You’ve never read the comics, never watched their older movies or cartoons, but you keep coming across promotional material for Fantastic Four online, and you wonder, is that a band? A dance crew? Here’s a crash course before we get into the new film.
The Fantastic Four were Marvel’s first superhero team. Four regular people, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm, go to space, get hit with cosmic radiation, and come back with powers. Reed becomes Mr Fantastic and can stretch like rubber.
Sue becomes the Invisible Woman and generates force fields. Johnny becomes the Human Torch; he can fly, shoot fire, and turn himself into a literal flame. Ben becomes the Thing; he is super strong, with skin made of rock.
The biggest difference from other superheroes? They don’t hide behind masks. They’re more like celebrity explorers than vigilantes. Their main villain is Doctor Doom, a dictator-sorcerer with a personal grudge against Reed.
Their biggest, literal, threat is Galactus, a cosmic god who eats planets, and his herald, the Silver Surfer, a noble man or woman turned messenger of destruction who eventually rebels.
Now, the new movie.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is Marvel’s latest take, directed by Matt Shakman and starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn. It places the Four in a stylised, retro-futuristic 1960s alternate universe, and that’s the film’s biggest strength.
Visually, this movie is driven by creativity and imagination. The retro-futuristic design, the tech, costumes, and pop-art style make it stand out from every other comic book film. Even the Marvel logo gets a stylish retouch. It’s concept art in motion.
Once it heads to space, it leans into full-blown science fiction, wormholes, black holes, and visual effects that look incredible on a big screen. Galactus’ intro is terrifying. The use of shadows, sound, and sheer scale made me feel small.
The performances are great Pedro Pascal plays Reed with a kind of quiet focus, toned down while Vanessa Kirby brings some edge to Sue without overdoing it. Johnny by far was the most interesting, he gives much more than you would expect personality wise, and Joseph Quinn looks like he was having a lot of fun.
Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm feels grounded, the design is comic accurate and though he is all rocks, his personality is able to shine through all that. The team and family dynamic actually works, something that fans have been asking for for years.
The film also has a few nice moments outside the action. There’s a bit of world-building that makes their version of New York feel a little different. The music leans into old sci-fi sounds, which fits the setting. They also took a villian like Mole Man in a very interesting direction.
But it’s not perfect. For comic fans, the story feels familiar and shallow. This Silver Surfer looks great but lacks the depth of the 2007 version. Reed Richards is weirdly muted, uncertain, passive—not the sharp leader he should be. The third act feels rushed, and some CGI—particularly Galactus and the child—falls short.
Still, I’d recommend First Steps for the visuals alone. It’s imaginative, bold, strange, and stunning. It's flawed, but one of Marvel’s best-looking films in years.
