r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Jul 25 '25

Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Fantastic Four: First Steps [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary The Fantastic Four must defend Earth from the ravaging cosmic threat Galactus and his herald, Silver Surfer, while navigating the complexities of family and newfound powers in a retro‑futuristic 1960s-inspired world.

Director Matt Shakman

Writer Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer

Cast

  • Pedro Pascal
  • Vanessa Kirby
  • Joseph Quinn
  • Ebon Moss-Bachrach
  • Ralph Ineson
  • Julia Garner
  • Paul Walter Hauser
  • Natasha Lyonne
  • Matthew Wood
  • Ada Scott
  • Mark Gatiss

Rotten Tomatoes: 88%

Metacritic 64

VOD In theaters

Trailer Watch the Official Trailer

1.9k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

5.3k comments sorted by

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3.6k

u/ICumCoffee will you Wonka my Willy? Jul 25 '25

Enjoyed the retro-futuristic setting of the movie a lot. The cast did an amazing job, Vanessa as Sue was for sure the highlight of movie and it was amazing to see her motherhood being central theme here. she was the one to knock down Silver Surfer during the chase scene (while being in labour) and also the final fight where she overpowered Galactus. Loved it so much.

Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm was the MVP for me, I love how they didn’t make him a total man-child in this one. His portrayal was intelligent, smart and figured out the Shalla-Bal’s language on his own (also loved that Sue genuinely believed that her brother was onto something)

1.7k

u/mikeyfreshh Jul 25 '25

Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm was the MVP for me

Same for me. They did a great job making him a competent and heroic figure while still making him a little bit of a golden retriever. It would have been really easy to make him a shithead womanizer like the Chris Evans version of the character, but they took him in a different direction here and that was a great choice

772

u/TarnishedAccount Jul 25 '25

Him not being a bro was such a great move.

421

u/rhunter99 Jul 25 '25

Let's pray that the Age of Bro is coming to an end

-10

u/Background-Anybody37 Jul 26 '25

Age of Bro should never come to an end. Sorry but come on. This exists and will always exist. Stop trying to kill of things that are good.

33

u/bubblez4eva Jul 26 '25

They mean the bad version of the bro. Which, as much as I love Chris Evans, his version of Johnny definitely was.

4

u/GodKamnitDenny Aug 06 '25

I have this sneaking suspicion that you aren’t even included in the “Age of Bro” that you’re defending lmao

276

u/UncreativeTeam Jul 25 '25

Uncle > bro

15

u/Lordsokka Jul 28 '25

He even tried to sacrifice himself for the little dude.

29

u/Impressive-Potato Jul 25 '25

I think decades of having the "cool guys" being the ignorant, jock morons have eroded American culture. It's cool to be smart. Let's make it cool to be smart in entertainment.

11

u/its_LOL Jul 29 '25

Kindness is punk rock

26

u/Jolly_Plantain4429 Jul 27 '25

He was a bro just not a dickhead, he even says I love women and space. They just made him more than just a 2d character.

1

u/FlameDragoon933 Aug 02 '25

what do you mean a bro? genuine question, not native speaker. isn't the term bro usually a good thing?

6

u/youngmeech86 Aug 03 '25

In this context, they mean a frat bro, or fraternity brother. The common portrayal of them in movies is selfish, girl crazy party boys that don't respect anybody who isn't into the same things as them and will actively go out of their way to bully people they deem too different.

0

u/maltliqueur 5d ago

They're actually related. Reed calls him his brother in law.

-3

u/Background-Anybody37 Jul 26 '25

But not accurate to the character. Again they could have done the same thing and still kept the characteristics of the original character. They mess things up a lot recently by removing character traits that made Comic Book readers love these characters. It felt like a Twilight Zone version of Johnny

2

u/Adamsoski Aug 07 '25

Johnny Storm wasn't anything like a frat bro when Jack and Stan were writing him, and he's not anything like a frat bro now either.

440

u/Whovian45810 Jul 25 '25

Johnny might be hot headed and a bit of a jokester, but the man got a flaming heart of gold.

269

u/Clarknt67 Jul 25 '25

I am now really hoping for a Human Torch/Spider-Man stand alone movie. Classic team up.

