Marvel’s Fantastic Four: First Steps is the F4 live-action movie we’ve all been waiting for

Note: This review was first published on 23 July 2025.

I’ve lost count of how many times Fox Studios has tried to get the live action Fantastic Four (F4) movies right. At this point, it’s hard not to go in with a bit of F4 fatigue, especially after being burned more than once by clunky scripts, forgettable villains, and forced family dynamics that barely held up under the weight of CGI explosions. So when I walked into the IMAX theatre at Shaw Lido to catch a special screening of Fantastic Four: First Steps (Fun fact: Now made by Marvel since Disney’s acquisition of Fox), I was more curious than excited because I wasn’t sure what else could be said or done with these characters that hadn’t already been tried and mishandled.

Maybe it’s the retro-futuristic, low-tech, setting that’s reminiscent of The Jetsons cartoon, maybe it’s the decision to just skip the origin story and dive straight into a universe where the team is already established and, oddly enough, thriving – although there’s a very quick narration of how the F4 got their powers about. We’re simply dropped into 1960s New York and the team is already famous. It’s all a bit surreal at first for newcomers who know nothing about the F4, but also oddly grounding for everyone else. You’re not being asked to catch up on five other Marvel spin-offs or remember which multiverse this version of Reed Richards belongs to. It just…starts. And for once, that’s enough.

The first thing that stood out for me was the tone. First Steps doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it also isn’t winking at the audience every few minutes. There’s a confidence in how the film moves, as if it knows it doesn’t need to overcompensate with irony or fan service. Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards is a big part of that – he plays it straight but warm, someone who’s genuinely brilliant without being smug (unlike a certain Iron Man). I like that his chemistry with Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm gives the film a steady emotional core, especially once they find out she’s (spoiler) pregnant. It’s not played for melodrama; instead, it introduces a quiet tension that runs through the rest of the movie, not least because we’re reminded that these aren’t normal circumstances. They’re powered by space radiation, after all. That can’t possibly end well for a baby.

Then there’s Johnny Storm, played by Joseph Quinn, who brings that hotshot energy without tipping into full caricature. It helps that the film leans into his impulsiveness without making him look like a fool, unlike Chris Evan’s version from the 2005 movie. His interactions with Shalla-Bal – the film’s chrome-plated Galactus’ herald of doom and the eponymous Silver Surfer – add some needed unpredictability to what might otherwise have been a straightforward save-the-world scenario. And yes, the Silver Surfer is now female. Julia Garner, all sleek lines and controlled menace, doesn’t say much, but she doesn’t need to. The way she floats into Times Square and calmly informs the world it’s about to be consumed – there’s something oddly elegant about it. That moment could have come off as pure camp, but somehow it doesn’t.

Still, it’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm who really gives the film its most humanistic tone. His version of the Thing isn’t just a lumbering bruiser. There’s a sadness to him, but also a gentleness that makes you feel for the guy. His scenes with Natasha Lyonne’s Rachel are some of the more grounded moments in a film that otherwise has flying cars, robot chefs and a space-faring labour sequence. Yes, Sue (spoiler, oops) gives birth in orbit. That bit almost veers into parody, but Kirby somehow sells it.

One of the more welcome surprises is how light on its feet the film is, despite the galactic-scale threat. Galactus, the devourer of worlds, barely appears and is just hinted at in ominous sound design and glimpsed in shadow for the first half of the movie. That restraint works in the film’s favour. We’ve seen so many end-of-the-world scenarios by now that they tend to blur together, but this one benefits from staying personal. It’s about a family facing a crisis that’s both literal and existential. The stakes are high, but they’re also weirdly intimate. I liked that. I liked that it wasn’t about assembling every known Marvel character into one overstuffed battle sequence.

What also helps is the new F4’s aesthetic. The production design leans into a bright, retro-modern palette that feels more Pixar than MCU, and I mean that as a compliment. The lab scenes don’t look like cold glass boxes but places someone might actually want to work in. The Fantasticar looks ridiculous and brilliant at the same time, like something out of a child’s sketchbook brought to life. Even Herbie the robot butler, which should by all rights be deeply annoying, ends up being kind of charming and is without a doubt the little guy everyone in the theatre was rooting for.

That’s really the film’s secret weapon – knowing when to push and when to hold back. It doesn’t try to outdo the last Avengers film or reset the entire Marvel timeline. It’s content to be a chapter, not the whole book. And because of that, it ends up being far more enjoyable than expected. You can tell director Matt Shakman, coming off the equally impressive TV series WandaVision, knows how to balance a superhero movie with this much old baggage. He gives the characters enough room to be people first, superheroes second.

It’s not perfect, of course. There are a few lines that feel like they were written for the trailer, and the CGI, while mostly solid, still has the occasional mismatch between face and voice, especially with Ben Grimm. But those moments are brief, and they don’t derail what is otherwise a confident, contained take on a franchise that’s struggled for decades to find its footing.

More importantly, First Steps doesn’t ask you to do homework before watching. There’s no quiz on multiversal lore, no required reading from last year’s Disney+ series. You don’t need to know what Earth-828 is to understand what’s going on – though it helps if you like Easter eggs and throwaway lines about the wider Marvel canon. And for me, after so many sprawling, interconnected films, that simplicity felt like a relief.

It may not be the most groundbreaking superhero film I’ve seen, but it might be the one I’ve enjoyed the most in a while simply because it remembers that characters matter more than cameos, and admittedly, my eyes were running wild on the IMAX screen hoping to spot one. By the end, when the team is gearing up for what’s clearly meant to be their next big arc, I actually found myself looking forward to it – not because I’m curious about how they’ll fit into Phase Six or whatever, but because I want to spend more time with these versions of the Fantastic Four plus one.

P/S: Yes, there’s a pretty good mid-credits scene and a “huh?” end-credits scene.