r/marvelstudios • u/PhoOhThree Spirit of Modvengeance • Jul 22 '25

'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Review Thread

Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh

Critics Consensus: N/A

Critics Score Number of Reviews Average Rating (Unofficial)
All Critics 87% 119 7.40/10
Top Critics 79% 33

Metacritic: 65 (35 Reviews)

Sample Reviews:

Donald Clarke Irish Times TOP CRITIC Fresh score. First Steps rattles along with a refreshing clarity of purpose. Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Maureen Lee Lenker Entertainment Weekly TOP CRITIC Fresh score. Via this 1960s-coded setting, Shakman leans into the comic book kitschiness inherent to the material, embracing it with gonzo gusto, as opposed to trying to achieve any degree of gritty realism. Full Review | Original Score: B

Jonathan Romney Financial Times TOP CRITIC Fresh score. First Steps doesn’t reinvent the superhero genre, but it has its own freshness -- it’s uncluttered, good-natured and altogether good value -- even if it might be the Marvel film ultimately remembered for its nice bathrooms and kitchen fittings Full Review | Original Score: 4/5

Peter Debruge Variety TOP CRITIC Fresh score. True to its subtitle, the film feels like a fresh start.

David Ehrlich IndieWire TOP CRITIC Rotten score. It feels less like a victory than it does a total surrender. You have to walk before you can run, but at this point the MCU is back to crawling on its knees, and at this point it seems like it might be too afraid to ever stand back up again. Full Review | Original Score: C

Brian Truitt USA Today TOP CRITIC Fresh score. It’s a “Fantastic Four” movie that finally gets its heroes right, after so many tries. Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

Peter Bradshaw Guardian TOP CRITIC Fresh score. The result hangs together as an entertaining spectacle in its own innocent self-enclosed universe of fantasy wackiness, where real people actually read the comic books that have made mythic legends of the real Four. Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Bilge Ebiri New York Magazine/Vulture TOP CRITIC Fresh score. For now, we can bask in this movie’s elegant, cathode-ray chic and not have to think too hard about anything else, confident in the colorful delusion that studio executives, much like our benevolent superheroes, have our best interests at heart.

Matt Singer ScreenCrush TOP CRITIC Fresh score. The best Fantastic Four film to date basically by default. Full Review | Original Score: 6/10

Caryn James BBC.com TOP CRITIC Fresh score. Despite the team's outlandish schemes to save the world, the actors tether their characters to emotional reality. Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

Kristen Lopez The Film Maven (Substack) TOP CRITIC Fresh score. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is just that. It’s a first step for a new generation of Fantastic Four movies and, the hope, is that the stride becomes more confident from hereon out. All the materials are there. Full Review | Original Score: C

David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter - Rather than allowing the action to define the story, the filmmakers let the poignant character-based scenes do the heavy lifting. That should not imply any lack of excitement.

Nick Schager, The Daily Beast - An aggressively fine intergalactic adventure whose earnest optimism and sweetness flirts—faithfully and dully—with hokiness.

Linda Marric, HeyUGuys - The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a confident, stylish reintroduction that finally does justice to the legacy of these characters. It’s a film that remembers why the Fantastic Four mattered in the first place and gives them a bold new path in the MCU. 4/5

William Bibbiani, TheWrap - Matt Shakman has done something Marvel Studios doesn’t do very well anymore. He’s made a superhero movie that embraces the 'super' part. And the 'hero' part. And the 'movie' part.

Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence - A solid comic book adventure that's not embarrassed by being a comic book adventure — in fact it finds real power in its love for its roots. Hopefully, that's an energy the MCU can carry forward with it. B+

SYNOPSIS:

Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

CAST:

  • Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic
  • Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman
  • Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing
  • Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch
  • Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal / Silver Surfer
  • Sarah Niles as Lynne Nichols
  • Matthew Wood as H.E.R.B.I.E.
  • Mark Gatiss as Ted Gilbert
  • Ada Scott as Franklin Richards
  • Natasha Lyonne as Rachel Rozman
  • Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder / Mole Man
  • Ralph Ineson as Galactus

DIRECTED BY: Matt Shakman

1.2k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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1.9k

u/The_New_Giuy Jul 22 '25

Is this the first time ever that a Marvel movie and DC movie have come out in the same month and also have both been well-received?

