The Fantastic Four First Steps ~ Review - 7/25/2025

Since debuting in 1961, Marvel’s Fantastic Four has been adapted to the screen five times. First, by Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in 1994. That film was made, but never actually released, because it was mainly a scheme to keep the rights to the property. The second attempt did see the light of day in 2005’s Fantastic Four, which was enough of a hit to warrant a sequel – Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. While both movies performed well enough at the box office, audiences and critics did not like them. So, Chronicle filmmaker Josh Trank was brought in to make a grim and gritty take on the material with Fan4stic, which audiences rejected out of hand.

It seemed like the Fantastic Four were doomed to reboot after reboot until someone figured out how to crack the characters. The issue with the Fantastic Four is that they represent the best that science can do and are not, strictly speaking, superheroes. Now, eight years after Disney acquired Fox and subsequently the film rights to the Fantastic Four, The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters. Turns out fifth time’s the charm for Marvel’s first family. However, the film is not without its flaws. Light spoilers follow.

Much like James Gunn's Superman, Fantastic Four: First Steps starts in medias res. We are on an alternate Earth at some point in a retro-futuristic version of the 1960s. Astronauts Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), pilot Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Sue’s brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) left Earth on a mission into outer space. Unfortunately, they were bombarded by cosmic rays, which gave them extraordinary powers. Reed can stretch his body, Sue can turn invisible, Ben is now a rock monster known as the Thing, and Johnny can become a living being made of fire…he’s called the Human Torch. Now these four protect the Earth from various threats, such as the Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser) and other kooky Marvel villains from the original Fantastic Four comics.

All of this exposition is deftly handled in a blistering montage that feels like something straight out of a 1960s comedy. The film's period sets with retro sci-fi trappings have an infectious joy that blankets the film. Eventually, things go south for the Fantastic Four when an alien, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), arrives. See, the Surfer is the herald of a monstrous space god named Galactus (Ralph Ineson) who eats planets…and Earth is next on the menu. Now, it's up to the Fantastic Four to stop Galactus and save the Earth.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a lot of fun. It’s breezy and peppy. Director Matt Shakman brings an infectious energy and confidence to the proceedings, much like the original Iron Man and J.J. Abrams' first Star Trek film. The Mad Men meets Star Trek production design is cool, and it makes the film feel like a comic book. Galactus is appropriately terrifying, and his aesthetic merges Jack Kirby’s art style with a Showa era Kaiju film and H.R. Giger.

The cast has an infectious energy as an ensemble, and you believe that they are a family. Pedro Pascal plays Reed as a man who is always thinking about the worst possible outcome and how to stop it. Vanessa Kirby is the heart of the group, bringing joy and love to everyone. Kirby’s super expressive eyes sell so much of Sue’s inner emotions without any dialogue. In other adaptations of the Fantastic Four, the Thing can come across as a bit of a sad sack, but Ebon Moss-Bachrach makes Ben Grimm feel like someone who has accepted his rock skin, and he brings a sly sense of humor and empathy to the film. Joseph Quinn plays Johnny Storm as a lighthearted jokester with a heart of gold, but who will get real when the chips are down.

So, all of that is great. The film is a fun, well-acted movie with amazing production design. Its action sequences are well composed and appropriately comic-booky. So why is it that at the end of the day, I am just so underwhelmed by the whole thing? I think it has to do with the film’s climax, which I won’t spoil here, but suffice it to say it goes on for way too long and becomes repetitive. Furthermore, I wish that the creatives had figured out a more unique solution to the problem in the climax. Up until the third act, the film is one of the more unique comic book movies.

Ah, well, even the Fantastic Four can’t win 'em all.

Three out of Four Stars.