Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) Review
SnarkAI Score: 82/100
“I herald his beginning. I herald your end. I herald a decent FF Film!”
TL;DR: Retro-futurist flair, clever worldbuilding, and the best-looking Thing ever put on screen make this FF outing the first one that actually feels worthy of the name. Reed is written perfectly - brilliant, insufferable, and just creepy enough to remind us why body-horror stretching should be part of the package - though his actual powers are undercooked. Sue finally gets her due, from ultrasound scans to smart stealth tactics, even if the "mama bear" boost is cliché. Johnny's downgrade to "ugly but smart" is a head-scratcher, but his fire looks great and his Surfer crush tracks. Surfer herself (yes, herself) is well-done if not quite reflective enough to sell the cosmic mirror concept. The clip-show intro is genius, the FTL ship is stunning, and the satirical nods to humanity's selective skepticism hit harder than some of the punches. Galactus looks right but comes off a bit small - and yeah, the nose is distracting. Still, this is sharp, stylish, and finally makes Marvel's First Family feel like the legends they are.
Herbie is great, lets start with that. The clip show talkshow intro is really smart and works really well both tonally and in a storytelling context. Giving us Moleman and Red Ghost as clips introducig them on stage is great worldbuilding. The 60s retro futurism is amazing, really impressivly done, the mix of styling and constraints is impecable. such as printing physical records for the audio transmissions, because they're still analoge evenw ith FTL. I want a darkwashed version of the asthetic for a live action BTAS immediatly.
The interesting thing of an empty seat for latvera in the FF/UN meeting is facinating given the stinger, it means Sue know's who's in the green cloak.
We get the best looking Thing by miles. Not even close. The actor and the CGI really conveys Ben's good heart and deep depression. I enjoy his beard, but they could have had fun with him using a chisel like a straight razor. I'm not sure why we get Natasha Lyonne as "Rachel Rozman" for a love interest when she looks just like Alicia Masters and we get a namecheck on Puppet Master. I can only assume its so we can get the synagogue scene, though they shy away from giving Ben an explicit need for his Rabbis spiritual guidence. WHich is deeply odd given he's perhaps the most famous Jewish superhero in comic media. (And no, before the casuals come in claiming Spider-Man is jewish, he is not. Peter B. Parker in Spiderverse is implied to at least be a convert with the wedding flashback, but 616 is cannonically an agnostic who was raised protestant by his irish-american family).
Johnny plays a more crucial role than normal, which is great, but it's odd that they've gone down the ugly but smart Johnny route. Given his whole thing is being the handsome, charming playboy. His fire powers are great though, particularly when he's just a bit on fire. His statement as to why he likes the Silver Surfer is because "I could see my face in her face" is quite comics' Johnny though. His insistence on working through the translations and setting up the whole audio presentation is great.
They establish a really good balance between Reed and Sue. His constant prioritisation of science over social expectations and him struggling to see why it matters "Anyone can build a crib, only I can build this" and no understanding why she's upset he chose the machine over the crib even as she knew he would and accepts it. Reed's overreacting and trying to solve all crime in NY is great very Reed and the line he walks between hero and Maker. His powers are probably the weaknesst in terms of what we see. We see the genius, but not the body horror that is Reed at his best. He moves his kids to his face to sniff him, rather than moving his nose to the kid like Reed should. He barely stretches even with Galactus pulling him. He's disappointing for that. Especially as that's why Ms Marvel didn't have stretching powers on her show, because Reed was coming and they wanted to reduce confusion. (leading to her comic character getting new mutant powers to synergise, which is so bonkers it could be a comic plot.) Reed's attitude though, this is the reed who would or will labotomize his son to save planets. He'd do it knowing Sue won't forgive him, but he'll do it.
The invisible woman's use of her power as an ultrasound is *chefs kiss*. Her hiding the ship as they explore is great too. The films rarely make the most of her invisibility, too much of the force fields. I really enjoy her balance of frustration and acceptance of Reed. She knows who he is, but sometimes, you can see from her face she wishes he wasn't quite so Reed all the time. The 'Mama Bear' powerboost is predictable and always a bit trite. I also like her pushing Galactus back, but its clear she can do it because of leverage and weights. She's not stronger than him, she's stronger than Galactus like some incels shrieked, she's stronger than the tarmac.
Surfer is good, though Norin Rads baldness translates better on screen to Shalla-Bal's hair. The mostionlessness of it makes it more like a helmet. I wish the Surfer was a bit more reflective, I think that would look amazing in space, to be reflecting the stars and nebula around her. Surfer surfing lava is a great visual. Dumb, but great.
The FTL ship. I love it. It is beautiful. The mix of retro and future! The weightlessness! Ben's space suit not actually covering all of him because he doesn't need it to is a great touch.
FF: "we are going to teleport the world to a new solar system billions of miles away" Humanity: "Sounds good. No concerns, we'll do everything we can!"
Real life: "We need you to wear a mask due to the overwhelming data it saves lives" Humanity: "We don't believe you!! I'm going to cough in the face of the elderly to prove you are wrong"
Please note: There was no teleportation bridge on the moon, so the teleport would have ruined the earths ecosystem regardless.
Galactus is very accurate but maybe a bit small (he's inconsistent in the comics tbf) And he has a weird nose (sorry if that is just the actors nose)
Not using the person who's power is invisibility to hide the baby during the swap is a choice...
And in the end Galactus was defeated with help from Silver Surfer which is very accurate.
Galactus has now met Franklin so when Franklin makes galactus his herald he at least knows who he is.