‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ movie review: MCU debut a charming, if rocky, redux. ‘Nuff said

Four of Marvel’s most beloved superheroes enter the MCU—or do they?—in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which opens in Prague and cinemas worldwide this weekend. Boasting a terrific retro-futuristic production design, engaging performances, and the MCU‘s finest villain next to Thanos, this is easily the best Fantastic Four movie to date—even if it feels lacking at the script level. Coming in from vastly different approaches to the comic book genre, this one is roughly on the same footing as last week’s Superman.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in Earth 828, which series fans will note is a different universe than the Earth 616 (most of) the previous MCU movies take place in. This allows for the striking set and production design, which feels like the world of The Jetsons transplanted onto 1950s New York City, but also eliminates the possibility of interactions with any other characters from the franchise. While the end credits tease that the Fantastic Four will be back in Avengers: Doomsday, this is essentially a standalone film with no connection to the 36 (!) previous MCU movies.

That has pluses and minuses. Unlike Captain America: Brave New World or Thunderbolts*, there’s no prerequisite viewing of previous films or Disney+ series. But part of the charm of this franchise is in seeing these colorful superheroes interact with each other. And this movie misses a major opportunity by not having the team interact with Silver Age variations of characters we know from Earth 616, like the original silver-plated Iron Man or a Captain America capped with eagle wings.

Blessedly, much like James Gunn’s Superman, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is not another origin story. Yet the first 30 minutes of the film are packed with so much exposition it may as well be. Through newsreel footage and TV interviews on The Ted Gilbert Show (Mark Gatiss is a delight as the talk show host) we learn the story of the four astronauts who were blasted with cosmic rays in outer space, and came back to Earth imbued with unique superpowers.

Now, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) can bend like rubber as Mister Fantastic; his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) can disappear as the Invisible Girl; her brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) can self-ignite as the Human Torch, and Reed’s friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) is the rock monster The Thing. They are now the protectors of the world, working out of the Baxter Building in Manhattan, and doing battle with criminal enterprises like Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser), leader of the underground Subterranea. Hauser is so much fun in his brief scenes you might wish he was the main villain here, but alas, that’s not what this film has in store.

What does The Fantastic Four: First Steps deliver instead? Just what everyone wanted: a virtual remake of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, complete with the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) heralding the incoming threat of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), devourer of worlds. Further plot description is not necessary; the narrative of First Steps hews so shockingly close to that 2007 misfire that it could be considered a remake, which perhaps shouldn’t be surprising given they both come from the same source material. But there must be hundreds of great Fantastic Four stories from the past 60+ years of publication… why retell this one?

Despite the déjà vu, there’s a level of craftsmanship to this film not dreamed of in the 2007 movie, and the cast does a lot of the heavy lifting. Kirby, Quinn, and Moss-Bachrach are each outstanding in re-creating these characters, now the definitive versions; only Pascal, perhaps due to overexposure, doesn’t quite have the same impact. The central crux of the movie—a Sophie’s Choice scenario involving Sue’s newborn son—resonates so well because we believe in these characters and their genuine love for each other.

A climactic duel, too, delivers the goods as one of the most memorable set pieces the MCU has ever produced: Galactus, brought to frightening life through top-notch visual effects, has real Godzilla-like weight as he plows through Manhattan, and there’s a tangible feeling of helplessness as he dwarfs our protagonists and pulls apart Mister Fantastic like Stretch Armstrong. Of course, as in Superman, Manhattan has been completely evacuated by the time of Galactus’ arrival, so there’s no loss of life as all those skyscrapers come plummeting to the ground. Promise.

There’s plenty of fun to be had here, but like Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: First Steps seems to be embarrassed that these characters come from the pages of a comic book. The titular team are referred to on-screen by their superhero names, and aren’t in costume as often as they should be, given that they all require special clothing due to their powers (The Thing walks around New York in a trench coat, but where’s he shopping?) A running joke is that Ben never wants to say “It’s clobberin’ time!”, which here was invented for an in-universe cartoon. But just like the kids yelling at him from the schoolyard, we want to hear that classic line, too.

Despite the unwarranted self-seriousness, The Fantastic Four: First Steps generates a lot of charm from its retro-futuristic 1950s design. Flying cars, Herbie the (scene-stealing) robot, and the sparse interior design of the Baxter Building itself all combine to offer a diverting setting for the usual comic book shenanigans. Cinematography, meanwhile, is dark and murky in an attempt to accommodate the ever-present visual effects—a real downgrade from the bright, vibrant look James Gunn brought to Superman. The general tone of the two films also represents something of a switch-up; is the MCU becoming the new DCEU—and vice versa?

The Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn’t reinvent anything on a narrative level, and it falls short of capturing the full spirit of Marvel’s First Family as Stan Lee as Jack Kirby intended—but it’s still a solid, stylish step forward that’s leagues better than previous attempts to bring these characters to life (the less said about 2015’s Fantastic Four, the better). It may not be clobberin’ time just yet, but it packs enough punch to make us eager for more.