I wanted to love “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” Unfortunately, I only liked it.
This new take on “Fantastic Four,” the third iteration of these characters and the first to be connected — tangentially — to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is totally fine. The core four actors who make up the first family are each great in their roles and their retro-futuristic world provides a unique visual identity, but the narrative is rote and the themes are muddled and uninteresting.
Where the previous “Fantastic Four” films in 2005 and 2015 both detailed the teams’ origin as they develop superpowers and come together as a family, this 2025 reboot picks up years later — the Fantastic Four are already fantastic and already live together as a family in the Baxter Building. Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards played by Pedro Pascal, and the Invisible Woman, Sue Storm played by Vanessa Kirby, are expecting a baby. There’s also a woman from space who says that the earth is about to be destroyed.
The family is pressed with the combined challenges of a cosmic deity with designs to consume the planet and also a newborn — both imminent. Those two conflicts become one when big bad Galactus offers to spare the earth in exchange for the unborn child.
There’s a lot to like here, especially in the characterizations and relationships of the Four themselves.
Pascal’s Reed Richards is tortured by his hunger to know and to solve — lost in his calculations, weighed down by the gravity of both his coming son and supervillain. Joseph Quinn is a great Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, bringing light to the team and remaining headstrong while leaving behind some of his character’s more abrasive traits. Ebon Moss-Bachrach is totally charming as a giant rock monster, Ben Grimm and The Thing, and could have been given way more to do.
It’s Kirby’s Sue Storm, though, who’s the beating heart of the film and the driver of the film’s attempts at telling a story about collaboration and family. She’s portrayed as a diplomat, a leader, and a mother. She’s at the center of many of the film’s biggest moments — a defender of her child and the earth.
In an early scene, a montage fills in the place of the Fantastic Four in this world — a universe separate from the other MCU films that resembles the 1960s but with flying cars and space travel. That sequence features a soaring Michael Giacchino score and each of the Four performing feats of heroism. That heroism is what’s absent from much of the film.
The central conflict of “First Steps” is an effort to stop a big bad man from eating the planet. The Fantastic Four race off to battle him in space but come back wholly cowed by Galactus’ might. The rest of the film takes on a dour tone as our heroes scramble to find a way to protect the earth against mounting pressure from people who think maybe trading one baby for the world isn’t a terrible bargain.
We never get to see the Fantastic Four as heroes. There’s no heartening team-up moment like in “The Avengers.” The audience is told that they’re heroic figures — but I was left wondering if it was the cost of the computer effects that precluded us from seeing them do the heroism.
Galactus is an interesting baddie, played with the gravitas expected from the always stellar Ralph Ineson. He’s a looming, dangerous threat until in the third act the Fantastic Four thwart his plan because that’s how movies work. His “herald,” the Silver Surfer played by Julia Garner, is even more of a threatening presence but is underserved by a rushed emotional arc.
Thematically, there’s nothing to latch onto here. Of course a “Fantastic Four” story is about family, but “First Steps” makes no effort to say anything original. It’s not fair at all to compare it to “Superman” from earlier this month, but where that movie felt timely and important, “First Steps” feels sanitized.
“First Steps” has all the building blocks to be something great. That’s why I’m disappointed that it was only a solid, fine superhero movie. I wish I’d come out of the theater hungry to read and see more about the Fantastic Four, a group of characters I have no affinity for, just like I did only a couple of weeks ago with Superman.
Instead of something memorable, “First Steps” is just the 37th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It provides exactly what you expect, likable heroes making quippy jokes for around two hours with a big computer-generated finale. It lays the groundwork for next year’s “Avengers: Doomsday.” It’s rote, it works, it’s playing this weekend.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
