Apologies to Thunderbolts*, but this is where the MCU really needs the win. Marvel’s tried The Fantastic Four a few times now, and have only gotten progressively worse with each attempt. And yet, expectations were high with this one, because of this movie’s lynchpin nature with regards to the future of their cinematic universe. Does First Steps really feel like a fresh start? Or a gasp before we put Marvel in a retirement home? Let’s see…
We’re on an alternate Earth, Earth 828, from the rest of the Avengers. Here, The Fantastic Four are the heroes of this world, protecting this planet from all the threats inside and out. These celeb heroes are gonna get one more too, as Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) finds out that her and husband Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) are going to have a baby together, to the delight of her brother Johnny (Joseph Quinn) and honorary uncle Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Before the baby is born, Reed and his team have other problems to deal with, when the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) shows up, proclaiming Galactus is coming soon…to devour the planet.
Mega producer Kevin Feige certainly got the right pieces in place for this Fantastic Four to be probably the best one so far. Our 4 leads are excellently cast: Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby have shown onscreen and off they are a great match, perfect to be the celebrity supercouple in this universe. Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach give two different energies to the comic relief, nicely bouncing off each other and getting more than few good chuckles in there. Julia Garner has been playing conflicted heroines for years now as our tortured dark prophet on a surf board, and Ralph Ineson gives Galactus the menacing deep voice necessary to make our big bad really feel that way. Special literal props to that department and makeup and costume, making this movie feel like a live action Jetsons episode, 1960s version of what 2050 would look like. Throw a great Michael Giacchino score over the top of that, and you’ve got a deep level of talent director Matt Shakman can hopefully steer the ship toward a Fantastic Four Jack Kirby would have wanted in his dreams.
But alas, that high floor does not hit its high ceiling. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some good stuff in here, like the chase with the Silver Surfer and the general cerebral battles unique to this story. But the story, like a sausage, was ground up by the Marvel machine, filled with too many notes that don’t quite work together. It’s almost as if Feige demanded a specific ending, and had Shakman and the writers work backwards from there. Other than the very clever opening montage setting up the team, the movie focuses too much on the Fantastic part of their title, and not the 4. I would have loved 10-15 minutes of our four awesome leads just shooting the sh*t with each other at family dinner, building the story around their bonds. Instead, within 5 minutes, the plot kicks in and each of our leads is off on little mini adventures that only team up when the story demands it. That story as well, is built to set up the future of the MCU and not establish our Marvel First Family, sidelining them inside their own movie, kind of a bummer. This is why we don’t want to see how the sausage is made.
I don’t think the MCU is “over” after watching Fantastic Four. But I am concerned. After watching James Gunn take DC and Superman back to character basics, I hope Marvel considers doing the same with Doomsday. Just blow ALL of it up, and start over. No one will be mad…in fact, many people will be elated, like Sebastian Stan, now free of his lifetime contract he signed 15+ years ago.