Marvel’s so called First Family has finally crash landed in the MCU with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, a film that looks the part and flexes a killer cast, but struggles to feel like it matters.
Set in the chrome drenched optimism of Earth-828 (not our Earth, mind you), First Steps wisely skips the origin story fluff. Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are already beloved heroes, with tech innovations and cosmic weirdness peppering the background like Easter eggs for Redditors. There’s even a baby on the way, with Sue’s pregnancy adding a flicker of personal stakes, until Galactus shows up hungry.
Yes, that Galactus. No more cloud nonsense, this is full blown city sized helmet and world eating vibes, voiced menacingly by Ralph Ineson. Toss in Jennifer Garner’s Silver Surfer and Paul Walter Hauser’s standout turn as Mole Man, and it sounds like a slam dunk.
But somehow, it just… isn’t.
Check out ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ trailer and get your tickets here!:
Despite impressive production design and sharp retro futurist visuals, First Steps feels more like a box ticked than a story told. The stakes are abstract, alternate Earths and multiverse swappability mean no one’s really in danger. Even a promising moral dilemma over sacrificing Reed and Sue’s child to save the planet is brushed aside.
There are things to like: the Thing’s rocky beard, the buzzing cityscape design of Galactus and H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot assistant. Unfortunately they’re fragments, not foundations.
Marvel needed to introduce the Fantastic Four, and they have. If this is the future of the MCU? It’s looking less like a bold new era, and more like a mandatory prequel.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits cinemas July 25, 2025. Proceed with cautious optimism, or skip straight to Avengers: Doomsday.
