When Disney acquired 21st Century Fox in 2019, the plan to expand the Marvel Cinematic Universe with characters like Blade and the X-Men became clear. But the decision to make the Fantastic Four a major part of the MCU raised eyebrows, given the team's rocky history on screen. Now, The Fantastic Four: First Steps proves that Marvel may have finally cracked the code, delivering a visually stunning film that embraces the characters' colorful comic roots.

A Fresh Take on a Classic Team

Fox's earlier attempts — from Tim Story's so-bad-they're-fun films to Josh Trank's drab 2015 reboot — struggled to capture the Fantastic Four's silver-age charm. First Steps breaks that streak by leaning into the retrofuturistic aesthetic of the 1960s, where the team is as famous as the Beatles. Director Matt Shakman uses stylized newsreels to breeze through the origin story, establishing a world where flying cars, AI, and reusable rockets are everyday realities thanks to Reed Richards' super-science.

The film follows Reed (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they navigate life as global icons. Their status comes not just from heroics — like Sue shielding civilians or Johnny extinguishing fires — but from their work at the Future Foundation, a philanthropic organization promoting education and innovation.

Visual Spectacle and Family Dynamics

Comparisons to The Incredibles are inevitable, but First Steps charts its own course. The story revolves around how a new baby changes the team's dynamics, but the real threat comes from space: Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner), the Silver Surfer, warns of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), a cosmic entity who consumes planets. The chase sequence between Johnny and the Surfer is a standout, blending 2001: A Space Odyssey with Gravity in a visually stunning tribute to sci-fi cinema.

“Much of what’s different about First Steps‘ take on its villains boils down to the way Shakman spends time depicting them in strange, fantastical environments out in space.” — Review excerpt

A dark room lit by a single lamp. In the room a roman is standing over a crib above which is a mobile modeled after our solar system. Behind the woman is a man entering a door.

The VFX are polished, with Marvel giving its teams ample time to fine-tune the cosmic set pieces. However, the character interactions sometimes feel stiff, as if the script wasn't fully fleshed out before shooting. The leads deliver solid performances, but their chemistry is slightly off, leaving the dramatic moments feeling wooden.

A Promising but Premature Step into the MCU

First Steps arrives as Marvel tries to recover from a string of underperforming films. While the movie is a refreshing standalone, it's clear that Earth-828 may soon be folded into the mainline MCU for a crossover event that could erase its unique identity. The Fantastic Four are well-suited to become headliners as the studio pivots toward Doctor Doom, but one wonders if this first step is a bit premature.

Still, the film's gorgeous visuals and earnest performances are enough to make it a blast. With a supporting cast including Matthew Wood, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, Paul Walter Hauser, and Natasha Lyonne, The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 25th. It may not reinvent the wheel, but it proves that Marvel is shaking off some bad habits — and that the Fantastic Four finally have a cinematic home worth celebrating.