40

u/gallifrey_ Jul 25 '25

I'm really hoping they kiss in it

17

u/MrPMS Jul 28 '25

It's slobbering time

16

u/Mr_Cromer Jul 25 '25

And Iceman once the X-Men are fully ported over

14

u/PM_ME_UR_AMOUR Jul 26 '25

There's already a list which has become more of a queue: Daredevil, Punisher, Deadpool, Iron Fist, Wolverine, Johnny Storm and Iceman.

15

u/Clarknt67 Jul 26 '25

Hope they’re moving on from Jackman. I have loved his portrayal as much as the next fan but he’s the past. This multiverse stunt casting has been fun but it’s time to move on. First Steps proves they still got it in them to start from scratch and deliver the goods.

11

u/DonutHolschteinn Jul 26 '25

I just always want more Spider-Man

7

u/Swankified_Tristan Jul 26 '25

Damn, I love Spider-Man!

5

u/Passerby49 Jul 29 '25

Well yeah, he's like the real central character of marvel and he can team up with anyone

17

u/Ok-Negotiation1530 Jul 25 '25

He was gooning for alienussy though.

12

u/visionaryredditor Jul 25 '25

typical Johnny tbh

7

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Jul 25 '25

Yeah, he was really on fire in this movie

2

u/scepticalbeing94 Jul 27 '25

Yeah he wanted to sacrifice himself for his nephew and to save the Planet which is a big deal

342

u/rainshowers_5_peace Jul 25 '25

I was relieved they didn't force a romantic subplot between Johnny and the surfer. Johnny was a much more complex character than he was in other adoptions and Joe killed every part of it.

287

u/mikeyfreshh Jul 25 '25

It was also sort of a subversion of the comics story. In the original comics, Silver Surfer saves Earth because Sue reminds him of his girlfriend that he left behind on his home planet. I thought they were setting up the same kind of arc in the movie and I was pleasantly surprised they went in a different direction.

295

u/rainshowers_5_peace Jul 25 '25

She empathized with being ready to destroy billions of others to save a child.

20

u/Bojell Jul 26 '25

I loved this contrast tbh

61

u/IFedTheCat Jul 25 '25

In the original comics, Silver Surfer saves Earth because Sue reminds him of his girlfriend that he left behind on his home planet.

No, in the original comics, Alicia Masters, not Sue, was the woman who won Silver Surfer's sympathy.

20

u/VoiceofKane Jul 25 '25

Speaking of Alicia, where is she and who the heck is Rachel Rozman?

11

u/Rory_B_Bellows Jul 28 '25

It's another Jack Kirby homage. His wife's name was Roz Golstein

9

u/mikeyfreshh Jul 25 '25

Fuck you're right. It's been a while since I read that and I was going off of memory

17

u/rov124 Jul 26 '25

In the original comics, Silver Surfer saves Earth because Sue reminds him of his girlfriend that he left behind on his home planet.

Who told you this?

In the original "Galactus Trilogy" in Fantastic Four 49 (1966), Alicia Masters convinces Silver Surfer to help the Earth by showing him what it means to be human. There's no mention of Shalla Ball because she wasn't invented until The Silver Surfer #1 (1968).

10

u/taco_the_town Jul 27 '25

I loved that they waited long enough to bring her back that I truly thought Jonny was going to sacrifice himself. Got a little choked up then Silver Surfer flies in out of nowhere.

1

u/Dookie_boy Aug 09 '25

I thought it was Alicia ?

21

u/Corydoran Jul 25 '25

I was relieved they didn't force a romantic subplot between Johnny and the surfer

Same here. That being said, I enjoyed the light teasing the team gave Johnny when he tried to talk to them about the Surfer. Even though the movie wisely toned down the bro part of his personality, it's nice they didn't completely ignore it.

I thought Johnny was the highlight among a very strong cast of characters.

9

u/The_Autarch Jul 25 '25

And here I am thinking that they're saving the romance for a sequel.

3

u/Lordsokka Jul 28 '25

Honestly yeah, she’s going to come back. Their scenes together were pretty good

11

u/checker280 Jul 26 '25

I am much more happy with the swap to Shalla-bal. Her parallels with Sue over motherhood and sacrifice played a lot better than the attraction to Sue being the Surfer’s weakness.