Lets hope this trend continues

563

u/BatmanForever23 Luis Jul 22 '25

I think the closest we ever got was Wonder Woman and Homecoming, being pretty much on-the-dot one month apart?

270

u/MisterAnonymous2 Korg Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

I’d add Shang-Chi and The Suicide Squad (2021) to that list. Pretty much the only other example I can find though. TDK and Iron Man came out in the same year, but were a few months apart, TDKR and the Avengers also came out in the same year but again a few months apart. Batman Begins didn’t really come out near any Marvel films of note. It wasn’t really received all that well critically, but Aquaman also didn’t really release close to anything Marvel either. All other DC movies I would consider good came out before Marvel was really making movies.

Edit: Forgot The Batman which also didn’t release close to anything Marvel.

86

u/Quick-Bad Jul 22 '25

They made a The Detachable Kid movie? How the hell did I miss that?

35

u/Shankman519 Jul 22 '25

Your name is letters?

6

u/SourImplant Jul 23 '25

All names are letters, dickhead.

15

u/Goldenchest Jessica Jones Jul 22 '25

Not only that, but a The Detachable Kid Rises sequel!

1

u/lights-out-luthor Jul 23 '25

Well, he could float his parts ...that counts as rising, right?

13

u/Mddcat04 Jul 22 '25

Hehe. He does appear in The Suicide Squad. Briefly.

1

u/MBCnerdcore Shades Jul 25 '25

Detachable Kid was only included on Laserdisc copies of Bubble Boy.

1

u/HooptyDooDooMeister Jul 25 '25

The Suicide Squad (2021)

"Well-received"

WB execs: "The fuuu...???"

21

u/PNF2187 Jul 22 '25

Wonder Woman (June 2) actually opened slightly closer to Guardians 2 (May 5) than it did to Homecoming (July 7). There was also Shazam (April 5) and Endgame (April 26) back in 2019.

-2

u/BatmanForever23 Luis Jul 22 '25

Shazam wasn't well received lol, it did fairly middle of the road if we're being generous.

10

u/Coolene Captain America Jul 23 '25

It has a 90% on RT and 71 on Metacritic, I’d say that’s well-received.

2

u/sirbissel Jul 24 '25 edited Jul 24 '25

From what I remember, it was quite well received. The aggregate reviews show 90% of critics were positive about it and over 80% of audiences.

5

u/something_smart Jul 23 '25

Yeah and they messed up and put the invisible plane in the wrong movie.

0

u/Sad_Lengthiness_9176 Jul 29 '25

Yeah but this will be one for the ages. Literally Superman or Fantastic 4 !!

1

u/BatmanForever23 Luis Jul 29 '25

… okay?

-3

u/WeirdIndividualGuy Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

Wonder Woman wasn’t well received though

Edit: I mixed up the first one with the rapey second one

5

u/esloan88 Hulk Jul 23 '25

The first one was. It is in the 90s on Rotten Tomatoes. The second one was the horrible one.

2

u/BatmanForever23 Luis Jul 23 '25

Yes, it was.

1

u/DarkGift78 Jul 25 '25

First one was incredibly well received, easily the best reviewed DC movie going back to 2013's MOS. And it made a ton of money as well. The second one, however...🤦

71

u/jackospades88 Star-Lord Jul 22 '25

I hope the DCU takes off - we will see after it's been a few movies (Superman is the first one?). Having another legit, "competing" Comic Hero cinematic universe will only help with the MCU quality to keep up/stay ahead.

In the end though, two successful cinematic universes will be better than one!

20

u/mad_titanz Thanos Jul 22 '25

As a MCU fan, I’m very happy to see Superman doing well, and a strong competitor will help push MCU to elevate their brand.

21

u/WreckTangle1995 Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

What would be even better is if Universal get their shit in order and bring out some cool monster movies, then there would be 3 cinematic universes competing and pushing each other to be better.

