Spoilers!
I thought this after Thunderbolts*, but it’s clear after seeing The Fantastic Four: First Steps that Marvel is so back! In the same month, we’ve been given two incredible films, Superman, and this one, that have heralded fresh, promising starts for the DCU and the MCU, respectively. It makes me happy and giddy for what is to come. Live-action comics haven’t felt this fresh and exciting since, arguably, the one-two punch of Iron Man and The Dark Knight in 2008. That’s a bold statement, especially comparing these two 2025 films to those iconic ones, but I’m putting that marker down. (Obviously, Infinity War and End Game were emotional, exciting event films, but they were more the culmination of something rather than heralding something new.) While I’m making bold statements, let me continue. In what I’ve seen of their careers at least, First Steps featured the best performances from Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and particularly from Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman. I’m blown away by the empathy, range, and aplomb they brought to the roles. Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, counterintuitively, brings the levity and humanness to the foursome, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch provides, well, necessary flashes of brilliance and pizzazz. But Kirby’s Sue Storm is who I’m walking away from the film thinking about. What a performance, featuring one of the all-time great moments in live-action comic book films.
Like with Superman, what I love about First Steps is how lived-in the world feels. This world, known as Earth-828, a nod to co-creator of the comics, Jack Kirby, and his birth of August 28, has known about, and celebrated, the Fantastic Four for four years. The citizens of Earth-828 know about the powers caused by cosmic radiation after the foursome went to space as regular astronauts: Reed already the smartest man on the planet now can stretch his body; Sue can make herself, others, and objects invisible, as well as project invisible force fields as offensive or defensive weapons; Ben is a super strong rock-like figure; and Johnny is the human torch. They’ve already battled a few enemies, and where we start with them is counterintuitive, with Reed and Sue expecting, and worrying, about their first child. Set in the 1960s, but with flying vehicles and superheroes, the aesthetic captured by director Matt Shakman and cinematographer Jess Hall is perfect in keeping with the milieu of when the Fantastic Four was created in the comics by Kirby and Stan Lee. It also means this film stands out more than virtually any other MCU film, owing to the rightful criticism that MCU films tend to all look boilerplate (the lone exception is to be found in television: 2021’s WandaVision). Interestingly, Shakman has mostly directed for TV, including WandaVision, with First Steps only his second feature film. Impressive. Hall’s prior blockbuster experience came with the Scarlett Johansson video game adaptation, 2017’s Ghost in the Shell.
All seems rather hunky-dory for the Fantastic Four until a familiar foe to comic book fans enters Times Square in New York City to deliver a message. Known in the film as the Herald, but to comic book fans (and fans of the prior film adaptations) as the Silver Surfer, she comes in on an metallic surfboard. The Herald’s message? Galactus, a planet-devouring cosmic being, has marked Earth-828 for destruction. There is nothing they can do to stop it. So it seems. Julia Garner, obviously portraying the character through motion capture with metallic skin, manages to give a weighty, and at times, chilling, performance.
The Fantastic Four decide they will go to where Galactus is to see if they can negotiate, as it were, with it. What I love is that there’s not a doubt at all that Sue, nearly ready to give birth, will nonetheless come with them. Very cool. I’m fascinated by what the team of screenplay writers achieved here (Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer). Again, one of the fairer criticisms of the MCU is how numb a viewer can become to world-ending scenarios and stakes. In other words, such stakes are too big to wrap one’s head around, and thus, buy into them. But somehow, the team here presented a literal world-eating cosmic entity with Galactus as the threat, while also making the film still feel deeply intimate and personal. I believe that’s not only because the Fantastic Four are presented as a tight-knit family, who are beloved and trusted by the public, but because of the tender, heartfelt, and believable performances from all involved. But I digress. The reveal of how all-consuming (heh) and powerful Galactus appears as the Fantastic Four comes upon it devouring a planet was awe-inspiring. Immediately you start wondering how the heck the Fantastic Four are going to defeat this thing. Heck, I was wondering how they’d even deal with the Silver Surfer, much less Galactus! Galactus offers to spare Earth-828 in exchange for Reed and Sue’s unborn child, believing the child to have immense power that will, in essence, satiate and free Galactus from the curse of its unyielding hunger. Of course, Reed and Sue aren’t going to take that trade! They try to escape, only for the Silver Surfer to give chase in an incredible visual sequence of her surfing cosmic rays all while Sue is giving birth to her child. They’re only able to shake the Silver Surfer off their tail by luring her into the gravitational pull of a black hole. Sue successfully gives birth and names their child Franklin.