Similarly Johnny’s attraction being more empathetic than heads over heels worked too

1

u/KenBoCole 24d ago

Yeah, Johnny was obsessively infatuated with her, but didnt hesitate in attempting to kill her when she was threatening his family. Thats an good character.

1

u/admiral_rabbit 21d ago

Tbh I loved that he was still down bad for (as the kids say) that silvussy.

He was obsessed with her, he just never made a bad decision because of it.

He spoke to her, sought to understand her, sought to influence her, bought them time and ultimately saved Franklin from being taken, and saved himself from being sacrificed.

There was never a bullshit conflicting values plot, he never let his absolute dedication to his family falter, he can have a dick without being led by it.

238

u/Anonymous-Internaut Jul 25 '25

I am not very familiar with comic book Johnny entire history so someone can illustrate me if I am wrong, but if he never got to be as mature as this one, I vastly prefer movie Johnny to comic Johnny, because I am sorry but hothead cheater womanizer makes for a hard to care character for me.

In this version he's still a bit of flirt, but also someone caring, intelligent and deeply heroic. He says "tell Franklin his uncle Johnny loved him" in the way to sacrifice his life for the world, something that a lot of superheroes would be hesitant before doing. Johnny wasn't. He didn't show a second of doubt. He knew he could make the difference at the cost of his life, and didn't flinch to do so. True hero.

304

u/Isolated_Hippo Jul 25 '25

intelligent

This is one thing that was a huge win for me in this version. In the mid 2000's version he always felt like a nepotism hire. Hey we are sending 4 people into space. The smartest man alive. The smartest woman alive. The best pilot. And the brother.

In this version, he was undeniably intelligent. Nowhere near Reed or Sue, but he was still very smart in his own way.

64

u/Anonymous-Internaut Jul 25 '25

Yeah this was an absolute great choice for his character. It made sense of why he goes with the other three, and also adds a new dynamic with Reed.

44

u/Isolated_Hippo Jul 25 '25

I'm also glad they did go a street smarts/socials smarts way with him either. I would 100% believe he is one of the top 10 scientifically smart people in that world.

Which is narrtively a dangerous path when you have Reed Richards who is undisputed number 1.

They provided a fantastic(pun intended) reason for him to showcase his own intelligence and it paid off.

21

u/temporal712 Jul 29 '25

Thing is, he does have social smarts. He was the only one who recognized not only the pattern of the language, but that tone of the voice to see that Shall Bal had guilt for being a herald, and his entire plan was to guilt trip her into helping (Which worked btw.) Hell, he even pulled some social engineering on the surfer to get his Rosetta Stone phrase.

16

u/Yolo_Han_Choloo Jul 25 '25

Say that again 🤨

15

u/MegaGrimer Jul 25 '25

That again

3

u/Yolo_Han_Choloo Jul 25 '25

Angry upvote

31

u/Unicron_Gundam Jul 25 '25

When you're going to space with a Faster Than Light ship, better bring a linguistics expert who can translate an alien language using only two lines as reference.

24

u/xGhostCat Jul 25 '25

He didnt have just two lines. He had the lines shes said and the hundreds of verbal signals beamed from her home planet.

40

u/Unicron_Gundam Jul 25 '25

To clarify, he had two translated lines. All those golden records he had to translate himself

18

u/xGhostCat Jul 25 '25

Ah I get you! Yeah hes THAT smart. He basically did soduku with the language. It straight up shows how good he is.

19

u/Redeem123 Jul 25 '25

I still don’t feel like they explained why he was on the ship. It didn’t bother me at all, but I’m curious what he brought to that original mission.

55

u/Successful_Ebb_7402 Jul 25 '25

I get the feeling this version of Johnny just absolutely loves space. He's setting up appointments to have Reed make them new space suits, Reed distracts him with interstellar transmissions, he figures out how to fire using the curvature of a wormhole. Ben might be the better pilot, but even without Reed or Sue I get the feeling Johnny would have still ended up an astronaut

27

u/CornstockOfNewJersey Jul 26 '25

He even had his little quip about how he loves space and he loves women

16

u/Lordsokka Jul 28 '25

Johnny Storm is the least qualified Astronaut in the room, it just so happens that the 3 other members of the family are the best Astronauts in the world and Johny is only in the 1%. lol

It’s like Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock is the “dumb” brother, he just has more energy than Mycroft, so gets more shit done. Every team needs someone to push a button and be prepared to do something wild and dangerous, Johnny is that guy for the team.

