THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Hailed As "Visual Spectacle; Sue Storm Is Perfect" In First Reactions

THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS Hailed As "Visual Spectacle; Sue Storm Is Perfect" In First Reactions

The social media embargo for The Fantastic Four: First Steps has lifted early and the early word is exceedingly positive as early viewers are hailing it as one of Marvel's best and a visual spectacle!

By RohanPatel - Jul 18, 2025 10:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Fantastic Four

Ahead of its world premiere on Monday night, Marvel Studios has lifted the social media embargo for The Fantastic Four: First Steps a little early and it sounds like the early word is exceedingly positive as early viewers are hailing it as a visually stunning spectacle and one of Marvel's best films, with Vanessa Kirby stealing the show as Sue Storm. 

While some viewers have taken issue with the film’s story — describing it as either simplistic or nonsensical — it seems director Matt Shakman has successfully nailed the characters, with Marvel’s First Family receiving high praise all across the board. Early word also suggests that both Galactus and the Silver Surfer are poised to become instant fan favorites.

With just under a week to go, early box office tracking projects an opening in the $100 million to $110 million range — a strong start, well ahead of Thunderbolts* ($74.3M) and Captain America: Brave New World ($88.8M), though just shy of Superman ($125M).

Marvel Studios is counting on big things from their final release of the year, and signs point to a stellar international run. Meanwhile, buzz is already building as fans gear up for a likely first look at Avengers: Doomsday in the film’s post-credits scene.

The red carpet world premiere will be held on Monday night, and if a live stream is provided, you can check back into CBM to watch along with your fellow users. Excelsior! 

The cast features Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us; The Mandalorian), Vanessa Kirby (The Crown; Mission: Impossible – Fallout), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear; The Punisher), Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things; Catherine the Great), Ralph Ineson (The Witch; The Green Knight), Julia Garner (Ozark; Inventing Anna), Natasha Lyonne (Russian Doll; Poker Face), Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell; Black Bird), Sarah Niles (Ted Lasso; I May Destroy You), and Mark Gatiss (Sherlock; Doctor Who).

Matt Shakman (WandaVision; Game of Thrones) helmed the feature, with a screenplay from Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25! 

Check out the first batch of social media reactions below:


Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

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HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 7/18/2025, 10:22 PM
So... all the same people who said all the same thing about Blunderbolts?

How did that work out for that movie?

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SuperiorHeckler
SuperiorHeckler - 7/18/2025, 10:49 PM
@HistoryofMatt - Josh had his gushing, praising, panty-creaming love-letter review of this movie already typed-out and waiting to upload for about a month now. 🫤
DarkeyeZ
DarkeyeZ - 7/18/2025, 11:10 PM
@HistoryofMatt - Thunderbolts was a VERY good movie. I'm not sure why online losers always resort to pocket watching the box office or need critics to tell them if a movie is good, but I went to the theatre, enjoyed the movie, and everyone I spoke to outside of keyboard warriors liked it also. so...I'd say the movie worked out good.
Until Marvel or DC starts paying me, I don't give a damn about the Box office and people who track the box office to see if a movie is good are weird.
Wahhvacado
Wahhvacado - 7/18/2025, 11:23 PM
@DarkeyeZ - Agreed, I found the film to be a lot of fun
dragon316
dragon316 - 7/18/2025, 11:31 PM
@HistoryofMatt - transformers one where these people part of it ? I don’t read trust reviews movie scores
HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 7/19/2025, 12:13 AM
@DarkeyeZ - User Comment Image
Yetiman
Yetiman - 7/19/2025, 12:41 AM
@DarkeyeZ - I usually go by audience score
XKnight
XKnight - 7/19/2025, 2:07 AM
@HistoryofMatt - you mean the same people who also said the same thing about SUPERMAN.
LoudLon
LoudLon - 7/19/2025, 9:23 AM
@DarkeyeZ - There are those who equate whether a movie is good or not with how successful it was at the box office. They either fail or refuse to recognize that there have been great movies that tanked financially, just as there have been crap movies that were smash hits.

For example, Carpenter's The Thing was a box office failure, but is now considered an all-time classic and one of the best horror films ever made. Meanwhile, Batman & Robin made huge bank but was an objectively terrible movie, and now is little more than a punchline.

But, you know. People.
HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 7/19/2025, 10:18 AM
@LoudLon - Why lie when it's easily verifiable? Batman & Robin didn't make "huge bank." It made $100M less than Batman Forever and cost about $50M more to make before marketing. It was a giant box office bomb losing WB over $200M dollars, if not more.
LoudLon
LoudLon - 7/19/2025, 4:51 PM
@HistoryofMatt - Didn't lie. Googled it, said it made 240 mil on a budget of 125 mil. That's a success, or at least it was back then, before a movie was only considered a blockbuster if it made over a bil.
HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 7/19/2025, 5:18 PM
@LoudLon - No, it's not. It didn't make its money back. It LOST money.

