes for four years by the time it begins.
First Steps’ opening act is one of the most tonally jarring I can remember in any movie
Its breezy opening takes a similar approach to another of 2025’s most exciting new movies and fellow superhero film in James Gunn’s Superman.
Like the most recent entry of a long-running comic book series you’ve just picked up off the shelf, both films drop you right into the thick of things and expect you to figure things out as you absorb their story. It’s a refreshing change of pace for a Marvel project and its DC Universe (DCU) counterpart, and helps to quickly establish these pre-existing universes without prolonging their first acts via another superfluous re-tread of their origins.
That doesn’t mean this movie’s first 30 minutes aren’t without fault. In fact, its opening act is one of the most tonally jarring I can remember in any movie.
Indeed, the Marvel Phase 6 flick is all too keen to flit between melodrama, comedy, and the occasional splash of horror between scenes, and sometimes within the same sequence. These narrative jolts make for an emotionally polarizing first act and detract from the grave, existential threat posed by the omnipotent and seemingly unkillable space tyrant (i.e. Galactus) at crucial moments.
Imagine how Avengers: Infinity War‘s incredibly shocking ending would’ve been emotionally undercut if one of the surviving heroes made an unnecessary joke amid the heart-shattering silence that follows. That’s what First Steps does all too often in its first act and its narrative suffers as a result.
Heavy lies the crown
Thankfully, The Fantastic Four’s latest big-screen reboot becomes a much stronger movie once its opening act ends.
Part of that is down to the lack of hard cuts between scenes, which aid the natural flow of its unfolding story. However, the film’s narrative improvement also owes much to a greater focus being placed on the four primary members of The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ cast and the unwavering mutual bond that exists between them.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ narrative improvement owes much to a greater focus being placed on its four primary cast members
Much was made of Pascal, Kirby, Quinn, and Moss-Bachrach’s hirings when Marvel confirmed they’d be playing The Fantastic Four in February 2024, with some observers questioning whether they were the right fit and/or if they’d gel as a collective.
First Steps proves those naysayers wrong. Arguably the movie’s biggest strength, their chemistry is on point from the outset, with quips and witty insults aplenty, plus their collective resolve amid individual and group disagreements, highlighting the easy rapport that exists between the actors and the characters they portray.
Individually, Moss-Bachrach does a great job of capturing Grimm’s long-standing position as the heart and soul of the team. Pascal is similarly stellar as the group’s incredibly intelligent yet oft-times emotionally awkward de-factor leader.
I wish there were more scenes showcasing their collective camaraderie and quieter moments between each pairing
However, the Storms are the real standouts. Kirby and Quinn steal the show as the superpowered siblings who, throughout The Fantastic Four’s early comic book runs, were simply depicted as the team’s tokenistic female/damsel in distress and stereotypical cocksure ladies’ main.
As they have in more recent comic book stories, though, the pair’s representation on the screen have undergone highly satisfying evolutions akin to how they’re not portrayed on the page. Indeed, Sue is positioned as the group’s strongest member from emotional and superpower perspectives. Meanwhile, Johnny is a fully-formed, three-dimensional character with his own intellectual intuition that ties into a intriguing subplot that makes full use of his multifaceted persona.
If there’s a criticism I can level at First Steps from a cast viewpoint, I wish there were more scenes showcasing their collective camaraderie and quieter moments between each pairing.
Some scenes used in TV spots or one of its three main teasers, including First Steps‘ official trailer and the final trailer Marvel released for its new Fantastic Four movie, are absent from the final cut. Given the movie’s sub-two hour runtime, though, there was certainly scope for their inclusion, and I wouldn’t have scoffed at seeing more humorous, heartfelt, and dramatically heavy interactions that would’ve further sold me on these all-important dynamics.
The same is true of the film’s villains. I’ve been eager to see Ineson’s take on Galactus since his hiring last May and Garner’s version of the Big Bad’s Herald following her casting a month earlier, especially given the Shakespearean tragedy elements that define their antagonistic sensibilities.
Sadly, both characters are underused. Garner gets more to do than Ineson and , after looming large as a terrifying off-screen presence for much of the film, the latter’s humanoid monstrosity gets his due in First Steps‘ intense final act. Nevertheless, the pair weren’t lying when they told me they never filmed a single scene together for First Steps, which is abundantly clear in the final edit. Their characters aren’t given the requisite screentime to really dig into their motivations, nor does the flick lean into the cosmic horror they could’ve delivered individually and collectively.
My verdict
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is an entertaining, distinct, and at-times emotional Marvel film that MCU diehards and newcomers will equally enjoy. Still, while I applaud its brave storytelling and unique selling points, it could’ve benefitted from some narrative refinement to enhance its primary themes and multi-genre formula.
Those frustrations aside, this is still the most authentic representation of the superteam outside of Marvel literature. Considering what’s come before, it wasn’t a particularly high bar to clear, but I commend Shakman and company for giving us a Fantastic Four film that won’t make me shudder at the thought of rewatching it. For that reason alone, it’s not a small step forward, but rather a giant leap in the right direction for Marvel’s First Family on the silver screen.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps launches in theaters on Thursday, July 24 (UK) and Friday, July 25 (internationally). The group’s three other film adaptations are available now on Disney+.
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tom.power@futurenet.com (Tom Power)