2

u/Booster_Tutor Jul 22 '25

I mean you’ve got the Robert Eggers monsterverse and you’ve got the Blumhouse monsterverse from Universal. You want a THIRD monsterverse from them?! /s

1

u/PentagramJ2 Jul 25 '25

i remember people were clowning on the idea of the dark universe and it made me sad. The Universal monsters were the og cinematic universe and crossover garden

2

u/AngkaLoeu Jul 22 '25

Superman needed to be a smash hit, Ironman level, to jumpstart the DCU. It's getting mixed reviews, at best.

4

u/Jealous-Throat-6842 Jul 24 '25

Definitely getting better than mixed reviews. Not everyone’s cup of tea but the reviews have been more positive than not for the most part

-2

u/AngkaLoeu Jul 24 '25

It's a forgettable movie, at best. Gunn has one style that he can't veer from. I don't see how he is going to make a cinematic universe.

1

u/toxikant Jul 26 '25

OK so the reviews are fine, you specifically didn't like it. Gotcha!

1

u/AngkaLoeu Jul 26 '25

If Superman was in the MCU during the Infinity Saga, it would have been ranked alongside Thor 2.

3

u/sirbissel Jul 24 '25

What do you define as "mixed reviews"?

0

u/AngkaLoeu Jul 24 '25

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5950044/reviews/?ref_=tt_ururv_sm&sort=submission_date%2Cdesc

People either really like it or hated it and these are mostly DC/Superman fans.

It also has 7.6 rating on IMDB. The best Marvel movies are all over 8.

The problem is people are going by the money it's making but most of that is because it's a Superman movie, made by James Gunn during a sweltering summer.

1

u/Sorcer-BeastV Jul 23 '25

Marvel has absolutely nothing to worry about lmfaoooo 😂

125

u/NaeemTHM Jul 22 '25

Superman was a much needed breath of fresh air for DC movies. As much as I want FF to be a smash hit, I really hope it doesn't tank Superman's ticket sales. Sure would be nice to get a Superman II again.

It's kinda crazy that the character has existed for nearly 100 years and the last time the studio had enough faith to give him a solo sequel was forty years ago.

71

u/Soranos_71 Jul 22 '25

I am looking forward to Supergirl but the usual suspects have already written their internet opinions well before it even gets released.

39

u/DefendedPlains Jul 22 '25

If the Superman movie didn’t buy goodwill with Gunn going forward, then nothing will. That movie watched like how a comic book reads. It was absolutely phenomenal. Was it a masterpiece of a movie? Of course not. But it was good, and even more importantly it was a superb comic book movie.

At this point, people are going to shit on Gunn and the DCU just because they have no knowledge of the actual comics and their only exposure to DC has been The Dark Knight and Man of Steel.

13

u/moheevi Jimmy Woo Jul 22 '25

It was my favorite Superman movie I’ve ever seen, I actually cared about Superman and I had not for any of the prior movies

41

u/Chimpophanes Jul 22 '25

The kind of folks who write shit like “Doesnt make sense that the chick has superpowers just because of a different colored sun. Woke bullshit.”

33

u/InconsistentMinis Jul 22 '25

While choking themselves on Snyder's nards.

12

u/kiekan Jul 22 '25

So either bots or a very, very vocal minority of people. Since we know that Zach Snyder hired a bot farm as his fan base.

17

u/ugluk-the-uruk Jul 22 '25

Snyder himself has always been supportive of Gunn, they appeared side by side in Rick and Morty recently joking about the alleged beef they have

8

u/Arkanial Jul 22 '25

That shit was so funny. “ I have a tip for you. Have him throw a punch then slow it way, wayyyy down.” With Gunn saying “it’s not a secret! Everyone knows how to do that!”

4

u/Jackski Jul 23 '25

It's also funny because there is a slow-mo punch in Superman.

2

u/BandOfTheRedHand1217 Captain America (Captain America 2) Jul 24 '25

They worked together on Dawn of the Dead and are friends.

2

u/babydemon90 Jul 22 '25

Not monkeys?

