The Fantastic Four: First Steps finally gets it right after 30 years with multiple failures. By skipping the tired origin story and focusing on what makes these characters special, Marvel finally delivers something that feels genuinely fresh.
In a cool 1960s retro world, the story begins by showing us that four years ago, a group of astronauts went to space and got superpowers from cosmic rays. These four people became the Fantastic Four – Reed Richards who can stretch his body like rubber, Sue Storm who can turn invisible and make force fields, her brother Johnny Storm who can catch fire and fly, and Ben Grimm who looks like he's made of orange rocks and is super strong.
When the movie starts, the Fantastic Four are already famous heroes and everyone loves them. Reed and Sue are married and during a family dinner, they tell Ben and Johnny that they're going to have a baby. Everyone is really excited about this news. But then something scary happens – a shiny silver person flying on what looks like a surfboard appears in the sky and tells everyone on Earth that their planet is going to be destroyed by a giant space monster called Galactus who eats planets for food.
The team decides they need to try to save Earth by talking to Galactus and maybe making a deal with him. They fly their spaceship to where Galactus is, but when they get there, they watch him completely destroy another planet right in front of them, which is really frightening. Then Galactus captures them and makes them an offer that sounds terrible – he says he'll leave Earth alone if Reed and Sue give him their unborn baby, because he can sense the baby has special powers. Of course, the Fantastic Four say absolutely not and escape from Galactus's ship.
While they're flying back to Earth, Sue gives birth to her son Franklin right there in the spaceship. When they get home and try to explain to everyone what happened and that they couldn't make a deal with Galactus, people get really scared and angry. They start blaming the Fantastic Four and saying maybe they should just give up the baby to save everyone else. This makes Sue really upset, but she holds Franklin in her arms and promises everyone that they will find a way to defeat Galactus no matter what.
Reed comes up with a really clever plan using his science knowledge. He builds special bridges that can teleport things across space, and his idea is to move the entire Earth to a safe place far away where Galactus can't find it. Just when they start turning on these teleportation bridges, the Silver Surfer shows up and starts destroying them. Johnny tries to stop her, and because he learned her language, he finds out her real name is Shalla-Bal. She tells him that she didn't want to become Galactus's helper, but she had to do it to save her own planet from being eaten. She feels really bad about leading Galactus to other planets because she has to listen to all the sad voices of the people who are dying.
Since the teleportation plan didn't work, the team comes up with a new idea. They decide to use baby Franklin as bait to trick Galactus into coming to the last teleportation bridge in Times Square, and then they'll send Galactus through the portal instead of Earth. They also ask a underground leader named Harvey Elder to help evacuate all the people in New York to his underground city to keep them safe. But the plan goes wrong and Galactus manages to take Franklin from their headquarters.
This is where the movie gets really intense and exciting. Sue uses all her power to create force fields and tries to push Galactus into the portal while Reed desperately tries to rescue their baby. Sue Is using so much energy that she starts getting really weak and tired. When Johnny sees that Sue might not be strong enough, he decides to sacrifice himself by flying into Galactus to push him through the portal. But just when Johnny is about to do this, Shalla-Bal has a change of heart and decides to help them. She stops Johnny and sacrifices herself instead, pushing Galactus into the portal and saving Earth.
After Galactus disappears into the void, the team finds Sue and she looks like she might be dead from using all her power. Everyone is really sad and scared, but then Reed has an idea. He puts baby Franklin on Sue's chest, and amazingly, Franklin's special powers bring his mom back to life. Everyone is so happy and relieved, and the whole world celebrates the Fantastic Four for saving everyone.
The movie then jumps forward four years later. We see Sue reading a story to Franklin, who is now a little boy, in their home at the Baxter Building. Sue leaves the room for a moment, and when she comes back, she finds a mysterious man in a green cloak talking to Franklin. The man is holding a metal mask in his hand, and even though we don't see his face clearly, we can tell this is probably going to be trouble for the Fantastic Four in future movies.
My Review
Now let me tell you what I thought about this movie. I really enjoyed watching The Fantastic Four: First Steps because it felt fresh and different from other superhero movies. The best thing about it was that it didn't spend a lot of time showing us how the characters got their powers, which we've seen in other Fantastic Four movies before. Instead, it jumped right into an exciting adventure where they're already working as a team and facing a really big threat.
The 1960s setting was absolutely fantastic and made everything look really cool and stylish. All the costumes, cars, and buildings looked like they came from a retro science fiction movie, but in the best possible way. It felt like watching what people in the 1960s thought the future would look like, with flying cars and amazing technology everywhere. The colors were bright and cheerful, which made the movie fun to watch even when scary things were happening.
Pedro Pascal was excellent as Reed Richards, and he made the character feel really smart and caring at the same time. Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm was also great, especially in the scenes where she was protecting her family. You could really feel how much she loved Franklin and how determined she was to keep him safe. Joseph Quinn made Johnny Storm funny and brave, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach did an amazing job as Ben Grimm even though we couldn't see his real face because he was covered in orange rocks.
The story about becoming parents was really touching and made the movie feel more emotional than just watching people fight monsters. Seeing Reed and Sue worry about their baby and try to protect him made me care about what happened to them. It wasn't just about saving the world – it was about saving their family too.
Galactus was a really scary villain because he was so huge and powerful, and the idea of something that eats entire planets is terrifying. But I also liked that the movie made him feel like a force of nature rather than someone who was just mean for no reason. He wasn't evil, he was just doing what he needed to do to survive, which made him scarier in some ways.
The action scenes were exciting and well done, especially the final battle where everyone was working together to save Earth. The special effects looked really good, and I could understand what was happening even during the most complicated parts. The scene where Sue was using all her power and looked like she might die was really emotional and had me worried about what would happen.
If I had to say anything negative about the movie, it would be that sometimes there were so many characters and things happening that it was a little hard to keep track of everything. Also, I wished we could have seen more of some of the other characters, like the Mole Man, who seemed interesting but didn't get much screen time.
Overall, The Fantastic Four: First Steps was a really enjoyable superhero movie that felt different from others I've seen. It had great characters, exciting action, beautiful visuals, and a story that made me care about the family at the center of it all. The ending with the mysterious man in the green cloak has me excited to see what happens next. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who likes superhero stories, especially if they want something that feels fresh and fun rather than dark and serious.
Want to watch the previous Fantastic Four movies? Check out my complete guide to The Fantastic Four Movies in Chronological Order.