The new Fantastic Four movie differs substantially from other features in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While The Fantastic Four was actually the title that started the Marvel Comics superhero universe in 1961, for various legal reasons Marvel Studios couldn’t use the characters until recently. So The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place in the multiverse designation Earth-828 (a number that isn’t explained until the very end of the movie). This also is how they can justify making the setting an alternate universe where the early ’60s never ended, in order to capture the feel of the original comic. And for the most part, they do a great job of that. I mean, you can’t have the ’60s without Jell O molds. Unfortunately this attention to simulation goes out the window because they let Pedro Pascal (as super-genius patriarch Reed Richards) keep his 21st Century scraggly facial hair.
But other than that, the movie does a great job of capturing the bickering/loving dynamic of Reed, his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), her brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Even so, the film seems a bit muted because life is almost too perfect. In this world, the FF are not just the main heroes, they seem to be the only superheroes. Sue is leader of the Future Foundation, which is helping the United Nations turn the world into a real utopia. The team are beloved by everyone and have their own cartoon, product endorsements, the works. Reed’s main motivation, as in the comics, is his need to make everything perfect and account for every variable because of his guilt for the space accident that mutated the four. But it doesn’t seem to have hurt them, and Ben is the only one whose mutations are permanently obvious. “The Thing” in the comics is a natural curmudgeon who was embittered by his disfigurement, but here Moss-Bachrach as Ben is a fairly well adjusted guy who just seems exasperated by his current circumstances. Although that is the other thing this movie got right: The Fantastic Four comic was always very New York-centered and in this movie Ben can go back to his old neighborhood and buy black-and-white cookies from the kosher deli and no one makes a big deal about it.
The plot, such as it matters, centers on Sue’s pregnancy and Reed’s worry that their cosmic mutations will affect their son. This fear turns out to be justified when the Herald of Galactus (Julia Garner) shows up in New York to announce the doom of the planet. The Four travel to her location and she takes them to Galactus who offers to spare the Earth in exchange for Sue’s unborn, who has the Power Cosmic which will allow Galactus to end his eternal life and need to destroy worlds. Sue of course refuses, the team barely escapes (having to assist Sue in labor during the process) and back on Earth everyone raises the question of why the life of one baby is worth the entire planet. Reed’s attempt to save the Earth through a truly ambitious feat of super-science almost works, until it doesn’t, which leads to a backup plan that of course involves tremendous amounts of property damage.
The principals are at least good to very good, especially Vanessa Kirby, whose Sue Storm is revealed in several scenes to be the real leader of the team, whether she says so or not. But in comparing the superhero blockbusters, First Steps may be just as heroic and optimistic as Superman, but it just doesn’t have the same zing as James Gunn’s production. It’s still worth watching if you’re a Marvel fan, because now they actually have the budget to do the Fantastic Four justice. I mean… they could do worse.