The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Stunning but plot-bound by MCU Continuities

The marketing and hype around The Fantastic Four: First Steps has been massive, to say the least. After the MCU got the attention of every Marvel fan, they squandered all the goodwill they had earned from the release of The Thunderbolts.

TMJ Rating: 🍿🍿🍿/5

The Plot of The Fantastic Four: First Steps

The Fantastic Four are fighting crime as the only superhero team in their world and timeline when they come across a massive challenge in the form of Galactus. When Galactus asks The Fantastic Four for something else in return for the Earth to remain unconsumed, the superhero team turns down the deal and prepares to fight for their world.

Once the movie starts, you expect a substantial plot with a story that can go anywhere, regardless of any post-credit scene we may have seen related to this movie, such as in the Thunderbolts.

This movie struggles to find a central, independent plotline. What was a novelty and strength has turned into shackles for the MCU, where continuity interferes with proper storytelling.

The movie starts with great promise, sidestepping the origin story as the MCU has been doing in the past few movies. All the actors give solid performances, the CGI is good, and the portrayal of Galactus is impressive, but all of this doesn't matter when the movie plot doesn't pass muster.

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The whole movie becomes about trying to fit it into a larger plot device of a finale movie, which will be the Avengers' Doomsday. What Marvel should stop doing is designing movies with continuity being the priority, and making a good movie regardless of the movies before or after.

The Cast of The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm delivers a great performance as the maternal influence in the group and displays a massive range of emotions that come across really well on screen

Pedro Pascal as Mister Fantastic plays an unsure and almost neurodivergent genius who overthinks everything while loving his wife and extended family dearly.

Joseph Quinn as the Human Torch plays a nicer version of The Human Torch, unlike the one played by Chris Evans in 2005 and 2007. He is more empathetic, less arrogant, but has a similar sibling relationship with Ben Grimm and Sue Storm.

Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal plays the role of Galactus' herald well, balancing the non-emotive nature of the herald and the conflicting emotions she feels inside when preparing planets for consumption by the cosmic being.

The retrofuturistic theme permeates the entire landscape of an alternate 60's New York City, along with the color blue being used generously throughout each aspect of the set.

Cinematography, Special Effects, and Wide Shots

The Fantastic Four depicts a proper retrofuturistic scenario with a 60s view of a future with flying cars and 60s color schemes.

Credit where credit is due - Matt Shakman has created wonderful wide shots to portray the scale of Galactus and how tiny and probably insignificant The Fantastic Four appear in comparison to the cosmic being.

The Ship of Galactus is shown in some detail in this movie, and how it chews up entire planets and feeds the same to Galactus through what looks like massive tubes.

Galactus on the Big Screen

One of the main draws of this movie is the appearance of The Devourer of Worlds - Galactus, who possesses and weilds the power cosmic as and when it suits him. His looking at the Statue of Liberty is very symbolic - probably showing that he is greater than the sum of this country's might ( maybe )

There is also a scene where one of the Fantastic Four manages to injure Galactus slightly, leading to molten magma material oozing and splashing out of his body. This concept is pretty cool.

Ralph Ineson voices and also lends his facial features partially to the Cosmic being, which adds gravitas to the whole thing. Galactus refers to Sue Storm's child as a being of infinite power, and that will be able to help him with his hunger for worlds.

Franklin Richards - the child of Sue and Reed Richards in the comics is known to be a being of unfathomable powers. First, being born with immense power, and then absorbing power from various objects and situations.

How the Incredibles were Inspired by Fantastic Four

In one of the interviews, as part of marketing on YouTube, I heard one of the cast members exclaim that The Incredibles ARE The Fantastic Four.

You see the similarities come out in this movie when the Fantastic Four both fight and come to an agreement with an antagonist named The MoleMan, who claims a part of the underground as a nation of his own.

The MoleMan does have a significant role in helping the Fantastic Four save the planet and a few lives directly by providing them with temporary refuge underground.

Coming to The Incredibles themselves, Mr Incredible is really strong, much like The Thing. Elastigirl's powers are similar to those of Mister Fantastic and Violet, the daughter who possesses the power of the Invisible Woman of invisibility and force fields.

Of course, the youngest Jack-Jack is analogous to Franklin Richards in that he is overpowered in every aspect and can change the fabric of reality itself.

Should You Watch It? Maybe

If you are expecting something like James Gunn's Superman, then you will come away sorely disappointed and probably even a bit angry. But if you compare the horrible movies released ( except Thunderbolts ) after Endgame, then this is an okay movie - nothing more.