THE STORY – Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, the Fantastic Four must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer.
THE CAST – Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner, Ralph Ineson, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser & Sarah Niles
THE TEAM – Matt Shakman (Director), Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Ian Springer & Jeff Kaplan (Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 115 Minutes
When “Game Of Thrones” director Matt Shakman first signed on as showrunner for “WandaVision,” even he likely never imagined he would end up in such a pivotal position, helping cement Marvel Studios’ influence on the cultural zeitgeist of the 2020s. The series, which ushered in the Disney+ era of superhero content, received an overall warm response and succeeded in drawing significant attention to Disney’s streaming ambitions while earning recognition from the Television Academy. This success was enough for Marvel Studios President and powerhouse producer Kevin Feige to hand Shakman the keys to one of Marvel’s most notoriously challenging franchises: “The Fantastic Four.” Bringing Marvel’s First Family to life remains a Herculean task, as directors like Tim Story and Josh Trank have already taken swings at it over the past few years, attempting what many deem impossible: making a “Fantastic Four” movie that’s genuinely watchable. To Story’s credit, his films have begun to undergo a phase of online reevaluation, as adults who grew up with them in the early 2000s revisit them with nostalgia for the practicality those superhero films possessed, something that many feel has been lost since then. Whatever choices Shakman makes with his version of these characters, it doesn’t take much to rise above his predecessors.
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” wastes no time distinguishing itself, not only from earlier “Fantastic Four” films but from every other entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shakman implements a hard reset, dropping audiences straight into Earth-828 in the 1960s, a universe where the Fantastic Four are the planet’s sole protectors (no crossover Marvel meetups here). In the four years since the brilliant Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), her brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) returned from a disastrous space expedition, they have become celebrities; astronauts transformed by cosmic rays into superpowered figures who hold influence politically, scientifically, and culturally. Reed has the power to stretch, Sue can generate force fields and turn invisible, Johnny can control fire and fly, and Ben’s skin was transformed into a layer of orange rock, granting him superhuman strength and durability. Whatever challenges this family faces, they find ways to solve them together, even now, as they prepare for their greatest tests yet: the arrival of Reed and Sue’s first child, Franklin, and the looming threat of planetary destruction by the Devourer of Worlds himself, the hundreds of feet tall Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his herald, Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner), otherwise known as the the Silver Surfer.
It’s not saying much, but this is by far the best-directed “Fantastic Four” film to date. The retrofuturistic aesthetic Shakman employs throughout makes “First Steps” one of the more technically polished MCU entries in recent years. Kasra Farahani’s production design and Alexandra Byrne’s costuming complement the practical feel of the sets, giving the performers far more to engage with than the standard green-screen backdrops of the MCU. Academy Award winner Michael Giacchino’s score is exceptional, delivering an anthemic, hummable theme for the opening credits and a tender undercurrent for the film’s quieter moments. Giacchino could have coasted here, yet instead he overdelivers, creating a theme that feels destined to be synonymous with these characters for many years. Still, for all of Shakman’s inspired creative swings, his limitations as a feature director emerge as “First Steps” moves past its striking ’60s montage opening and we uncover that beneath the crafted style lies a hollow core that the MCU is still desperately trying to shake off.
“First Steps” stands as a well-made spectacle whose craftsmanship too often masks its flaws. Its attempt to emulate the charm of a 1960s sci-fi adventure only partly succeeds, as it is undercut by the modern blockbuster machinery that inevitably reasserts itself. Cinematographer Jess Hall’s work varies in quality, sometimes brilliantly supporting the retro world-building, yet at other moments assembling shots that feel jarringly disconnected from the aesthetic the film wants to emulate. Narratively, something feels missing. Much of what unfolds here is indistinguishable from the Marvel formula audiences have seen countless times before. Interesting threads about the parental instinct to shape the world for one’s child, and the futility of trying to control everything, occasionally surface, mainly through the tensions between the practically driven Reed and the emotionally driven Sue. However, much of the supporting material feels rushed and underdeveloped, offering characters tasks to complete rather than genuine character arcs.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm, also known as The Thing, is a prime example: his performance is reliable, yet the script barely explores the isolation and tragedy of his condition. Instead, Ben mostly yearns for a local teacher and Yancy Street resident (Natasha Lyonne) and exchanges banter with Quinn’s Johnny Storm. Quinn brings lively energy to Johnny, though the role gives him little beyond playfully flirting with Julia Garner’s Shalla-Bal. Garner, too, drifts through the film as an underwritten presence, even if her cosmic chase sequences, including surfing along a black hole’s ridge, deliver some striking imagery. Ralph Ineson joins the long line of MCU villains whose memorable voice cannot compensate for a generic, underwhelming threat that we’ve seen countless times before.
At its core, this is Reed and Sue’s film. They are the characters most deeply tied to Galactus’s threat and receive the most whole development. Academy Award-nominee Vanessa Kirby gives the strongest performance among the leads, anchoring Sue’s emotional journey through motherhood with conviction. Her chemistry with Pedro Pascal sells their dynamic as both partners and parents. Pascal brings a fitting edge of neurosis to Reed Richards, the world’s most intelligent man, and while this isn’t his standout work of what has been a mightily impressive 2025, the groundwork is there for future films to build on. Ironically, the movie’s best moments often have little to do with superheroics; the family’s quippy zingers and interpersonal friction bring the story to life more than the action set pieces, which are fine at best and rarely make imaginative use of the characters’ powers. Even the final showdown between the Four and Galactus in an evacuated New York City struggles to embrace the playful absurdity that Story’s 2000s films, for all their flaws, handled with surprising success. Seeing Reed scribble equations while cosmic threats loom feels like a missed opportunity for more inventive storytelling. The ventures into space, while stunningly displayed in IMAX, also have a feeling of repetitiveness brought on by fond memories of better movies that have done this kind of work before.
Much of the trademark MCU humor lands with mixed success. The cast works hard to make it feel fresh, but only the occasional quip from Moss-Bachrach and a very humorous car seat gag at the end of the film stand out. Thankfully, Shakman avoids references to obscure Disney+ lore, allowing “First Steps” to stand mostly on its own. Yet this remains exactly what many cynics expected: a slickly packaged period film that eventually surrenders to the usual superhero routine. It’s unlikely to silence skeptics or fuel any genuine “Marvel is back” revival. The film struggles to match the fleeting impact of “Thunderbolts*” from earlier this year, which left a minimal cultural footprint. Still, Shakman ensures there is enough intrigue to keep audiences curious about where the Fantastic Four go next, largely thanks to the strength of its four leads, who stretch as far as they can to hold the film together. Strip away the setting and the stylistic opportunities that benefit these four characters and their first step of a film, and what are we left with? I suppose we’ll find out if the magic I feel to be artificial endures once they leave this retro bubble and enter the broader MCU for “Avengers: Doomsday,” coming to theaters in 2026.
