Fantastic Four: First Steps Review – Marvel’s Most Human Movie Yet

The Marvel Cinematic Universe just got a little more familial, and a little more cosmic. The Fantastic Four: First Steps, opening July 25, introduces Marvel’s First Family into the sprawling, interwoven MCU saga. 

Directed by Matt Shakman (WandaVision), and starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, this is less a superhero spectacle than it is a retrofuturistic family dramedy with jetpacks, bubble cars, planetary peril, and an emotional core rooted in parenthood.

It’s called First Steps for a reason. This isn’t a sprint. It’s a cautious but heartfelt walk into unfamiliar terrain.

Family First, Superheroics Second

There’s a clear creative choice at the heart of First Steps: Focus on characters, not capes. Reed Richards (Pascal) and Sue Storm (Kirby) aren’t just scientists exploring the cosmos, they’re expectant parents. Their dynamic, both fragile and resilient, forms the emotional spine of the film.

And what a surprise it is to see parenting metaphors baked into a Marvel tentpole. Galactus may be on his way to devour Earth, but the film cleverly treats this as the cosmic equivalent of pregnancy. The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) becomes a harbinger not just of doom, but of transformation. 

For Reed and Sue, the planet’s existential threat mirrors their own anticipation, fear, and love. For a genre often short on subtlety, it’s a deft stroke, albeit one the film hammers a bit too hard.

Yet it works. As someone who’s walked those anxious months before a child’s arrival, I felt a surprising pang of recognition amid the super-science and city-leveling stakes.

Fantastic Four First Step Cast Performances

Where First Steps shines brightest is in its ensemble cast:

Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards is all potential energy. He doesn’t stretch far emotionally here, but there’s a tension beneath the calm, a haunted man trying to solve problems that numbers can’t crack. His performance is subdued, sometimes to a fault, but never untrue.

Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm is the film’s breakout. Fierce, intelligent, and often the team’s emotional anchor, Kirby plays Sue as both mother and warrior. One action sequence while she’s in labor might be the most quietly badass moment Marvel has staged in years.

Joseph Quinn’s Johnny Storm brings a roguish charm to the Human Torch, but it’s his connection with the Silver Surfer that gives him a narrative spark. He feels like a character destined for bigger moments ahead.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ben Grimm, or The Thing, delivers pathos with minimal screen time. He’s the glue between characters even when buried in CGI rock, though his arc feels a touch underdeveloped.

What makes them work is chemistry. They feel like a family. Bickering, laughing, leaning on each other, these are real bonds, forged in performance and not just script.

Fantastic Four First Step: What Works, What Doesn’t

There’s a confidence in Shakman’s vision, but also a restraint. First Steps deliberately eschews MCU tropes: Minimal cameos, limited action, no over-reliance on lore. That’s refreshing, until the movie strains under its own thematic ambitions.

Let’s be clear: this is not the Fantastic Four origin story. The film skips the radioactive event, jumps past exposition, and catches you up via an in-world retro-style TV montage. That’s smart. But its pacing sometimes slips, especially in a climactic act that races past logic and spectacle alike.

The action scenes are serviceable, never jaw-dropping. The visuals, full of gleaming chrome and Googie architecture, are imaginative but rarely cinematically thrilling. There’s no “Avengers assemble” moment here, no shot that makes you gasp. And that’s a problem in a superhero movie.

But what does elevate the film is Michael Giacchino’s score. His music gives the film emotional heft when the camera doesn’t. One launch sequence, with the Four blasting into the stars to confront Galactus, soars not because of the visuals, but because the music lifts it off the ground.

Marvel’s Most Relatable Heroes Yet?

There’s something almost anti-climactic about how First Steps lands. It refuses to be the MCU’s next big thing. Instead, it becomes a character study, quietly setting up seeds for what’s next, Secret Wars, Doomsday, whatever Phase 6 has in store.

That may frustrate fans looking for spectacle or major crossover teases. But there’s something admirable in its smaller, more intimate scope. First Steps dares to be about flawed, anxious, loving people, before it’s about power sets and cosmic destruction.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a thoughtful, often touching first chapter. It lacks the fireworks some may expect, but delivers real character, real emotion, and a clear identity within a franchise that’s too often lost in its own continuity.

It may not blow up planets, but it lays a solid foundation for Marvel’s First Family to finally shine in the MCU.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3 out of 5 stars)

FAQs