Okay, let’s get this out of the way right at the top: previous attempts to bring Marvel’s First Family to the big screen have ranged from ill-conceived to disastrous. I’ve seen each and every one of them: the stiff 2005 version and its even clunkier sequel, the 2015 reboot that tried so hard to be edgy that it forgot to be fun, and even the unreleased version from the early 90s, executive produced by Roger Corman and available at pretty much any local comic convention. Some circles of fandom have long considered the property to be cursed, and have resigned themselves to never seeing a good version of these characters realized on the big screen. So it’s a genuine surprise, and more than a little bit of a relief, that The Fantastic Four: First Steps actually works.
When I say that it works, I don’t mean that in the sense of “works better than those other terrible attempts.” I mean, this one genuinely works. Director Matt Shakman, who cut his MCU teeth on WandaVision, clearly came into this with something to prove. And what he’s crafted is not just a superhero movie, but a cozy and oddly heartfelt slice of science fiction that not only understands what made the original comics so influential in the first place, but manages to recreate it for a different medium. Much like James Gunn rescued Superman from a series of adaptations that fundamentally misunderstood its source material, so too has Shakman breathed new life into Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben.
Set in an alternate version of the 1960s with an eye-popping retro futurist aesthetic — I’d bet money that Shakman and his production design team are fans of The Jetsons — First Steps drops us into a world where the Fantastic Four are already global celebrities. There’s no long-winded origin story here; instead, a few clever in-universe clips do the heavy lifting, and we’re off to the races. I can’t stress enough just how goddamn cool everything looks; the film leans hard into mid-century sci-fi aesthetics, with curved chrome furniture, floating vehicles, and analog gadgetry that feels like it belongs in both a comic book and an old Popular Mechanics spread.
But the real success here is how the film treats the characters. Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) is a brilliant scientist and a deeply anxious father-to-be. His wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), is smart, grounded, and much more than a sidekick; often a throwaway in past films, Sue finally gets to be something more than the token “invisible” woman. Joseph Quinn adds some charm as Johnny Storm in a much less “hotheaded” (heh) take on the character, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, despite being buried under CGI rocks as The Thing, turns in a performance that’s surprisingly tender. There’s a warmth to the way these characters interact that feels lived-in, even if the film doesn’t slow down enough to explore every corner of their past. The movie opens with the news that Sue is pregnant, and that thread — what it means to bring new life into a world on the brink of disaster — becomes the emotional core of the story (and one that resonated particularly well with me, as a parent).
That disaster is precipitated by the arrival of the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), who warns that Earth has been marked for destruction at the hands of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a planet-devouring intergalactic being who looks as though he’d be right at home on the cover of a prog rock album. Ineson’s booming voice was already intimidating enough before it came thundering from the maw of a metal-clad space god larger than a skyscraper, and his impending arrival forces the Fantastic Four into an impossible situation: save the planet, or protect their family.
The stakes are high, but the film rarely leans on spectacle alone, and the quieter moments are every bit as effective as the action beats. It feels like the first time someone actually understood what makes the Fantastic Four unique: not just their powers, but their bond. At its core, this is a story about people who genuinely care about each other, trying to do the right thing in the face of the unimaginable.
Side note: it’s also refreshing to see a Marvel movie that doesn’t require homework. You don’t need to know what happened in Phase 4 or which character is supposed to show up next. First Steps stands on its own, and that not only gives it room to breathe, but also to take a few creative risks that pay off. Whether or not this film marks the start of a true comeback for the franchise, it’s the first time in a long time that the Fantastic Four have felt like more than just an IP Hollywood didn’t quite know what to do with.