‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ understands what Marvel’s first family is all about

There were some raised eyebrows when Pascal was cast as Reed Richards. Complaints that he didn’t have the right face shape, that he wouldn’t shave his moustache, or that he couldn’t handle such a complex role were tossed around the internet. 

But Pascal has breathed life into what has so far been a one-note character. He isn’t just Reed Richards, the smartest man in the world who often awkwardly misses social cues. He’s a family man, bearing an impossibly heavy burden of trying to prevent a cosmic planet-eater from consuming Earth. 

He loses his composure, grapples with hopelessness and tries to come up with answers, even when there aren’t any easy ones. He is charismatic and authoritative when he needs to be, such as when acting as a spokesperson for the team or hosting his a la Bill Nye TV show. Yet, he remains impeccably well-grounded, confiding in his fears with the rest of his family or trying to internalise the limitations of his superior intellect. Pascal fulfils all sides of Reed: the genius, the wallflower, the family man, leader and friend—as flexible as his powers imply.

Kirby takes Sue Storm and makes her more electrifying than before. Her invisibility does nothing to dampen her confident stride and commanding presence in every scene she’s in. The actress has mentioned in interviews that she’d love to take Sue onto the path of Malice—her evil alter-ego. Already, there are small glimpses of this. She’s a shrewd negotiator and a calm centre for the family to rally around, but she also exhibits small, tempestuous outbursts of fury. She portrays exactly what any mother with force field powers would: do anything to protect her child. 

Quinn has somehow found a way to make Johnny Storm simultaneously annoying and endearing. He exhibits the classic banter between him and Ben, and though the words may be interpreted as such, they are never mean-spirited. Johnny cares for his family, and though he has rarely shown it in the past, he does so now. He embraces Reed, verbally adores his sister and playfully exchanges words with Ben. Each one, in its own way, is his way of showing affection, something that the character has often failed to do in past films. He is impulsive and foolhardy, but he does everything with good intentions, and not for the sake of simply being so. But what surprised me the most was Johnny’s flashes of intelligence, especially when he translates an alien language all on his own. He’s an astronaut for a reason, and his intelligence isn’t immediately apparent because he’s often in the same room with the smartest man in the world.

By giving the team four years off-screen to develop, Marvel has freed itself from the tired, played-out conflict between Reed and Ben, allowing the Thing as a character to stand on his own two feet. There’s a tinge of joy I can’t explain when The Thing walked down Yancy Street, gently cupping a bag of black and white cookies. His Jewish heritage is apparent when he lifts a car to entertain synagogue schoolchildren. His relationship with Reed is also best seen rather than explained. The way they move in tandem as they pilot the Excelsior Rocket or how they confide in each other convinces you that they’ve been friends for ages. But that’s not to say that Ben is completely satisfied with his appearance, as there are moments, such as when he dons his familiar trench coat and stares at his reflection on the TV set, that may hint at a return to this enduring conflict.

Garner likewise deserves praise for her portrayal of the Shalla-Bal. Like her silvery form suggests, she steals every scene she is in. The way she looms, hovers and keeps coming back despite the Fantastic Four's best efforts makes her a terrifying force of (cosmic) nature. She, as a mother, serves as a mirror of sorts to Sue. She did what she had to do to save her planet and her child, and it tortures her.

Galactus is first encountered when Shalla-Bal utters his name. When the Fantastic Four first chase him into space, it is his ship. The first time they meet him, only the glow of his eyes pierce the darkness before his massive upper torso can be seen. Then, when he is finally revealed in his full form, he smashes into New York City and towers above the Statue of Liberty. This Jaws-esque sequence is a simple but effective way to convey to the audience what the heroes are dealing with. His rampage through the city goes about as you'd expect.

If there is any criticism to be had, it is that a lot of things happen too fast, too quickly, and for seemingly no other reason than to push the plot forward. 

The main offender is when Reed reveals at a press conference that they failed to repel Galactus during their battle in space. The reason? The cosmic being asked too high a price: the life of their child, so that he may rid himself of his primal hunger. It was a price that the Fantastic Four were unwilling to pay.

I do not doubt that, in a moment of carelessness or absentmindedness, Reed would have failed to anticipate the implications of his words. Yet none of the others found it odd to reveal such a damning piece of information. The world inevitably turns on the Fantastic Four, as they grumble and shake their fists at their once-heroes. Angry mobs flock to the front of the Baxter Building, news broadcasts rake them over coals and social media eats them alive. Even The Thing’s beloved Yancy Street turn their backs on him, with a small gang uttering the cutting words: “We’re your family too.” To the world, the answer was simple: give up the baby and save billions of lives.

Despite this scathing reputation, Sue manages to sway a whole crowd with a single speech about family and motherhood, washing away any negative feelings the entire world may have had. While it was unquestionably a highlight of Kirby's performance, I found it unbelievable that a speech was all it took. That’s it—no questions asked. “We’re all family, and I won’t give you up” is what her messaging boiled down to, and the entire population of Earth, without exception, returns to loving them again. Reed subsequently concludes that the only way to escape Galactus is to teleport the entire planet away, and he credits Sue’s speech as the catalyst.

There is an argument to be made that without Sue’s speech, Reed wouldn’t have come up with the idea. Even so, it was a problem that he caused, and it was delivered in such a way that the whole matter felt as though it was swept under the rug. The whole world had suddenly swung back in support; even the masses of Galactus cultists that popped up seemed to fall in line. Though in line with the film's tone of a more hopeful, optimistic and cooperative world, it already broke its own rule when the Fantastic Four became public enemy number one.

Choosing Galactus and Shalla-Bal, the Silver Surfer as the Fantastic Four’s first on-screen villains means that there’s actually very little clobbering to be had. This is both a blessing and a curse: on one hand, Galactus is the perfect test of Reed’s intellect and the bond of their family as they face near-certain doom. On the other hand, action scenes are woefully minimised; it’s telling that the most thrilling sequence was an escape scene through a wormhole. The montage of the team battling their early villains started an itch that it just couldn’t scratch again. Nevertheless, the brief windows give hope that future instalments could give us more of Mister Fantastic slingshotting himself into an orangutan, or The Thing punching through a horde of Doom-Bots.

As the fight scenes are dialed down, the film dials up its meaningful conversations, enhancing the emotional stakes. Reed and Sue’s arguments were disturbingly true to life, while Johnny’s interactions with Shalla-Bal further reinforced how he wasn’t just the hothead of the team. 

In the end, Fantastic Four: First Steps was a film less about punching bad guys and more about the core identity of Marvel’s first family. They bicker, they care and they put everything on the line to save not just each other, but the Earth they’ve taken a vow to protect. This adaptation is filled with everything fans have been dreaming for: humour, drama and enough sci-fi that would make Stan Lee and Jack Kirby smile from ear to ear. It isn’t ashamed of its source material, and it proudly shows it.

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