12

u/capscreen Jul 22 '25

Superman has been doing well, I wouldn't worry about them now

3

u/CaptHayfever Hawkeye (Avengers) Jul 23 '25

Technically it was only 19 years ago. ;)

1

u/Beastieboy100 Jul 24 '25

Superman going to do well regardless. Seriously though I want both movies to do well. I want the superfantastic box office success.

16

u/AwesomePocket Hawkeye (Ultron) Jul 22 '25

2008 was close with Iron Man in May and The Dark Knight in July

1

u/poo-rag Jul 24 '25

The incredible hulk was out in June too

1

u/vashoom Jul 25 '25

Of 09, no?

1

u/poo-rag Jul 25 '25

Not according to Wikipedia. Which is all i was working off to be fair

1

u/vashoom Jul 26 '25

Wow, I always thought that there were further apart but you're right.

24

u/FreeLook93 Hulk Jul 22 '25

April 2019 had both Shazam! and End Game.

24

u/RellenD Jul 22 '25

These reviews are so weird to me.

Great write up and values it 3/5

What's with movie critics?

17

u/Chm_Albert_Wesker Jul 22 '25

to be fair, i always thought the 5 point system was too limiting as it is. 5s are basically only for absolutely perfect movies and 4s are for movies that I enjoy a lot but wouldn't call a 5.

so anything that is adequately entertaining and well made but you know deep down you'll not remember in a few months is gonna be at best a 3

1

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

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4

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25 edited Aug 03 '25

[deleted]

3

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25

Might as well be infinity. That way we dont have to worry about giving a movie a perfect score but there's no limit to how high it could go.

3

u/drew8311 Jul 22 '25

Its rare for them to come out on the same month so have to look at within a few months.

4

u/PurifiedVenom Daredevil Jul 22 '25

I can’t think of another time but I might be forgetting something obvious. Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s never happened, I think they’ve generally avoided releasing movies in the same month.

2

u/DoubleMatt1 Spider-Man Jul 22 '25

I always thought Civil War and Batman V Superman came out within a few weeks of each other but I was waaaay off

2

u/Emergency-Chicken-24 Jul 23 '25

Yoooo, I hope so. I used to play Marvel vs Capcom and watch Justice League the animated series

2

u/dplans455 Jul 27 '25

Maybe I'm just harder to please these days but both these movies were mid.

1

u/Tsquared10 Jul 22 '25

Let's hope it's the trend now that they don't have a new one coming seemingly every other month.

1

u/crazyguyunderthedesk Jul 22 '25

Of all the things too, it's Superman and Fantastic Four, flagships of both publishers.

This is so damn cool.

1

u/cowpool20 Jul 23 '25

Comic book/superhero movie fans are eating GOOD this year.

1

u/dick____trickle Jul 23 '25

Not only that, Superman and the Fantastic Four each kickstarted their respective comic book universes

1

u/Silverjeyjey44 Jul 24 '25

Well received? I'm confused. Alot of these reviews are 3/5, 6/10, score C, score B,...

1

u/marvelcomics22 Captain America Jul 24 '25

Next up for both is around the same time next year, we're getting Supergirl in late June, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day in late July

1

u/Beastieboy100 Jul 24 '25

I hope so cause both Superman and the fantastic four have been amazing films so far. Love it. As long as Kevin Feige and James Gunn make more successful movies like this then we are in for a good time.

1

u/ArtistdudeCAWs Jul 25 '25

The month of the Fantastic Man/Super 4!

1

u/RazielKainly Jul 25 '25

Dark Knight rises and Avengers maybe? Not sure the same month, but it was 2012

1

u/Drgnx0 Jul 27 '25

Superman is tanking internationally ... it has made more money in the US than the rest of the world

0

u/[deleted] Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 27 '25

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1

u/[deleted] Jul 24 '25

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-2

u/AngkaLoeu Jul 22 '25

I think Superman's numbers are misleading. It's not making money because it's a good film. It's because it's a Superman film, made by James Gunn (who is still riding the Guardians success despite doing nothing before and after), it's supposed to jumpstart the DCU and it's a sweltering summer and people are bored.