Fully grokking The Thunderbolts* required something like 20+ hours of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) consumption. Completely enjoying Fantastic Four: First Steps requires only a suspension of disbelief, allowing for a world in which most people both believe in science and respect smart people.
Comic books constantly try to lure first-time readers by renumbering a long-running series with a new “number 1” issue. That’s essentially what director Matt Shakman and a quartet of screenwriters deliver here. You don’t need to bring knowledge of literally any other MCU character in with you, just a desire to watch a dude with an intergalactically goofy hat demand to be given a newborn baby or else he’ll eat the Earth.
Please note: The Earth here is not the Earth seen in the rest of the MCU. The multiverse has become a storytelling crutch big enough to help a hobbled tyrannosaurus. This time, it allows for a 1960s-eseque America populated with only the Fantastic Four as its defenders. The astronauts-turned-superheroes were given elemental powers by cosmic rays while in space and became celebrities, prior to the point that we join them in this tale. We may have adopted dangerously regressive attitudes on many things as a society, but “we no longer need a whole movie for an origin story” is something like progress, right?
Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and her husband, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), find out that they’re about to have a child who is apparently irresistible to planet-devouring dudes. Sue’s brother, Johnny (Joseph Quinn), and Reed’s best buddy, Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), are generally hyped about the new addition.
They are less excited when a shiny metal surfboarder (Julia Garner) shows up in Times Square and tells them that Galactus (Ralph Ineson) is on his way to munch Earth to death. He will only opt not to binge our planet if Reed and Sue hand over itty-bitty baby Franklin, who Galactus casually mentions was born with powers close to something like a God. The family does not want to surrender the infant to the giant space nightmare, even if the math works out (as Reed notes).
What’s nice is that the movie operates as a coherent, straightforward film. That is a low bar to be sure, but Superman couldn’t fly over it. Just like the new Man of Steel, the cast is truly terrific here. They just needed to be given more space and latitude to do stuff. For maybe the first time since the comic book cinematic gold rush began, one of the films should have been longer.
Fantastic Four could have used another half hour or so to spend time with these truly enjoyable characters. Everything reads like Cliff’s Notes, highlighting personality traits that audiences need to actually see in order to fully fall in love. The film runs through a checklist of Fantastic Four components more than it builds them organically. Johnny’s womanizing? Mentioned! Ben’s isolation and sadness? Hinted at! Sue’s struggle with her husband’s emotional frigidity? Alluded to! Reed’s genius and responsibility complex potentially pushing him towards ethically ambiguous decision-making? Explicitly referenced!
What makes Marvel’s first family fantastic isn’t repeated statements about the importance of family. My goodness there are a lot of those though. In particular, Kirby’s promotion of traditional family values here evokes another role of hers. In Dame Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, when her character is told that the world’s population is about to be blinked out of reality, she asks “Including my son?”
To be clear, “family is good” has been the central thesis for the team since it was dreamed up by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee decades ago. It just would have been nicer to see they do more family stuff than to sourly discuss the globe-smooshing catastrophe. There is a scene in space, when the squad first confronts Galactus, that is A+ perfection. Keeping up that breakneck pace isn’t possible for budgetary reasons, but it is what makes the comics sing.
Watching Sue, Reed, Johnny, and Ben stumble through various sci-fi shenanigans is so much more enjoyable than limiting them to one extinction-level event. But those are the MCU rules: No time for small adventures when the box office calls. The on-screen text promising the group’s return in Avengers: Doomsday is expected and only disappointing because they could use more space to shine. Fantastic Four: First Steps isn’t disappointing so much as “contained the potential to be transcendent.” I will also probably watch it like five to ten more times.
Grade = B+
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Siddhant Adlakha at Mashable says “The Fantastic Four will inevitably end up in a more drab version of their reality, when they’re forced to cross paths with the larger MCU, but for the moment, their self-contained relaunch is one of those rare miracles of superhero cinema that ensures both fidelity to enduring characters and the demands of big-screen spectacle for new audiences. The film strikes this balance without ever sacrificing the flawed humanity and the uncompromising heart that have long made Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben some of the most lovable fixtures in all-ages American fiction.”
Rain Jokinen at Mulling Movies says “I can forgive almost all of this movie’s flaws because of its greatest gift: its production design, which is a mid-century modern lover’s wet dream. A retro-futurist world full of sleek architecture, atomic age furniture, men in suits and skinny ties, and women in shirtwaist dresses and big hair.”
Jeanine T. Abraham at VisAbleBlackWoman (via Medium) says “As Sue Storm, Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) is the heart and soul of this film. She brings a grounded power to the role that holds the family together and makes you instantly fall in love with the entire cast. Yes, she’s the momma bear in this family of all kinds of men, and she is the glue that keeps them together.”
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