THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS – What Could Have Been SPOILERS

There might not be a movie I went into with more trepidation than Fantastic Four. After all, it is Marvel’s first family, and it has huge expectations—not only from an IP point of view, but also because it carries the pressure of starting Phase 6 when the MCU is in financial disarray.

Here are some immediate positives to call out:

1. No "Joss Whedonism" dialogue is present.
2. This is a self-contained story that doesn’t require you to watch anything beforehand.
3. The male characters aren’t stomped on by their female counterparts.
4. The score is excellent.
5. The 60’s inspired retro setting works.
6. The CGI is high quality.
7. The rumors of progressive elements are mostly exaggerated.

The first ten minutes of the movie, establish the FF in this world. We get some world-building, some family dynamic, and an understanding of how Earth-828 is different from 616. The FF are more than just heroes—they are essential—even showing Sue in a diplomatic role with other world leaders (Latveria’s seat is noticeably absent). Sue discovers she is pregnant, and this kicks the plot off.

Vanessa Kirby is fine as Sue, and although I can’t say Pedro Pascal doesn’t do his job, I’m still not sold on his Reed. We don’t see Reed use his powers much, and what we do see is mostly for navigation. This Reed does have the quirky scientist vibe, but there’s a lack of presence for me. He is the leader of the team; however, Sue is the glue that keeps everything together. Most of the time this works, but the dynamic of the cast was off at times, and Reed is filled with way too much angst, indecision, or confidence all movie for me.

Joseph Quinn turns in a better-than-expected Johnny. He’s given more to do here, even serving as a cryptographer resolving a subplot to decipher Silver Surfer’s native language in an effort to find a strategy to defeat Galactus.

Ben doesn’t fare as well. Sure, the CGI is good, but he’s depicted as having already gotten over blaming Reed for the accident, and we only get a few glimpses of his internal struggle with it. I imagine there just wasn’t much to do with a guy who punches everything in a film that isn’t revolved around superhero action.

Speaking of which—this is less a superhero movie and more like a Godzilla flick. It has similar beats: there’s this serious, impending doom of Galactus coming to destroy the Earth while everyone kind of prepares for it. Once the Silver Surfer shows up, the FF are able to track Galactus to try and intercept him. Upon arriving, they know they are immediately outmatched as they witness the world-eating power of the Devourer. After a brief introduction, Galactus senses the Power Cosmic within Franklin and offers to spare the Earth as Franklin can remove or replace Galactus’s curse.

When talks fall apart, Galactus induces labor in Sue and the FF frantically escape with the Surfer in pursuit. This all works. There is real tension. They end up trapping the Silver Surfer, which buys them time to get back to Earth. My only critique here is—I wanted more. I wanted to understand Galactus better:

1. Who is he?
2. Why does he have this curse?
3. How does the Power Cosmic work within the MCU?
4. Why does the smartest guy on Earth bring his pregnant wife to fight a mega-god who eats planets? (I suppose the plot needed to happen somehow.)

Immediately upon return, for whatever reason, Reed decides to tell the planet that they won’t sacrifice Franklin to save it. This sets up a conflict that I wish had lasted until the movie’s end. The world turns on the FF while Reed theorizes he can use the teleportation invention from earlier in the film to teleport the Earth and hide it from Galactus. This uses “The Bridge” technology from the comics, which could have implications in Doomsday, but for now serves a purpose—if the FF can convince the world’s nations to help build it at a large enough scale.

After Sue convinces the planet to band together “as a family,” ending the world-vs.-FF plot, the revelation of Shalla-Bal’s origin is used against her by Johnny in an attempt to convince her to help fight Galactus. The film moves into the third act, and Reed’s plan falls apart when the Surfer destroys all the teleportation bridges—well, except one.

Using Franklin as bait, the FF shift strategies to lure Galactus into the bridge and teleport him to the far edge of space. Galactus gets wise to this and instead heads for the Baxter Building after Johnny switches Franklin with a decoy. Each member of the FF gets their licks in—sort of—and Sue goes god-mode and 1v1s Galactus, pushing him into the portal. It’s still not enough, and Johnny offers himself as a sacrifice for the final push. As he makes his way toward Galactus, Rose Tico—er, Shalla-Bal—swoops in and delivers the final blow. The drain is too much for Sue, though, and she dies. But Ben Solo—er, Franklin—has other plans, and Rey—er, Sue—returns to the living.

Cheeky review aside, the first two-thirds of this movie are really good, but these consequence-destroying moments hurt the film. It would have been interesting for Johnny to be stuck at the edge of space with Galactus, or for Sue to have died and the others forced to go on without her. That would’ve provided real character growth opportunities—which we don’t get much of here.

Yes, the FF are all written well, but they end the film similarly to where they began. The movie is heavy on plot, not so much on character-defining moments.

The third act comes back to haunt Marvel again, and a number of decisions Shakman makes contribute. We never get fully fleshed-out antagonists, leaving me with the conclusion that the decision to swap Norrin for Shalla-Bal was made in a boardroom. At first, I thought they were going the love story route with Johnny, but that is quickly dropped. We get a flashback scene that kind of backfires (for me): Shalla-Bal is a single mother, and there isn’t even a mention of Norrin. The open-minded side of me thought they were setting up a maternal connection between her and Sue, which could have swayed Shalla-Bal to turn against her master. None of that happens. And since Shalla-Bal joins Galactus, it’s safe to assume that if we see him again, she’ll be with him.

This is my bias talking, but as a longtime Surfer fan, this is more than disappointing.

The same can be said about Galactus to a degree. The movie makes the point that luring him from his ship makes him weaker—but he’s… Galactus. He doesn’t use any powers to combat Sue; he just lumbers around. For as long as Feige has drooled over the character, they nerfed him into nothing more than a big kaiju.

It might sound like I didn’t like this film. It’s the opposite. I’m being hard on it because instead of being good, it could have been great. In my Superman review (which you can read here, I threw cold water on the progressive elements being reported, so I have to be fair here. It’s hard for me to distinguish between progressive and the Marvel formula. In other words, I don’t want my bias to start “woke hunting.” I just want to enjoy the movie—which I did. Shalla-Bal just didn’t work for me because there is no story reason provided to justify the change. Like I always say, it’s the writing.

It’s the same with the ending. Either Sue is way stronger in the MCU (which is not established in the film), or Galactus is significantly less powerful. Either way, since it’s not clear in the script, my opinion remains unchanged.

Marvel, if you're going to materially change characters I love, you have to sell it to me. I can handle changes that serve the story—but if they feel like they were communicated in a boardroom presentation, I'm going to call you out. I'm going to challenge you to convince me by writing better stories—and maybe you're starting to.

The characters are fairly balanced, all chip in, and none really outshine the others until the third act. The film portrays the nuclear family in a very positive way—something Hollywood has struggled with over the last decade. This refreshing take on traditional family values should be rewarded, despite Marvel not fully indulging its worst impulses—even if limited here. Let’s see what the Russos do with it.

I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.