The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the best Fantastic Four adaptation to date, even though the movie mostly works as a promising starting point for future MCU entries.

What comes next is a montage of Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal, of Eddington), Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby, of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning), Ben Grimm / The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bacharach, of The Bear) and Johnny Storm / The Human Torch (Joseph Quinn, of Stranger Things) before and after they acquired their powers, and that’s all we need to be invested in this tale.

Previous adaptations – 2005’s Fantastic Four, its 2007 sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer, and the 2015 remake – were defined by stilted dialogue, clichéd characterization, and superpowers that came in handy for grabbing things, flirting, or navigating through crowds undetected, but not so much during battle scenes. Here, we don’t even need to see the powers to immediately like these characters; our heroes are all well-rounded human beings with distinct personalities, and the gorgeous, incredibly detailed world building has the 1960s unfold all around us, making us even more immersed in the story.

It also helps that the powers themselves are a lot cooler than what we’ve seen before. Reed’s stretches don’t feel awkward, as they’re done in a more realistic way than in previous iterations, while Sue’s force fields and invisibility – which can be achieved without her needing to undress, in a welcome change from the 2005 and 2007 films – are both beautifully rendered. Johnny does a lot more than just throwing fire punches around like in previous entries, which makes battle scenes much more exciting, and Ben’s super-strength and physical appearance have been hugely improved too, often leading to endearing or comedic scenes that achieve the desired effect.

Plot-wise, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is faithful to the comics, for better or worse. Sue and Reed have just found out that they’re expecting a baby, but they barely have time to celebrate before an alien arrives to announce the imminent destruction of the Earth, and it’s up to them to save the planet. The alien is the Silver Surfer, here played by a superb Julia Garner, and her master is Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a cosmic entity who consumes planets for sustenance. And so begins a quest to save humanity that will be further complicated by Sue’s pregnancy, the public opinion’s ever-changing perception of the team, and Galactus’ unlimited power and unclear intentions.

The synopsis, alone, might sound intriguing, but you’ll pretty much be able to predict everything that happens in the film, and it isn’t much. I don’t fully blame the movie for this, as the comics weren’t exactly revolutionary for their storytelling, but the lack of context on Galactus’ history and motivations – not to mention the role that Reed and Sue’s son will have in the franchise – doesn’t help make The Fantastic Four: First Steps as gripping as it could have been.

Especially in the second half of the movie, it feels like a relatively small chunk of the story was stretched out so that the film could end at the most convenient moment for it to continue in Avengers: Doomsday. This is in line with the MCU’s usual approach, and at least the film is predictable but never boring, but it’s still a shame, particularly for those who aren’t familiar with the comics, as they will definitely leave the screening with some questions.

Another aspect of the film that didn’t fully convince me is the character of Johnny Storm / The Human Torch. While the other three team members have plenty of moments that showcase their personality and make their dynamics more complex, it feels like Johnny isn’t given as many moments to really show us who he is as a character.

Joseph Quinn is a fantastic actor and he does his best at putting his own spin on the character: where Chris Evans’ Johnny in the 2005-2007 films was an immature, arrogant boy who often bullied his friends and mostly used his powers to show off, Quinn’s Human Torch is a resourceful young man who can do more than light things on fire, and whose witty one-liners, especially those involving the Silver Surfer, make him both funny and charming. Yet, despite all this, he still feels underdeveloped compared to the other three, and I hope Quinn is given more time to shine in Doomsday.

The other cast members are fantastic. Ebon Moss-Bachrach rises to the challenge of playing a CGI character and makes The Thing his own even if we only see Moss-Bachrach’s real face once or twice throughout the whole film. There’s a sweet subplot revolving around Ben and a school teacher (the wonderful Natasha Lyonne) that works so much better than previous attempts at romance involving the character, and it’s thanks in no small part to the two actors’ flawless chemistry. But more than that, Moss-Bachrach’s fantastic physical and voice acting imbues the character with personality in everything he does, from action scenes to banter with his co-stars.

Unsurprisingly, Pedro Pascal is superb. The The Last of Us star makes the character his own to the point that it’s easy to forget that anyone else has ever played him before. Reed is the natural leader of the team, and Pascal gives him such charisma and emotion that he demands your attention at all times. Still, this is absolutely Vanessa Kirby‘s show. No matter how ridiculous the story may get – and some of her scenes are so unrealistic to be borderline laughable – Kirby grounds her character with an incredible performance that gets us invested in Sue’s actions and makes us genuinely care about her. Even with such a predictable narrative, Kirby is one of the reasons why the film still manages to be compelling.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps has its flaws, but it’s overall a success, even more so if one thinks back at how underwhelming most recent pre-Thunderbolts MCU entries have been. There is so much to discover about the team that First Steps doesn’t cover, and I am genuinely excited to find out how it will all be revealed in Avengers: Doomsday. Phase 6 of the MCU starts in a promising way that has the potential to restore the kind of Marvel storytelling we’ve been craving since Endgame.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be released in UK & Irish cinemas on July 24, 2025, in US theatres on July 25, and globally in theaters from July 23.