We recently asked ComicBookMovie.com's readers to let us know how they felt about Marvel Studios and director Matt Shakman's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and the results are in.
1346 of you voted, and - just like the results of our Superman poll - the majority of you went with the most positive option, "Fantastic, 5/5," continuing all the way down to the most negative choice, which got just 2% of the votes.
While James Gunn's DCU reboot certainly had its share of detractors, First Steps seems to have been embraced by the majority of fans. Critics were also won over, and the movie is currently sitting at 87% on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, Marvel's First Family's latest big-screen outing doesn't seem to have resonated with general audiences to the same extent.
After a strong debut, The Fantastic Four suffered a significant second-weekend drop (down almost 80% from its opening day), and may struggle in North America going forward. International numbers have been a little more consistent, however, and the movie recently passed $350 million worldwide (it's expected to finish its global box office run with around $570M).
Not the massive hit Marvel/Disney will have been hoping for, but it should still (just about) clear a profit for the studio.
PollMaker
First Steps stars Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things, A Quiet Place Day One) as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Punisher, The Bear) as Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, and Julia Garner (Wolf Man, Ozark) as the Silver Surfer.
Ralph Ineson plays Galactus, and Natasha Lyonne and Paul Walter Hauser are also on board in undisclosed roles. John Malkovich's Red Ghost has been cut from the movie.
"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), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) 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."
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is now in theaters.