The long-awaited, highly-appreciated, much-celebrated production that is The Fantastic Four: First Steps came out on July 25, 2025. Hailed by Marvel fans and critics alike as the future of the franchise, the film was heavily invested in, coming with a hefty price tag of roughly $200 million. But did paying all those dollars really make cents, and more importantly, was it worth it? Let’s talk superheroes.
The “Fantastic Four” is often known as Marvel’s first family of superheroes, first having been created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby in 1961. The team is made up of Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), Johnny Storm (Human Torch), and Ben Grimm (The Thing). Their origin story begins when the squad gains superpowers after being exposed to cosmic radiation during a space mission.
Something that makes this group of superheroes unique to the Marvel universe is their dynamic as a family. They live together, fight together, and experience everyday struggles along with their crazy battles. In this, The Fantastic Four: First Steps really is a great family movie; it promotes the importance of supporting and working together to achieve common goals with our loved ones, something we all take for granted from time to time.
Most parts of the film are very enjoyable. The cast are, on the whole, mostly very good. Besides the villains of the story, namely the god-like Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his assistant Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), both of whom come off as sort of lackluster and not very intimidating, most everyone else acts well.
The CGI is, to be frank, not the best, and parts of the movie, particularly when New York City is being invaded or in other similar instances with a lot of people, come off as sort of superficial and obviously artificial. The plot is mostly predictable and also ends on a pretty unsatisfying note, but then again, as a not-even-two-hour-long family-oriented film, this is sort of in keeping with what could be expected.
However, these notes aside, the problem for Marvel has been, over the past several years, an irritating lack of originality and freshness. Movie after movie, from Thor: Love and Thunder to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and many more have left fans consistently unsatisfied and tired of hearing the same tired storyline played out by bland new characters.
Fantastic Four: Four Steps is certainly a step in the right direction in that respect, employing the tried-and-true story of the Fantastic Four band in a family-friendly, classic-style superhero movie format. The actors are great, the plot is decent enough, and the prospects are oh-so-very promising. In short, the film is Marvel going back to its roots for inspiration on how to move forward, and we both look forward to seeing where this exciting story takes the Marvel Cinematic Universe next. (Hint: Did you watch the post-credits scene?)
