Directed by Matt Shakman, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world and introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous celestial called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
Out of all the Marvel comic properties that have been adapted over the years by many directors and different studios, none of them have ever been as cursed as the Fantastic 4. One of Marvel’s most iconic teams has been adapted not once, not twice, but three times, with one unreleased film in 1994, the Tim Story duology films from 2005 to 2007, and one insanely disastrous reboot in 2015. And now, in 2025, Marvel Studios makes a daring fourth attempt to adapt the team to not only be a part of the MCU as the first installment of Phase Six but to actually get them right this time after three cinematic failures. So did they finally get it right?
Amazingly, despite all the doubts and obstacles, it seems the fourth time was the charm as Matt Shakman and his crew have officially broken the curse by delivering the most perfect adaptation of the Fantastic 4 that many have been waiting for years to happen. As if pulled straight from the pages of Jack Kirby’s wonder filled comics, this adaptation of Marvel’s First Family is an epic, emotional and character-driven sci-fi story about family and survival set within an aesthetically unique world that absorbs you in the moment you lay eyes on it. This is the film that many Fantastic 4 comic fans, like myself, have dreamed of getting on the big screen and it is also serves as yet another uniquely impactful comic book film, following Thunderbolts* and Superman, that I feel will touch the hearts of many who see it.
When you are dealing with a team whose stories are about family above all else you need a perfect cast that actually feels like a true family, both in their performances as well as have excellent team chemistry and thankfully we get exactly that with Pedro, Vanessa, Joseph and Ebon who were the perfect choices for their respective roles. There is a crucial focus on the importance of each member of the team throughout the film and we get to see their various bonds with each other be immensely fleshed out allowing us to feel invested in them together as well as individually.
Pedro Pascal delivers a truly magnificent performance as Reed Richards capturing all the notable qualities of the character from comics including his imperfections. He is a great hero and an insanely gifted genius but his high intelligence proves to be both a blessing and curse throughout the film as he struggles with anxiety and social interaction that is portrayed beautifully by Pedro Pascal, once again proving how talented of an actor he is and why he gets casted in so many roles. There is certainly an adorable dorky nature to him that people are obviously going to find lovable but there’s also a tragic side to the world’s smartest man that you don’t often see get explored as much with the character in other media but I’m glad it got to be explored here especially in a story where he is getting stretched to his limits, no pun intended. I am also happy to say his elastic powers looked extremely good in this film feeling like a major step up from the ugly effects displayed in past adaptations.
For me personally, I expected perfection from Pedro but I wasn’t expecting him to be vastly overshadowed by the true MVP that delivers the best performance of the entire film and that is Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm. Vanessa’s portrayal of this character is the true heart of this film’s story as well as gives us one of the best and most fleshed-out female leads we have had in the MCU next to Florence Pugh’s Yelena, Iman Vellani’s Kamala and even Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda. Vanessa Kirby has always been an incredible actress in everything I’ve seen her in but she was truly a phenomenon in this film that embodies all the emotional layers of this character from comics and proves herself to be the one that really holds the team together as a family.
She is more than a person who can just turn herself invisible but a badass powerhouse willing to move heaven and earth to protect her family as well as the people on Earth. On top of that she shares beautiful romantic chemistry with Pedro’s Reed making you truly believe in them as a couple whose love is unbreakable despite facing the challenges of being superheroes and first time parents. And as for their baby son, Franklin, I can’t discuss much about him due to spoilers but I will say there is a very interesting future ahead for him in the MCU that the film appears to be setting up based on his fate in the comics.
Joseph Quinn proves himself to be an incredible Johnny Storm that can be a joker that loves to tease members of his team but also a human being that is capable of showing genuine heart and compassion for his family. He’s not treated as some hot headed idiot like so many other past adaptations have done before but instead proves to people that he can actually be smart and take things seriously at the appropriate times when given the chance making this portrayal of Johnny Storm one of the most mature takes of the character that’s performed brilliantly by Joseph Quinn.
But just because he’s more mature compared to past portrayals doesn’t mean he’s devoid of the character’s signature humor because there is plenty to go around from his sly remarks and playful eagerness to get under the skin of Reed and Ben, who are his favorite targets. Additionally his powers as the human torch look absolutely incredible as does his form that looks way more visually appealing compared to past appearances as well as looks way more like how his comic counterpart looks.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach has been on a great run performance wise with his work in the series The Bear and he continues his streak with his fantastic performance in this film as Ben Grimm aka The Thing that is nothing short of amazing. He is warm, he is friendly, and he is lovable but you can tell there’s a sense of longing under that rocky exterior of his. While the world has clearly accepted him for his appearance as he has mostly accepted with living with it you can see he does miss his old life and will never feel truly satisfied with how things are now, which captures the tragic nature of the character from comics.
Despite this though he still goes out of his way to protect his family and the innocents around him with his great strength proving himself to be one of the most selfless heroes amongst the team. He shares a fun and funny brotherly connection with Joseph’s Johnny that involves expected forms teasing but also genuine moments of brotherly love that you can’t help but adore especially in the small moments.
As for his appearance, which is an interesting mix of CGI and practical, it is absolutely flawless with Ebon delivering incredible amounts of emotion through motion capture.
And then of course we have H.E.R.B.I.E., the charming and adorable robot companion of the Fantastic Four, who proves to be an instant scene stealer every time he comes on screen and is brought to life with a fun voice by Matthew Wood and amazing puppeteering.
