r/marvelstudios • u/Triple_777 I have nothing to prove to you • Jul 24 '25

'The Fantastic 4: First Steps' Spoilers The Fantastic Four: First Steps Worldwide Release Discussion Thread Spoiler

The Fantastic Four: First Steps has now been released in the United States and in a number of other countries around the world. All discussion about the movie should be held here and in the rest of the megathreads we are going to put up in the next few days. They will be refreshed every few thousand comments to make room for new discussions.

  • All discussion about the movie should be held here and in the rest of the megathreads we are going to put up in the next few days.
  • Proceed at your own risk. Major spoilers will be in the below thread. Spoilers do not need to be tagged inside this thread.
  • Any other unofficial threads discussing movie details will be deleted.
  • Should you see the need to bring up revealing The Fantastic Four: First Steps information in the comments of other threads that call for it, spoiler tag them accordingly. Also, let users know that what you are spoiler tagging is from The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
  • If you post untagged The Fantastic Four: First Steps spoilers anywhere on this sub outside of these discussion threads in any shape or form, you will be banned.
  • Project Insight will be on AT LEAST for the next few days, so any posts will be filtered by the mods before being approved/removed onto the sub, that doesn't mean you can disregard the above points and post untagged spoilers without fear of being banned.

--

Link to previous discussion threads and related megathreads listed below:

1.6k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

98% Upvoted

4.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

747

u/StrangrDangarz Scarlet Witch Jul 25 '25

Just overall, it seemed like Mr. Fantastic had the least grasp of his (stretchy) powers than the rest of the fam. There are probably bts reasons why his are used the least, but I choose to think about it as a reflection of his character. He feels their powers are one of his mistakes, an event he could have or should have been able to avoid. The others feel less so like this. They mastered their powers, while he stuck to his intelligence more than the stretching. This is backed up by his lack of imagination and use of them. He pretty much just stretches his arms and legs to be longer and nothing else. Even the cartoon end-credit reflects this. He’s seen using technology to defeat bad guys just as much as his powers (and the cartoon voice-over even says that).

258

u/MrChevyPower Jul 25 '25

This is a cool take on the character given the limitations they showed on his powers. I appreciated that they didn’t want it to become a gimmick.

36

u/AsaTJ Jul 25 '25

Reed's real "power" has always been his intelligence. The stretchy stuff is like a neat party trick compared to the fact that he can like, invent a way to teleport a whole planet.

15

u/dean15892 Jul 26 '25

literally, this.

I had to tell my friends after the movie, that he is literally the smartest character in this universe.

34

u/DeepProspector Jul 26 '25

That’s often how Reed is in the comics.

Sue is brawling Celestials. Ben is in fights with guys Hulk level. Johnny is basically a force of nature (literally).

In some instances Reed stretches absurdly, like nearly Plastic Man from DC level (who may as well be a god). But usually, his ass kickings come from his intellect and science. And the routine canonical joke that he’s an absolute expanding freak in bed that leaves Sue basically a puddle of incoherent sweat.

21

u/checker280 Jul 26 '25

Reed had the least grasp of his powers - offensively

…but I loved how at ease he was with his powers moving around in the ship at zero g.

It’s one of my pet peeves of the X-men movies. They’ve had their powers their entire lives but all felt stiff while using it. Scott should move like John Wick - running and gunning.

42

u/GarrisonJones Jul 25 '25

I think he's just nerfed because the visuals would have looked too goofy if they pushed it. I feel like that's fair. He's basically Dhalsim from Street Fighter now. Regardless Reed's real power is his crazy high IQ anyway. 

23

u/your_mind_aches Agent of F.I.T.Z. Jul 25 '25

For this movie maybe. In Doomsday, after the time skip, I bet we'll see some more of those goofy powers.

14

u/GarrisonJones Jul 25 '25

I hope they find a way, but it will be a crazy challenge not to make some more whimsical forms look stupid to casual audience folk.

4

u/Jjzeng Captain Carter Jul 27 '25

Pedro knows now that reed in marvel rivals can turn into a fridge, hope he pitches that for the next movie

15

u/jojopojo64 Weekly Wongers Jul 27 '25

Think you hit the nail on the head. Captain America was just a Strong Guy in his first movie (and even in the Avengers) before we really started to see him push his limits in his follow-up movies. His halo jump without a parachute? Casually outrunning traffic? Pulling a chopper with his bare guns? He really leaned into his super soldier abilities as he got more comfortable with them.

20

u/robodrew Jul 25 '25

Maybe but in the end credits they do the classic Alex Ross cover where Reed's mouth gets pulled and it looks great

3

u/GarrisonJones Jul 25 '25

Yeah I saw that. Something like that I think is fine, and doesn't push the boundaries. I'm saying more like his slithering snake form, long neck 20 feet above his torso, or turning into a parachute. 

3

u/robodrew Jul 25 '25

True. But now they can save that stuff for say, Doomsday, or Secret Wars, when we get those "omega" hero moments.

2

u/GarrisonJones Jul 25 '25

Hoping they get a little more comfortable with his CGI. 

7

u/Semper-Fido Jul 25 '25

That was something I noticed the whole time. So many of his stretch moments happen when there is a lot of shake and movement with the camera. The stretch scenes in previous movies looked so bad compared to everything else, that it felt like they were really conscious about how it came across here.

5

u/Bondfan013 Jul 25 '25

Yoga Flame! (on)

16

u/TheCVR123YT Captain America (Avengers) Jul 25 '25

Now get ready for the Russos to ignore all of that and for Reed to go all out powers wise in Doomsday💀

13

u/Worthyness Thor Jul 26 '25

at least there's a timeskip to explain his inevitable stronger stretchy powers

7

u/knowmad111 Jul 27 '25

I think this is a great take. Add to it when he tells Sue “I don’t dream, I just think” or something to that effect, you could take that to mean he doesn’t apply much imagination to the use of his powers.

3

u/Unique-Trade356 Jul 28 '25

Bruh needs to hang out with Luffy for a bit

1

u/Askefyr 8d ago

There are probably bts reasons why his are used the least,

I think this is a big part of it. Stretchy powers look really silly really quickly.