The Fantastic Four: First Steps

by Mike McGranaghan

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is not a very good movie. In fairness, it’s not a terrible movie, either. “Profoundly mediocre” would be a fair description. Mediocrity is not the primary problem, though. The first official F4 movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the wrong picture at the wrong time. In a different, most likely earlier, time, it might have played a lot better. Seeing it in the late summer of 2025 only serves to make its shortcomings even more apparent.

The superheroes in question, of course, are the elastic Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his transparent wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), her ignitable brother Johnny (Joseph Quinn), and stone-bodied family friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). They’re astronauts who gained special powers during a space mission gone sideways. Now Sue is pregnant, a development that leaves Reed feeling a combination of anxious and excited.

Everyone is shocked when an alien being known as the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) comes to Earth with a message: the cosmic god Galactus (voiced by Ralph Ineson) is coming to eat the planet, so everyone should enjoy their final days of existence. The Fantastic Four realize they must figure out a way to overpower the intimidatingly large enemy before he can fulfill his mission.

Pretty normal plot for a superhero movie. The only thing that truly distinguishes First Steps is that it takes place in the 1960s and the production has been meticulously designed to capture the style of that era. Those visuals are certainly pleasing to look at, although setting the story in the ‘60s has no bearing on anything else. It’s here simply to keep the picture from looking exactly like every other MCU adventure.

The Fantastic Four were transferred to the big screen in the financially successful 2005 movie and its 2007 sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer. (The less said about the disastrous 2015 version, the better.) They don’t entirely hold up well, given that they were released before Marvel refined the tone, casting, and storytelling style that defines modern comic book cinema. On the other hand, they had the freedom to be a little silly, as appropriate for the source material.

First Steps, on the other hand, is expected to adhere to MCU standards, which is where it comes up short. The movie attempts to make an ambitious statement about the inherent strength of family, but that idea was tackled far more emotionally in May’s Thunderbolts*. As a theme, it’s old hat now, coming off as a mere platitude in this thin story. There’s also a surprising lack of action scenes where the characters get to use/combine their powers. With DC’s James Gunn-directed Superman having opened two weeks ago, the lack of memorable or inventive action comes as a major disappointment. In other words, this Fantastic Four installment arrives hot on the heels of two other films that do a superior job of what it's trying to do.

Elsewhere, First Steps is plagued by obvious jokes/references, a predictable device that tries to generate suspense by putting a child in jeopardy, and yet another Marvel ending that requires the heroes to fight a giant CGI monster. The best scenes focus on the marriage between Reed and Sue, as they allow Pascal and Kirby to actually do something of substance. We get maybe three of those scenes in a two-hour movie. By now, audiences rightfully anticipate slightly deeper characterization.

If this Fantastic Four had come out in 2005, its sins would be more forgivable. Now, it pales in comparison to half the stuff in the superhero genre.

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