Now Showing | The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Marvel’s First Family Stumbles Into the MCU

We're suiting up to discuss The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the highly anticipated debut of Marvel’s First Family in the MCU. And after watching it, we can officially say: it’s the greatest Fantastic Four film ever made… which, unfortunately, isn’t saying much.

Directed with plenty of style and featuring a plausible (and honestly, kind of cool) take on Galactus, First Steps has all the right pieces on paper—family dynamics, high-concept cosmic storytelling, and a sleek Marvel Studios polish. But the final product? Well, we left the theater feeling a lot less than fantastic. (Zing!)

What Worked:

• The style: A bold visual direction that sets this apart from the usual Marvel template.

• The family angle: For all its flaws, First Steps at least gets the core Fantastic Four dynamic right.

• Galactus (sort of): A version that works within the MCU, even if it won’t silence every fan debate.

  
  

Where It Fell Flat:

• A rushed story: The film skips over huge portions of the team’s life as heroes, leaving their arcs feeling incomplete.

• A lackluster second hour: After a promising setup, the back half struggles to balance spectacle and storytelling.

• Missed opportunities: Great ideas get lost in a script that tries to do too much with too little time.

  
  

So where does The Fantastic Four: First Steps land? Somewhere between “finally, a decent take” and “how is Marvel still struggling with these characters?”

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