I can’t tell you the amount of relief I felt walking out of the movie theater after watching The Fantastic Four: First Steps, this past weekend. Because after much speculation (and worry), I’m happy to report that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s new Fantastic Four movie is, indeed, fantastic.
At this point, the Fantastic Four’s complicated history onscreen is worthy of its own full-length, deep-dive documentary. I won’t get into all of that here. Suffice to say, the pressure was definitely on for the MCU to get this version right – and thankfully, they nailed it.
Like James Gunn’s recent Superman reimagining, Fantastic Four starts in the middle of the action – no clunky origin story here. While I personally felt that at times, Superman got bogged down with too many characters and side plots, Fantastic Four had none of these issues. It tells a concise, focused story and makes good use of its planet-sized villain.
As a major fan of period dramas, I loved the retro-futuristic, 1960s-inspired setting. This unique take gave the film a distinctive visual style and also helped differentiate this version from past films.
Although I thought that all the main actors did a good job, the standout to me was Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm. She poured so much heart and emotion into the role, and I appreciated seeing the character balance her responsibilities as a mom to her newborn son and her duty as a superhero to protect the world.
Galactus was suitably scary and threatening; the movie did a great job showing the scale of the threat he posed. (Minor spoiler: I also appreciated that he wasn’t too easy to defeat at the end of the movie, and in fact, he’s not really gone, just delayed.)
As for whether this movie makes me more optimistic about the future of the MCU, the answer is…maybe? This was a great, standalone film, but I still have kind of a bad feeling about the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. I think that movie is going to be packed with way too many characters, and casting Robert Downey Jr. feels more like a cynical attention grab than a genuine creative choice.
I think what The Fantastic Four: First Steps shows is that there are plenty of good superhero stories left to tell, and I truly hope it’s a sign the MCU has found its footing again. However, both Marvel and DC need to proceed carefully from here. The superhero genre has matured to the point that audiences aren’t necessarily jumping to watch anything with a superhero in it, like they were in the beginning. I also wish more people had given Thunderbolts a chance, because I thought it had a great story and characters, despite its disappointing box office.
Still, I’m grateful that Superman and The Fantastic Four have provided a burst of energy to the superhero genre, and I’ll be eagerly watching where these franchises go next.
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