How can it be, at this point, people still don't understand that films have to make double their all-in cost (budget plus marketing) to just break even?
LoudLon
LoudLon - 7/19/2025, 6:36 PM
@HistoryofMatt - Only in a modern culture where a film has to make half a bil to be considered a hit does a profit of 120 million mean a movie is a failure. In 1997, Batman & Robin may have been considered a minor disappointment financially, but only because it didn't break 300 mil. It still made a lot of money comparatively.

Let's compare it, then, to a movie that was considered a massive financial success: Scream. Scream made 100 mil against a budget of 15, for a profit of 85 mil.

Yeah, B&R had a larger budget, 125 mil, and made barely more than twice that compared to Scream make over six times its budget back -- BUT IT STILL MADE 120 MILLION IN PROFIT.

But since that's not a good enough argument for you, go ahead and look up any number of Michael Bay movies for examples of terrible movies that made a butt-ton of money, but are held in nowhere near as high regard as a movie like The Thing. Or don't. You can keep nit-picking, but I've said my piece.
HistoryofMatt
HistoryofMatt - 7/19/2025, 9:08 PM
@LoudLon - It didn't make money. Good Lord. Movie theaters don't show movies for free. Between domestic and international film distributors, the studio only gets about 50% of the money made.

HOW DO YOU STLL NOT UNDERSTAND THIS???

The movie cost $150M to make. About $50M for marketing. All-in cost was about $200. That means to break even Batman & Robin had to make $400M.

It only made about $238M. That means Warner Bros. only got back $119M.

IT LOST MONEY. IT WAS A BOX OFFICE BOMB.
blitzburgh
blitzburgh - 7/19/2025, 10:35 PM
@HistoryofMatt - get some new material
blitzburgh
blitzburgh - 7/19/2025, 10:35 PM
@HistoryofMatt - you're an ass
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 7/18/2025, 10:25 PM
Shill reviews until proven otherwise.

This is a marvel movie of the 2020s and it is always smart to temper expectations
Geochili
Geochili - 7/19/2025, 2:10 AM
@vectorsigma - Kinda like how you tempered your expectations for Superman2025 after the DC movies of the 2010s through to 2023?
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 7/19/2025, 2:23 AM
@Geochili - if its not obvious, it has a great director perfect for cbms.

Ill give you a clue, it sounds like chimes bun 😭😭😭😭😭
Geochili
Geochili - 7/19/2025, 3:03 AM
@Geochili - I agree with you about Gunn. But, by that same token you should have no reservations about Avengers Doom's Day and Secret Wars because the Russo Brothers have been shown to be great with CBMs.
Geochili
Geochili - 7/19/2025, 3:11 AM
@vectorsigma - The director of F4 FS is more of an unknown in the CBM world for sure but the trailers have looked like fantastic world building with A-list superheroes.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 7/19/2025, 8:03 AM
@Geochili - And he did direct WandaVision.
Geochili
Geochili - 7/19/2025, 11:35 AM
@ObserverIO - Oh. Right. I keep forgetting that. Thanks.
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 7/19/2025, 12:24 PM
@Geochili - tbh, i dont trust the Russos.

They were succesfull in a time when cbms are in high demand and hype.


I dont think they can replicate that now but lets see.

As for F4, it had great trailers, but marvel is good at that. Remember some great trailers but the actual movie/show are bad. Shakman is unproven but lets see too. Ill be watching this in 4 days
vectorsigma
vectorsigma - 7/19/2025, 12:25 PM
@ObserverIO - i think shakman is more used in tv than films. I enjoyed Monarch. But lets see.
SuperCat
SuperCat - 7/18/2025, 10:25 PM
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TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 7/18/2025, 10:53 PM
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Vigor
Vigor - 7/18/2025, 10:26 PM
"It beats you off and doesn't stop."


Oh...
Ill bring jergens to the theater then I guess
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 7/18/2025, 10:54 PM
@Vigor - User Comment Image
killadeathray
killadeathray - 7/18/2025, 11:07 PM
@Vigor - Sounds well worth the price of admission imo
MyCoolYoung
MyCoolYoung - 7/18/2025, 11:13 PM
@Vigor - dammit I’m late.

I didn’t know this was the porn parody
Canyoublush
Canyoublush - 7/18/2025, 11:25 PM
@Vigor - yeah that was a very poor choice of words. 😆😆
Laridian
Laridian - 7/19/2025, 12:16 AM
@Vigor - They didn't mention you have to buy the special popcorn buckets to get the full experience. lol
Shivermetimbers
Shivermetimbers - 7/19/2025, 1:28 AM
@Vigor - I was sold as soon as I read that reaction
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