The leading four are obviously the major highlight of this film performance and writing wise but the villains and supporting characters that play a crucial role in the story are also given great and memorable performances by their respective cast members with the most notable being Julia Garner as Shalla-Ball, this universe’s own Silver Surfer, and Ralph Ineson as the almighty Galactus. In the main timeline of comics Norrin Radd was the one to take on the mantle of the Silver Surfer but in another universe in comics it was his lover Shalla-Ball that took on the mantle instead, which is the version this film adapts and does so wonderfully thanks to Julia Garner who evokes aura and power in her incredible performance.
She looks amazing, sounds amazing and truly earns her title as the herald of Galactus throughout the film having some of the most visually spectacular sequences. However, I do wish we got a bit more of her development wise as I felt they could have explored her origin and character a bit more since we only get brief glimpses of it rather than dedicated scenes of it. While this certainly won’t be the last time we will see this version of the Surfer in the MCU going forward I feel a little bit more time to focus on developing her character would have been great to have.
As for Galactus I am happy to say that he was absolutely perfect in this film compared to the embarrassing portrayal of him in 2007 where he was nothing but a cloud. While he doesn’t get to to be fully unleashed action wise until the third act, he is an immense force of nature when presented in his comic accurate god like form and is given a bone chilling voice by the phenomenally underrated Ralph Ineson who has you in his grasp the moment he first speaks.
The marketing did a fantastic job hiding his full look and voice because getting to witness it on the big screen is a truly out of this world experience as Matt Shakman and his crew made sure to make him look and feel like a true towering menace that seems impossible for even the Fantastic 4 to defeat. After all killing a celestial isn’t an easy task, just ask the Eternals! One of the things I did like about Galactus in this film was the simplicity of his motives, much like his comic counterpart. He is not a being of evil with malicious intent but rather a being that only consumes worlds to survive an endless hunger that he can never truly get rid of and will do anything to appease it even if it means ending billions of lives in the process.
One of the biggest faults the previous adaptations of Fantastic 4 had was their inability to have compelling character driven narratives filled with emotions of any kind relying heavily on action as the only real reason to watch them. But the truth is that the Fantastic Four stories have never been all about action but instead have always been more about high stakes adventures, extreme exploration, grand wonder, and the investing heart felt family dynamics of the unique team members, which is something this adaptation nails perfectly while offering its own great themes and ideas.
Similar to Thunderbolts*, this film takes its time for you to connect with the characters, their past, their struggles, their relationships and their lives before jumping right into the action, which to me is more important than anything else since it allows you to feel invested in them and the stakes of their mission to save the world from the imminent threat of Galactus. I even love how this film gets you to care about the civilians by allowing us to connect with them through the perspective of the heroes and therefore not only make this world feel very alive but also makes the stakes feel much more investing as a result.
Also while this film does manage to pack an emotional punch with both its heartfelt family dynamic scenes and glorious actions sequences in a mature manner I also loved the fact that this film, like the recently released Superman, is unapologetically comic booky as it embraces the vibrant colors, tone and aesthetic of the Fantastic 4 comics mostly from the ones by Jack Kirby who gets immense credit and tribute given to him throughout this film both visually and narratively. I’m glad to see more comic book adaptations take the leap and embrace the creatively untamed wildness of their source material rather than be ashamed of it and plays things safe like they have been doing in the past.
This film on a technical level is masterful as we get to see Matt Shakman and his crew bring the beautiful world of Earth 828 through a retro ’60s aesthetic that works for the characters and the story as well as give it a unique visual identity to stand out amongst other MCU projects of the past. In fact I say this is probably the most visually stunning MCU film we have had in terms of how beautifully crafted the effects including the CGI, the practical effects and the clever blending of both.
From the cosmic landscapes to the bustling streets on Earth everything was crafted to perfection as much as possible and it all gets shown to us through gorgeous cinematography and sets that you can never keep your eyes off of. Visually this film is a comic book come to life but it also feels like its own thing with its distinct style in every frame.
By far the biggest technical highlight of the film that I think most would also agree is wonderfully made to perfection is Michael Giacchino’s score. Giacchino is no stranger to delivering epic scores for the MCU in the past but his work for this film may actually be his best work yet. Like the film’s visual aesthetic it has a retro sci-fi theme to it that changes depending on what’s going on in the film going beautifully soft and tender in the quiet moments to then going loud and uplifting in the epic moments and thrills.
All of the tracks are excellent but I think it goes without saying that the main theme that was played during the early marketing is going to be everyone’s favorite. Interestingly there’s no inclusion of any licensed songs that I could find when watching the film, which I will say is a bit surprising as you’d expect there to be some songs from the 60s played here and there given the setting.
After three disappointing attempts to adapt the Fantastic 4, I am thankful to finally see a great adaptation of the team in my lifetime, one that was created by people who truly understood the assignment and created something beautiful with clear amounts of passion and love for the source material. This is the film that I know Jack Kirby and Stan Lee would have adored if they were still alive, as it truly pays tribute to them and the wondrous adventures these characters go on in the comics they created. A bright future lies ahead for this team but their story is about to take quite a shocking turn as the mid-credit scene gives us a chilling reveal of what will come next. I for one can’t wait to see where the Fantastic Four go as long as they are handled with the same passionate care as they were in this film. I’m going to give The Fantastic 4: First Steps an A+ = 99.