Movie Review: The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

 

Review: 🎬 The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

A stunning, character driven revival that sets the stage for something bigger.

 4 out of 5

A Fantastic Four that feels as if it were filtered through the warm grain of a 1950's newsreel, is in its own way, the most surprising Marvel film in years. The choice to lean into period aesthetics right down to the lovingly recreated ABC News logos does not play as a gimmick. It becomes the film's emotional anchor, a reminder that heroism once felt earnest, analog, and unadorned. The retro feel complements the story rather than overwhelming it, grounding a tale that could easily have drifted into spectacle for spectacle's sake. Although, it is yet to be determined, but the 1950's era might leave Marvel's first family in a good position to find heroes and villains appropriate for this time period.

A film that stands on its own

What's most striking is how confidently the movie exists as its own story. It doesn't feel like a two hour trailer for the next crossover event, even though the shadows of Avengers: Doomsday are unmistakably present. The hints are there throughout the film, threads tugged, but they never hijack the narrative, instead reserve their presence in a post credit scene rather than as part of the main storyline. They function as a way of foreshadowing promise of things to come rather than a distraction.

Visual effects that serve the story

Marvel has occasionally struggled to balance digital wizardry with human drama, but here the visual effects are both stunning and restrained. They dazzle without shouting. The cosmic transformations, the dimensional distortions, the shimmering unreality of the Negative Zone are all beautiful, but they never pull focus from the characters or their struggles. The film remembers that the Fantastic Four are, above all, a family that have the same type of family dynamics as most of our families.

Performances that give the film its heart

Pedro Pascal delivers one of the most textured performances in the MCU to date. His Reed Richards is brilliant, yes, but also painfully human, an awkward, overclocked mind trapped in a body that can't stretch far enough to reach the people he loves. There's a quiet tragedy in the way Pascal play him, a man who can solve any equation except the one that keeps his family together.

Vanessa Kirby, meanwhile, gives Sue Storm a lived-in emotional reality that the franchise has never quite captured before. She plays Sue not as a superhero first, but as a mother and wife navigating the nuances of loving someone whose genius often leaves her standing just outside the door. Her performance is the film's emotional compass, and the movie connects with the audience better every time she's on screen.

A turning point for Marvel

What ultimately makes Fantastic Four feel important is not its setup for future films, but its sense of rediscovery. This is a Marvel movie that remembers how to be a Marvel movie. It remembers character, tone and texture. It remembers that spectacle means more when it's built on something human. In that sense, it marks a genuine turning point for Disney, a sign that the studio has found its footing again after a few Covid-era releases that struggled to connect with its fans.

The film doesn't just reintroduce Marvel's First Family. It reintroduces the idea that these stories can still surprise us, still move us and feel like they matter.