Mild spoilers for “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” ahead.
“Welcome to the MCU, by the way,” said Deadpool in 2024’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” to the other titular character. “You’re joining at a bit of a low point.”
He wasn’t wrong. Since 2019’s epic conclusion, “Avengers: Endgame,” the Marvel Cinematic Universe has felt a bit like a truck driving very confidently to nowhere in particular. That’s why the promise of “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” that it would be the MCU’s first completely standalone film since it was set in another universe, was so exciting— a unique style and fresh tone might shake up the MCU in exactly the way it needed.
Luckily, this film delivered on that promise. In the best way, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” feels more like a classic film than a modern blockbuster.
The production design by Kasra Farahani, who also worked on 2021’s “Loki” series on DIsney+, is stunning. He told the New York Times that his goal was to “(take) the fantasy of all these superheroes and (create) a world that seems plausible and relatable to ours,” which is exactly what he did.
The Baxter Building, the team’s home and headquarters, looks so perfectly retro-futuristic, and the interior design blends a TWA-inspired midcentury approach with a 60s-ification of the classic Marvel staples— like the NASA-inspired control consoles, audio transmissions being burned to records and the kind of voice activation that predictions of the future made at the time really expected. This version of New York City, a reinvention of a classic Marvel location, feels like a comic panel come to life. Specifically, filling Times Square with giant analog screens instead of the video billboards Times Square has in real life was a genius decision.
The visual style of this film is on point, feeling both period and contemporary at the same time. Jess Hall’s cinematography is beautiful, with standout lighting and shot composition that the saturated and film-esque color grading brings further to life. The visual effects of this film also look tremendously realistic and ground the more fantastical (no pun intended) elements. Johnny Storm’s fire effects look remarkable, using lens distortion and flaring to create a very distinct style, and the explosion that announced the arrival of Herald was gorgeous. Sue Storm’s invisibility facts, achieved with 60’s-era chromatic aberration effects, along with Reed Richards’ stretchy powers, both feel somehow like practical effects, despite their inability to be so. The Thing, in particular, looks very realistic. A scene where he pulls a boat through the water— water is a particularly hard effect to convincingly pull off— was astounding. Overall, the effects work because they feel grounded and tactile, something often missing from modern films.
The film also occasionally, both in diegetic segments and in montage sequences, leans into 60s-era filming and editing styles, which adds so much visual flair. An in-universe ABC newsreel video felt spot-on to the era and did a good job of unloading a lot of exposition without feeling like it. The brief cartoon and “Fantastic Science” educational show segments work perfectly in the world of the film, and the montages blend actual vintage footage with new shots to further cement this style.
The costumes, designed by Alexandra Byrne, felt unique and stylish, while still feeling specific to each character and like something they would have chosen themselves— specifically, this movie’s sweater game is very strong.
Michael Giacchino, composer behind “Lost,” “Ratatouille,” “The Batman” and many more, writes the score for this film. Arguably, Giacchino’s biggest strength is his ability to bend his style to match the piece he’s writing for, and this project is no different. His score feels retro, hopeful and triumphant, but just as quickly can become unrelentingly distressing. The choral elements layered throughout take it to the next level.
None of that style is worth anything, though, if the story doesn’t deliver. In this film, it more than delivers.
The movie opens with a scene of Reed Richards, the world’s smartest man, looking hopelessly for something he seemed to misplace, which is the exact kind of humanizing moment the MCU often lacks.
All of the characters feel unique, well-developed and exceptionally well-cast. Johnny Storm’s bravado mixed with heart makes him immediately clear as a character and contrasts well with Reed Richards, who director Matt Shakman called “Oppenheimer meets Einstein meets Steve Jobs.” Ever-present leading man Pedro Pascal plays Reed with the perfect combination of warmth mixed with intellectual genius and the social instability that often comes with it. Sue Storm, in addition to having a complex marital relationship with Reed, gets to shine as a talented diplomatic presence and an incredibly strong force. The Thing is given less to do, but feels like the team’s straight man, grounding them in a sense of humanity and vulnerability.
The dynamic between these characters feels very genuine and optimistic. It’s sarcastic, but steeped in genuine love. Their banter is genuinely funny and avoids the Marvel of it all. They’re telling jokes to each other like people do, not to the audience like characters do.
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” with its parallel universe, has a history and a lived-in world. Refreshingly, it also features a public that actually likes superheroes, which is an underused dynamic. They briefly turn on the Fantastic Four when they fail to save the world from the imposing Galactus, but the film moves on before it falls into trope territory.
Occasionally, the movie falls into familiar sci-fi tropes— but those are mostly inevitable in a superhero movie, and they don’t take up too much screentime. For most of the film, the characters drive the conflict and create emotional investment from the audience. Before Galactus arrives or a single punch lands, the stakes still feel uniquely high. The possible end of the world and the birth of a child are given the same weight— in different ways, they’re equally important. The tone shifts when the Fantastic Four first encounter Galactus, though, which is perfect. It melts seamlessly into danger while still being surprising, grounded by optimism and heart.
Galactus and Herald fill the roles of the antagonist here. Following the Jaws rule— it’s always scarier when you don’t see anything— this film leans into silence and a tense atmosphere to create genuinely scary villains, because of how calm they remain. Galactus has enormous scale, masterfully shown just by the way he compares to the size of the city, and immense power through how badly he overpowers the otherwise confident team. In a movie where the Fantastic Four don’t get a lot done with their powers, they still seem powerful— Galactus is just stronger.
Crucially, all the events in this movie feel organic and created by the characters, instead of the invisible hand of the writer. The conflict is both global and personal, which makes it a science and problem-solving movie, instead of just a fighting-based superhero movie. Galactus is the perfect villain for this film because he’s too big to fight and has to be out-problem-solved.
The heroes primarily use their powers for reasons other than fighting, but they do use them— they just prioritize nonviolent uses for their powers and de-escalation instead over combat.
This is a deeply human movie. When, despite Galactus’ demand, the Fantastic family refuses to sacrifice their child, citizens begin to turn on them. He gets cut off, but a TV commentator begins to suggest on-air that it’s a selfish decision, since sacrificing one life to save the world is worth it— bringing to mind Captain America’s infamous “one life is too many” philosophy.
“Four years ago, we were dreamers. Back then, the unknown meant adventure and mystery and discovery,” Reed said at a press conference before the team set off into the face of danger. “What we learned is that the unknown also meant fear and profound, radical change.”
In times of crisis— of profound, radical change— people need a leader. What makes the Fantastic Four such good leaders and good protagonists for a movie is that it’s not their superpowers that make them so. It’s their humanity. They’re good people and they’d do good work, even without their superpowers.
During a television broadcast midway through the movie, a news anchor quotes Margaret Mead in saying, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.”
That quote goes on to say that a group of citizens can change the world because “indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
In an increasingly tired landscape of superhero movies that seem to forget that people are why we come to movies, this one takes the bold action of having a heart, and it’s all the better for it.
“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is now playing in theaters.
