Fantastic 4 First Steps Movie Review (Spoiler Free)

So with Fantastic Four: First Steps, a new phase of the Marvel universe begins — one that will eventually lead us to Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars, concluding the Multiversal Saga. And I don’t need to explain how much is riding on this movie; its stakes were supposed to be huge. So, what’s it really like? Let’s talk.

A light spoiler-free synopsis is more or less what we’ve seen in the trailers: Sue, Johnny, Ben, and Reed form the Fantastic Four. They’ve been operating for a long time in an alternate Earth, numbered 828, which has a retro-futuristic setting — essentially a version of the 1950s or 60s, but enhanced with the Fantastic Four’s technology. It’s somewhat similar to the TVA aesthetic from Loki.

In this world, the Fantastic Four are the lone protectors. No other superheroes exist here. That’s why the Earth is in grave danger when planet-eater Galactus arrives. How will they stop Galactus? Why is Galactus arriving at their planet? And what does he ultimately want from the Fantastic Four? You’ll only get the answers by watching the movie.

Now if I start with the direction — it’s directed by Matt Shakman, who also directed WandaVision. If you’re familiar with that, you’ll notice several similarities here. The first thing is the background music, which recreates the vibe of 60s–70s cartoons — even the classic Fantastic Four cartoons — with a modern touch.

Then, the movie establishes a family feeling right away. The Fantastic Four have had their powers for a while, and are already well-established in this world. Every scene and their conversations focus on showing how strong the bond between them is. They aren’t a bunch of strangers thrown together — they’re already close, already friends. Their bond is so strong that most of the time, they can communicate just with eye contact. And this dynamic works — especially between Johnny and Ben, whose banter we've seen in older Fantastic Four movies and comics. Their teasing here takes a new shape.

Reed and Susan’s relationship is portrayed differently — they are a married couple, and their chemistry is perfectly tuned. When a major, life-altering moment hits, you see how they support each other to face it. The effort to make them feel like a real family really works.

The first half of the movie is very fast-paced — it doesn’t waste time explaining too much. They are the Fantastic Four. They fight villains. A new threat appears in space, and they must deal with it. So they go to space — and done. I actually liked this approach. If you saw the trailer and thought the movie might be spoiled — no. Many of the trailer shots aren’t even in the movie, and if they are, they’re shot from different angles. So don’t worry — you don’t know the full story yet. In fact, the entire third act of the movie is almost completely spoiler-free.

The film also tries to be very comic-book accurate — from the costumes to how the characters behave and interact, it feels close to the source material. The whole movie has a strong comic-book vibe. And that brings me to another point — since this is set in a different universe, the aesthetic is completely different from the MCU. It doesn’t feel like a typical Marvel movie. The color grading, set pieces — it all feels fresh and different, something we haven’t really seen from Marvel before.

Now yes, I’ve praised it a lot, but that doesn’t mean the movie is perfect. I liked it, but there are issues. For example, while the chemistry between characters is great, the fast pace doesn’t give them much time to develop more deeply — especially characters like Silver Surfer, who’s used more like a plot device. They tried to show some of his backstory, but it doesn’t feel impactful.

Then there’s the CGI and VFX — which are mostly great, but at times inconsistent. Remember the bad CGI baby in The Flash? Franklin’s CGI here feels similarly out-of-place in certain scenes.

Another thing — we don’t get to see much use of their powers. Sue uses hers quite a bit. Johnny turns into flame and flies whenever he gets the chance. But Ben and Reed’s powers are not explored enough. Reed’s powers especially seem underused — they only show up in key scenes.

Still, overall, I walked out of the theater feeling good, because I enjoyed the movie. What I really liked was that the stakes felt serious. By the third act, you get a real sense that if they fail, the consequences will be disastrous. They do a decent job showing the human side — how many lives are at risk, how helpless the people are, and what happens when even the Fantastic Four seem to be failing. People start to turn against them — this angle is shown briefly, but doesn’t have big consequences later.

Galactus, though — he’s awesome. A thousand times better than the previous version we saw. I just wish his final form had a bit more polish — can’t explain more without spoilers — but yes, the stakes feel real. Galactus is scary and effective.

So all in all, Fantastic Four: First Steps was a great movie for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But yes — I’d advise you to manage your expectations a bit. Because for me, I was more excited for Superman this month. And after watching that, I had to lower my expectations. So when I went into this one with lower expectations, I actually enjoyed it more.

There are two post-credit scenes. The mid-credit one — don’t miss it. The final one at the very end isn’t that important. If you want to leave, you can.