“I’m not giving up. We will face this together. We will fight it together… as a family.”
In November of 1961 I wasn’t quite five months old when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the first team of superheroes. Long before a Justice League or Avengers team was created, The Fantastic Four delivered a family of superheroes, and while it would be a few years before I would read my first issue, they created an impression along with Spider-Man, that has given me the love of comics and this kind of entertainment for the remainder of my life. The team first found themselves on film via a cheap Roger Corman film that was never released but found itself on the sci-fi convention circuit for decades. It was bad. Fox only made it so that they could keep the film rights a little longer, and they eventually made a couple of films, the first of which I consider underrated. We won’t talk about the more recent film that became an historic bomb and cost its director a Star Wars film. Now Disney owns Fox, and it’s time to bring The Fantastic Four and The X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Fantastic Four: First Steps kicks off the first film in Phase 6 of that MCU. I found the trailers a bit disturbing but went into the film with an open mind. This was, of course, the First Family of comics, and I very much want them to thrive.
Matt Shakman took the wise step of skipping making yet another origin story film. Those have been done to death, and if we’re willing to suspend our belief that these kinds of characters and situations can exist, I think we’re OK without the three-hour trek through their origins. I don’t need to see Peter Parker bitten by another spider, and I’m sick to death of watching Martha Wayne’s pearls spread out on a blood-soaked street. Let’s just do it. And that’s exactly what Shakman does here. We do get a quick run through what happened from an ABC television presentation celebrating four years of the Fantastic Four in that universe. We get a montage of the heroes with some of their iconic villains, and honestly I think I got more than I needed here. On to our story.
In case you’ve never picked up a comic book in your life, the Fantastic Four were a family that was exposed to cosmic rays on a space adventure. Those rays had a unique effect on each of the four. Reed Richards, played by Pedro Pascal, is the team leader and super brain up there with Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. He received the power to stretch his body like a rubber band much like DC’s Elongated or Plastic Man. His wife, Sue Storm, played by Vanessa Kirby, last name a coincidence, has both the power to become invisible and create invisible force fields. Her brother Johnny Storm, played by Joseph Quinn, can “Flame On” igniting his entire body into a fireball that can fly. The pilot was Ben Grimm, played by Ebon-Moss Bachrach had his entire body turned into a kind of rock creature with incredible strength. Together as Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and The Thing, they are The Fantastic Four.
This film takes place in the MCU but not on the same Earth, rather Earth 828, so the multiverse is at play here. They have created a UN kind of organization and are pretty much this Earth’s only superheroes. They are celebrating their fame and accomplishments when a strange alien covered in silver-like metal appears on a surfboard to address them as protectors of the Earth. Under the motion capture is actress Julie Garner as the Silver Surfer. This is not the same character as the previous FF film but Shalla – Bal, who has pretty much the same story. She offered herself to save her planet from the planet-devouring Galactus. Earth is his next target, and only the Fantastic Four stand in his way. More than that would be cheating you of having an enjoyable ride.
There are a ton of meta moments here. The old 1960’s cartoon exists here, and the Thing is particularly annoyed by its portrayal of his comic catchphrase. There are several moments that tease that iconic sentence in the film. The actors do a pretty good job, but it takes time to find the chemistry here. Too often we’re overloaded with themes from another FF film franchise. You know the one where they race cars, save the world, and constantly talk family. Yeah. That’s the one. Kirby is perhaps the more dynamic of the players here. She really hits the film’s emotional beats, and she is the most honest and realistic of the characters here. There’s just no way to make those Mr. Fantastic stretch f/x look good. Otherwise the f/x are a step up for Marvel of late.
The truth is the entire film is a step up for Marvel. Following Thunderbolts, Marvel is on a two-game winning streak for the first time since before COVID. We will see these characters again in the Avengers films that will close out this phase of the MCU.
There can be an overwhelming bit of “style” here. This film treats blue like Barbie treated pink, and the faux-50’s/60’s look grew a bit tired for me. How this Earth and ours will interact as the story grows, I do not know. Marvel has long ago revealed that Dr. Doom is going to be played by Robert Downey, Jr. going forward, and while he’s the Lex Luthor of the FF universe, he is only teased here. Let’s just say I expect worlds to collide. We also get to meet Franklin, and if you’re a fan, you know who he is. This is a pretty good film. I think I still like the first Fox film better, but there is something special starting here, and I can’t wait to see where it goes. It’s time to hop aboard Phase 6, and this film will compete well with Superman over at DC; it might even do better. We’ll find out soon. “Who wants to see a big explosion?”