Unfortunately for the Fantastic Four, the residents of Earth-828 turn on the Fantastic Four upon learning that not only does Galactus remain a live threat, but that they could have ended said threat by acquiescing to his demands to turn over the baby. To the citizens, it seems a fair trade, after all. Billions of lives versus one. Sue is being “selfish,” they think. Sue even becomes frustrated with Reed because Reed’s genius, but anxious, brain considers every mathematical possibility to arrive at a solution, and that includes doing the “math” on giving up Franklin. Sue, as magnanimous as ever while also being rousing, tells the public with Franklin in her arms that she will not give up her son to save the earth, but she will also not give up on earth. She repeats a sentiment from her mother about “moving heaven and earth” to save her. That sparks a solution in Reed’s mind. He’s perfected teleportation of an egg; ergo, they simply teleport all of Earth-828 away from Galactus. What is great and beautiful about the execution of the plan is it mobilizes the entire Earth and all of its countries into the same goal of creating the necessary teleportation bridges all over the globe and then coming together to turn off their electricity in order to power the bridges. I sure hope if we faced a similar world-ending threat, we’d act similarly in unison to repel it. There are two flaws I see in the plan, however. First, Reed never tried teleportation on a living being, much less a human. He did it on an egg! Second, the Silver Surfer returns in time to destroy the bridges. Johnny, who succeeded in decoding distress signals from other planets in unknown languages, tries to reason with the Silver Surfer, who he learns is Shalla-Bal and surmises that she sacrificed herself to be Galactus’ herald to spare her own world from destruction. His efforts don’t appear to work.
Now what? Reed reasons the next option is to lure Galactus to Times Square where the remaining teleportation bridge is and teleport it somewhere far, far away from Earth-828. The only problem is the “lure” is Franklin. The Fantastic Four goes along with this plan and it almost works until Galactus scans the area and realizes Franklin was relocated back to Fantastic Four headquarters. Galactus starts rather easily dismantling the offense from the Fantastic Four, including nearly stretching Reed to death on his way to Franklin. In my head, I was expecting the Silver Surfer to have a change of heart and be the difference maker the Fantastic Four needed to repel and teleport Galactus. What I didn’t expect is what happened, the aforementioned all-time comic book movie moment with Sue Storm. Galactus succeeds in nabbing Franklin and is walking away with the little baby cupped in its gigantic hand. Sue Storm goes into absolute mama bear mode and says, not today, Galactus (she said it with her fierce eyes!). Sue Storm by herself — I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it again — uses her force field projectiles to push Galactus into the necessary zone for the teleportation to work hoping Reed is able to rescue Franklin in time. How freaking powerful is she?! Yes, the Thing is strong; yes, Johnny can wield and control fire (although it seems quite the irksome flaw to be depleted so quickly!); and yes, Reed is a stretchy genius. But none of them together could do what Sue did alone. Mama bear! But I was half-right in that the Silver Surfer needed her redemptive arc to finish off Galactus. After Sue was able to push Galactus into the teleportation, Galactus nearly climbs back out, only for the Silver Surfer to sacrifice herself a second time to push it back and teleport away.
For her efforts, though, Sue died. That scene was so rough to watch. Yes, I figured Franklin was about to go all baby cosmic and resurrect her because they weren’t going to kill Sue, but I was in the moment okay! It was giving weepy. After being unable to resuscitate her, Reed sets baby Franklin on Sue’s lifeless body. Franklin brings her back to life. Then, in perhaps the second best part of the film, Franklin does one of those baby half-claps much to my, and my theater’s, delight.
In a mid-credits scene that takes place four years after the events of the film, Sue steps away from Franklin and when she returns, Doctor Doom is interacting with him. Oh shit!
I can’t say enough good things about The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It was delightful and charming, with galactic stakes that managed to feel intimate, and it looked awesome and sounded awesome. My hats off to Michael Giacchino for some catchy music. I also cannot praise Pascal’s anxiety-plagued adaptation of Reed or Kirby’s fierce, empathetic adaptation of Sue enough. A lesser film would have squandered such immense talents. Luckily for us, everyone involved maximized and accentuated what Pascal and Kirby offered to set the course for the MCU still to come. Comic book movies rule, and the DCU before with Superman and the MCU here are proving it. We gravitate to such stories because of the awe-inspiring visuals and heart-pounding stakes, yes, but also because superheroes remind us what it means to be human and do so together on this blue-green rock in the cosmos, Earth-828 or our own. And again, like Superman, First Steps shows that in the miasma of cynicism overtaking our culture, being good, kind, and earnest is the true punk rock — indeed, such traits are truly fantastic.
Milam's Musings 