Two 'Fantastic Four: First Steps' Reviews

Too safe or return to form? Our authors present their arguments

As with some other recent films, our team had divergent viewpoints on this film and so offer two different perspectives on ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’. Enjoy!

Louis’s Review

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is one of the best Marvel movies since Avengers: Endgame, but franchise fatigue follows close behind every genuine moment the film offers.

At its heart, the film presents a surprisingly pro-life message, with themes of sacrifice, family, and community standing out in the often hollow landscape of modern Marvel. The villain—colossal in scale but refreshingly silent—has no tragic backstory or monologue. He is simply a threat to overcome, a callback to the genre’s golden era, when spectacle didn’t need justification. The retro-futuristic aesthetic also sets it apart visually, trading Marvel’s long-standing obsession with gritty realism for something more stylized and bold.

Unfortunately, these strengths can't quite save the film from its core flaw: it doesn’t have a soul.

There are moments where the story flirts with deeper meaning, but none of them cohere into a unified statement. Thematically loaded elements—family, identity, motherhood—are introduced, but left unresolved or underdeveloped. Chekhov's gun is still waiting for a background check. The film plays more like a highlight reel than a complete narrative, with ideas presented in sequence rather than synthesis. Set pieces dazzle, then disappear, rarely leaving emotional or thematic residue. The world itself never feels lived in, which makes it hard for viewers to truly care about what’s being fought for.

The titular team also suffers from uneven treatment. The film wants to be a meditation on motherhood, but backs off before saying anything concrete—perhaps wary of alienating certain viewers. This hesitance dulls the emotional stakes and wastes the potential for a grounded, character-driven through line. What chemistry exists between the team is carried almost entirely by the cast, who commit wholeheartedly to roles that the script often underserves.

Ben Grimm—one of Marvel’s most consistently empathetic characters—feels oddly hollow here. He has the look, the history, the pain, but not the warmth. Reed Richards is reduced to a support role for his wife—a choice that could work if the film gave Sue Storm something meaningful to say. Johnny Storm appears to have had a larger arc before being chopped down in the editing room; what’s left of his screen time hints at something deeper, but never follows through. Even the sympathetic antagonist, the Silver Surfer, hovers on the edge of compelling, but is denied the screentime needed to give weight to the spectacle she participates in.

First Steps is a passable, middle-shelf movie-going experience. It’s competent. It’s safe. But within the context of the superhero genre—and especially within the Marvel Cinematic Universe—it’s also disappointingly familiar. There’s nothing new here, and very little to be excited about.

On one hand, it's comforting to see Marvel retreat from the chaos of multiverses and meta-commentary. On the other, it's disheartening that even this more grounded, focused entry feels derivative. The irony that this movie plays like a less inventive version of The Incredibles is only heightened by the fact that Michael Giacchino—who scored The Incredibles—returns here with a soundtrack that often reminds us of the Pixar parody more than the source material.

In short, Fantastic Four: First Steps has all the right ingredients for something truly fantastic, but it feels more like a factory meal than grandma’s recipe. Its aesthetic flair and thematic gestures hint at what it could have been, but the final product plays it so safe that it barely leaves a lasting impression.

Jack’s Review

Fantastic Four: First Steps is a welcome return to form for Marvel. After three failed attempts to capture the magic of “Marvel’s First Family” on the big screen, Disney delivers the definitive live-action portrayal in a more than serviceable inauguration of the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

There is nothing truly special or groundbreaking about the plot of Fantastic Four: First Steps. It is simple, and in many ways, predictable. As such, I have seen some critics and fans alike pointing out the simplicity of the plot as its apparent weakness. However, their critiques miss the point. Fantastic Four: First Steps is not trying to be the next The Dark Knight. Rather, it is an attempt to introduce us to a set of superheroes whose distinctive mark, and greatest superpower, is the fact that they are a family; a job which Matt Shakman and the producers nail to perfection. The emotional core of this movie is summed up in a line delivered by Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards in the first thirty minutes of the film: “We will protect you.” This movie is not about an “I”, but rather it is about “we.” It is a story about how a father, mother, and two uncles prepare to welcome a life into the world amidst impossible odds. It is a story about how that family refuses to sacrifice one innocent life for another, a family that rejects the false dichotomies and hypotheticals of modern philosophical reasoning and trolley dilemmas. It is a story about how that family goes beyond its bounds to inspire and unite an entire civilization, mirroring Catholic theology’s understanding of the missional nature of the domestic Church.

As a family, the chemistry between the main protagonists, Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) justifies the vision Kevin Feige and Shakman had when casting this newest incarnation of the Fantastic Four. That’s what makes this movie special amongst the fatigued superhero genre: the dialogue and characters are the focal points of the story. If Marvel removed the superhero elements from this movie and just made a movie about a family played by these actors, I would have 100% paid to see it. This highlights what so many contemporary superhero or genre-focused movies miss: the fact that genre should not be an end in of itself, but rather a vehicle and a launching point for a greater narrative. In so doing, modern film misses the metaphorical and symbolic power of storytelling. The beauty of narrative art is that human beings can immerse themselves in a world that symbolically mirrors their own, contemplate the truths hidden within, and abstract it to moral principles that better form their own moral agency in God’s cosmos.

We should not leave the Fantastic Four thinking, “Oh wow, superheroes! Things went boom and looked cool.” Rather, everyone should leave the film thinking, “Family, in all of its beautiful mess, is a gift worthy of making sacrifices for. Am I contributing to my family in a way that is worthy of this gift?” And that is how I left the theatre, not in awe at the spectacle of superpowers and VFX, but wounded by the thoughts which I must contemplate as a Christian: “Do I love my family according to the Law of Christ (John 13:34)? In what ways have I failed my family? How can I make reparation for the sins of commission and omission in my familial life, which have harmed my family and deprived them of God’s gift of my own life to them?”

I find it remarkable that in 2025, Hollywood, an industry that univocally speaks out against the perceived oppression of societal norms pertaining to family life and the dignity of the unborn, made a movie that serves as a sign of contradiction to everything they believe and ferociously demonize. Fantastic Four: First Steps is simultaneously the most pro-family, pro-sacrifice, and pro-life movie put out by a popular producer in years. To a Christian, though, this should be no surprise, since what “can be known about God [and His creation] is known to them, because God has shown it to them.”

So, yes, Fantastic Four: First Steps is….. indeed….. Fantastic.