THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS (2025)
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, the Fantastic Four must defend Earth from a ravenous space god.
The Fantastic Four, often referred to as Marvel’s “First Family,” haven’t had much luck with live-action films. There was the 1994 film produced by Roger Corman that was never released, Tim Story’s forgettable duology (2005–07) before the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) had even begun, and Josh Trank directed a darker reboot in 2015, just before 20th Century Fox merged with Disney.
But now, the Fantastic Four are officially part of the Marvel-Disney family, kicking off Phase Six of the MCU. Fans are hoping The Fantastic Four: First Steps will bring back the excitement the MCU used to have, which is itself an old story of thwarted desire. Even the generally well-received Thunderbolts* (2025) didn’t signal a change of fortunes for the brand, possibly because it featured low-tier characters and felt like homework was required to grasp who everyone was.
This time, there are no excuses. First Steps stars recognisable superheroes and is headlined by popular actor Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us), which should attract both dedicated fans and casual audiences. Plus, the movie is literally set in a different universe, Earth-828, so you won’t need any prior MCU knowledge to enjoy it.
If nothing else, First Steps is proof that Marvel just needs to have faith in its characters and their original intentions. The Fantastic Four were created in 1961 by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, so rather than find a convoluted way to weave them into the modern-day MCU, the movie is instead a retro-futuristic wonderland that would have been the perfect live-action adaptation if it was possible to make in the ‘60s. That means it speaks to veteran fans of the comic-books, who are getting to see what was previously only brought to life on the page, while providing a tangible milieu to delight the latest generation’s imagination.
The fact the MCU mostly takes place in “our world” has its advantages, as we feel connected to events and locations, but it also has drawbacks in having to make everything and everyone fit together and not push things too far. First Steps avoids all of those growing issues, while doing something we haven’t experienced from the MCU since the days of Iron Man (2008) —create a world where superheroes aren’t the norm, so it’s vicariously exciting and thrilling to have folk with extraordinary abilities running around saving the day.
For the uninitiated, the ‘Fantastic Four’ are comprised of astronauts Reed Richards (Pascal), his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), her brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). When we meet them, they already have super-powers bestowed on them four years ago, after getting blasted by cosmic radiation in space: genius scientist Reed’s body can stretch to amazing lengths to become ‘Mr Fantastic’, Sue can vanish and wield force fields as the ‘Invisible Woman’, Johnny can burst into flames and fly as the ‘Human Torch’, while Ben was granted super-strength and durability thanks to his orange rocky skin to become ‘The Thing’. (I didn’t choose the names.)
The team are already world-famous superheroes, having defeated several monsters and supervillains, adored by everyone in a manner clearly inspired by ‘Beatlemania’. They have branded merchandise and a Saturday morning cartoon (“It’s clobberin’ time!”), get interviewed annually to celebrate their mere existence, and it’s hard to imagine how things could be any better for them. Cue the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), a metallic-skinned “herald” of a cosmic entity called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) who devours entire planets to satisfy his eternal hunger, and who now has Earth on the menu…
Directed by Matt Shakman, who seemed to get the job after impressing MCU boss Kevin Feige with his handling of WandaVision (2021), which likewise used an aesthetic harkening back to the mid-20th-century, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the best version of these characters we’ve seen on screen. It gets a number of things right which past attempts tripped up on in various ways; the actors feel like they’ve been cast according to their strong chemistry together, which really helps sell the idea they’re friends and family. There’s very little forced drama or conflict between them too, which is refreshing to see. They’re just good people with amazing powers, facing a challenging enemy amidst inflated expectations from their adoring fans because they’ve never failed.
In some ways, the people of Earth-828 have become conditioned to rely on the Fantastic Four to solve any threat and keep them safe, no matter what, while they live in almost utopian society of iconic 1960s architecture and design mixed with technology maybe two centuries more advanced—with flying convertible cars, and rocket ships that can go faster than light.
This mix of beautiful Pop Art production design and likeable characters goes a long way. The story is formulaic fare, but it’s highly entertaining to see these four people go about their daily lives. And the film isn’t afraid to lean into the classic elements of the Fantastic Four as cosmic superheroes, sending them off on an intergalactic adventure halfway through the story that feels torn from the pages of an old Marvel comic. The set pieces are tense and exciting, effectively constructed, and without any signs of a rushed VFX schedule due to the quick turnarounds MCU projects often require.
Michael Giacchino’s score also lends a helping hand, particularly with his compelling main theme tune. He was undoubtedly the best choice to handle the music, having previously worked on The Incredibles (2004) and its 2018 sequel, which both owed a debt to Fantastic Four in many ways and utilised the same throwback feel to the characters and their world.
Even more than Thunderbolts*, it feels like First Steps was only put into production after they had a solid screenplay and it wasn’t structured around getting us to each action sequence as fast as possible. It has time to breathe, to let us care about the heroes, to see the love between Reed and Sue, to let us consider the threat to everyone more deeply, to wonder how they’re possibly going to defeat a skyscraper-sized supervillain, and to surprise us with some unexpected elements. Maybe it was common knowledge for some, but I had no idea Sue’s pregnancy would be such an impactful part of the narrative.
The failings of the film aren’t disastrous. There’s the hint of a fun romance between The Thing and teacher Rachel Rozman (Natasha Lyonne) that doesn’t get explored enough; I didn’t particularly like the portrayal of Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser); Galactus has a perfect look and vocal thanks to Ralph Ineson (The Green Knight), but his backstory isn’t explored and he’s ultimately a fairly boring antagonist beyond his remarkable appearance; Reed’s stretchiness is curiously underutilised throughout, as if they were scared elongating his limbs looks silly; and it takes a half-hour to totally settle into its groove, but then feels like it’s rushing through some events. But these are relatively minor quibbles. We have a Fantastic Four that are genuinely fun to watch as a believable family unit, and it reminded me of the pre-Avengers (2012) era when you’d leave the cinema imagining that movie’s characters mixing with ones we’ve already seen, or will be meeting soon.
What will the Fantastic Four make of Earth-616 when they get here, which is contrastingly abundant with other superheroes? Will Reed find our modern-day tech oddly dated in function if not form? Will they be used as fish-out-of-water comic relief, as Steve Rogers once was? For the first time in a long time, there’s a bit of genuine excitement about seeing a self-contained adventure feed its success into what’s next, which for this foursome appears to be Avengers: Doomsday.
UK • USA • CANADA • NEW ZEALAND | 2025 | 114 MINUTES | 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH
Cast & Crew
director: Matt Shakman.
writers: Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan & Ian Springer (story by Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer & Kat Wood; based on characters created by Jack Kirby & Stan Lee).
starring: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser & Ralph Ineson.
