The Fantastic Four: First Steps is obsessed with time. From the opening moments, which drops the audience in media res, brilliant scientist Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) is scouring the cabinets of his 1960s-retro-future-inspired bathroom for iodine. The man known as Mister Fantastic calls out to his wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), to ask where it is. The Invisible Woman quickly responds that she needs twelve seconds. Reed retorts that’s incredibly specific, and it’s the first of many mentions of definitive lengths of time throughout the movie.
It turns out, after two years of trying to have children, one-half of the Fantastic Four is expecting a child. This means Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm, aka The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Sue’s brother Johnny, or the Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), are going to be uncles. It’s an exciting, well, time for the family.
First Steps takes place at a critical inflection point for Sue and Reed, sure, but also for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as it goes through a creative readjustment. Post Avengers: Endgame, Marvel films have arrived with a considerable amount of hand-wringing, but the burden of proof feels even heavier for the Fantastic Four, laden with rescuing the MCU from its multiverse doldrums. Doubly so, when the disguised competition just hit a grand slam with the launch of their new cinematic universe.
You’d be hard-pressed to know all this watching a movie that’s this light on its feet. The fourth reboot of Marvel’s first family (but the first from Marvel Studios) is helmed by WandaVision director Matt Shakman, with a script from a quartet of writers: Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer. The result is an entertaining return to form for the MCU, bolstered by stellar visuals and even better performances.
After the reveal that Sue and Reed are pregnant, First Steps kicks into a savvy and breezy bit of exposition, detailing the origins of the team through an Ed Sullivan-esque magazine program. Here we see the team’s past as astronauts, and how they were affected by cosmic radiation that gave them superpowers; a speedy prologue before throwing the four into the movie’s central conflict. Alien harbinger The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) appears in Times Square to declare the planet marked for destruction by the world-eater Galactus (Ralph Ineson). In an attempt to save their world, the Fantastic Four rocket deep into space to persuade Galactus otherwise, only to learn the celestial creature wants Sue and Reed’s unborn child. Should they refuse, he’ll devour the Earth. Time’s tick, tick, ticking away.
So begins the central tension of First Steps. The denizens of Earth-828 (fittingly named in honor of Fantastic Four creator Jack Kirby’s birthdate of August 28, and distinct from Earth-616 where most MCU movies are set) aren’t particularly keen on the notion that they’ll die if Galactus isn’t appeased. What was once nervous excitement on behalf of the soon-to-be parents becomes outright fear at the possibility of having to give up something once thought impossible. Thus, the movie becomes a race against time to find a solution that spares Earth but without having to lose their child.
This worst possible situation brings out the best in First Steps, allowing each of its leads the depth and breadth they need. As the second act unfolds, the thrill is in seeing how each of the main characters reacts to the crisis. For Sue, that’s to find strength in the familial love she’s cultivated, while for Reed it’s about trying to solve everything, even if that means considering the worst possible options. Pascal and Kirby navigate these difficult situations with a welcome sense of maturity—especially by MCU standards—and shine all the brighter because of it. Sue and Reed are a perfect pair—even in the thorniest of arguments, there’s never any doubt about the strength of their relationship. Their big, emotional moments play exceedingly well.
Johnny and Ben take on more secondary roles, but not in a way that shortchanges their development. Moss-Bachrach’s version of The Thing has melancholy moments of self-reflection, but not at the expense of being the sturdy foundation of this family. He might come across as the brawn, but Ben’s all heart. Johnny, on the other hand, is eager to prove he’s more than a flirty ladies man, and seeing his passions come ablaze is a delight—he shows he’s just as capable as the rest of his superlative super family.
First Steps’ Jetsons-like, ‘60s retro-future aesthetics make this feel unlike any other Marvel film. Full of color—a blue hue saturates the world—it’s a far cry from the washed-out sheen of most MCU projects. Director Shakman’s framing also results in some awe-inspiring moments: when the family first gazes upward at Galactus, it’s worthy of inclusion alongside Marvel’s most memorable moments. This is a movie full of cosmic scale and spectacle, very much befitting the world Jack Kirby and Stan Lee rendered across dozens of comics back in 1961 when they introduced the team. That grandness is also helped by Michael Giacchino’s score, one of Marvel’s very best.
Perhaps First Steps stumbles a little in the third act, with the predictability of the plot, the rushed nature of its conclusion, and underutilization of its villains. Galactus is fine—he doesn’t need much more motivation outside of needing to devour. But the Silver Surfer Julia Garner portrays is thinly-drawn, especially when contrasted alongside the Fantastic Four. The sub-two-hour runtime means that once things everything’s in motion, the film moves through big events in quick fashion, brushing past moments that could have used a few more minutes to breathe. Ironically, the film doesn’t have enough time.
Whether it’s the seconds Reed needs to try to save the world, or the years that could quickly fly by as their newborn child grows up, there’s never going to be enough time to go around. Yet, for the first time in a while, I’ve walked out of a Marvel movie thrilled and entertained by what’s transpired on the screen in front of me.