Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, the Fantastic Four must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer.\

The MCU is in a bit of spot. They owned the cinema world for a spot, every movie made nearly a billion dollars, and each release was generally fulfilling (quality aside) as a theater-going experience. Now, there’s a glut of content, quality has been less than consistent, and people aren’t rushing to the theaters to watch something they can see on Disney+ in a couple months. It’s unfortunate because after the nadir of Captain America: Brave New World both The Thunderbolts* and Fantastic Four: First Steps are moving in the right direction.

WandaVision director Matt Shakman brings the fourth foray of Marvel’s first family to the big screen (ignoring the 1994 mess that never, technically, saw the light of day). It’s a fun, fast frolic worthy of the characters that launched Marvel as the comic powerhouse and has struggled in all previous iterations. Great casting (which has always been the MCU’s superpower), good story, and its own unique identity (set in a different universe than the main MCU at a nebulous time period that is roughly “the 60s”).

Starting off four (!) years after the world learned who they were, the FF’s origin is told in flashback in a bookending sequence from their appearance on a TV talk show. The family of astronaut heroes is Mr. Fantastic-Reed Richards,(Pedro Pascal), his wife, Sue, the Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), her brother, Johnny, the Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and everyone’s BFF Ben Grimm, the Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Their planet earth is marked for death by Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner) a herald of the planet-eating ancient being known as Galactus (Ralph Ineson, but really CGI) and the FF must figure out a way to stop him. That’s pretty much it, that’s the story. There are some great fight sequences, a harrowing space chase, and a few quiet character moments, but really my biggest complaint is that the movie could’ve used a few more downtime scenes. The chemistry is there between characters. Natasha Lyonne pops in as a potential love interest for Ben, and a big reminder that they’re in NYC and he’s Jewish. Sarah Niles is the group’s Chief of Staff, and Paul Walter Hauser has a great cameo as another character from FF lore.

The movie is great to see on the big screen with massive sequences in space and around New York. The characters all have their moments – Reed gets to be the smartest person in every room, but also have tremendous self-doubt when faced with the prospect of fatherhood; Sue is not only the most powerful member but also the most central figure of the group to the public and to each other; Ben is a big hunk of rock but sweet and tender; and Johnny (for the first time) gets to be both the hot head and smart enough to save the day.

I really enjoyed this movie and am enthusiastic for what comes next with the MCU. I just hope the rest of the world cares enough to keep it going. The expectation that every movie has to make a billion, and the story has to be end of the world dire isn’t helping the MCU evolve. See Fantastic Four: First Steps because it’s fun, unique, and doesn’t really require any baggage to get invested.

Jonathan’s grade – B+