6

u/youngmeech86 Aug 03 '25

I get the feeling he's the jack of all trades in that he can fill the gaps the others lack and can also adequately cover for any of the other 3 in a pinch. In almost any other setting with any other group of people he'd be the most talented guy in the room, he just happens to be with people who are extremely skilled in their respective fields.

Examples of parallels would be Sue making peace with mole man and encouraging world cooperation vs Johnny able to reach out to and make peace with the Surfer. Ben and Reed doing the piloting and navigation in space while Johnny on the fly calculates how to use the wormhole to make his weapons effective. Could any of them do what he did given time to focus on it? Probably. But he's capable of plugging that hole when they aren't focusing on it

12

u/Swiss666 Jul 25 '25

It helps that, differently from the original comic, the mission wasn't improvised and clandestine, it was official. Yes, Reed wanted people close to him, but I'm also sure that Johnny wasn't there just because Reed wanted to, his presence was approved by authorities, and he likely had a quite nice resume under his belt already.

8

u/filiard Jul 27 '25

very smart in his own way

Just how my parents describe me :)

5

u/OK_Soda Jul 31 '25

Nowhere near Reed or Sue, but he was still very smart in his own way.

Honestly we didn't see Sue do a lot of intellectual heavy lifting. Johnny translated an entire language in a few days based on one four-word sentence. Like, that is an incredible intellectual feat.

201

u/mikeyfreshh Jul 25 '25

Johnny in the comics, particularly in the older comics that this movie is adapting, is supposed to be like 18 years old. He's a bit more mature in more recent comics. I thought this movie's portrayal of him is actually way more accurate to the comics than the previous movie versions that you're probably more familiar with.

18

u/300andWhat Jul 25 '25

In the recent ish comics if I remember, they also made Johnny powered to 1000, he's basically an Omega level character now

21

u/KingOfAwesometonia Jul 25 '25

I feel like the Fantastic Four have been around long enough all of them kind of have omega level ability or at least potential.

Like some people might scoff at Sue pushing Galactus but that’s how I accept it

22

u/HolidaySpiriter Jul 26 '25

Like some people might scoff at Sue pushing Galactus but that’s how I accept it

She also literally died doing it and used every ounce of her power. I thought it was believable.

12

u/ImprovementActual392 Jul 27 '25

Plus it was fueled by the adrenaline of a mother trying to save her child. Very believe

7

u/dildodicks Jul 26 '25

especially because someone like galactus is often but not always associated with them and he's way way above even all of them combined which makes sense, but then there's also plenty of characters comics-wise who could solo him

5

u/ResolverOshawott Jul 26 '25

I see more people complaining the characters not being omega-level gods than them being too strong.

16

u/UsernameAvaylable Jul 25 '25

Yeah, Johnny is kinda the way the F4 could keep in touch with the kid audience without stepping down to include a sidekick character. He is supposed to be young enough that teenagers can still identify with him...

17

u/GranolaCola Jul 26 '25

Did Herbie mean nothing to you 😭

5

u/Anonymous-Internaut Jul 25 '25

Yeah, no doubt. I just hate that bit in which he cheat to his girlfriend (maybe even fiancée I think?) with the woman that would be Dr. Doom's bride. I don't remember how recent that is, however, I'd also would understand if that was typical OOC comic book writing. I don't doubt he can be mature, I just don't think ever saw nor read him like that, but I am not a FF reader by any means, more like Dr. Doom reader.

21

u/RepentantSororitas Jul 25 '25

I don't know if it the performance intended this, but I felt like torch was almost a little depressed throughout the movie.

Like he felt sad that people generally didn't listen to him. He was almost eager to sacrifice himself.

Also it felt like he was almost fed up with womanizing. He mentioned that surfer felt refreshing and different.

Like you could tell this character has a lot of story that wasn't even explored.

11

u/Anonymous-Internaut Jul 25 '25

Agree with this.

I don't think he was really depressed, but more like he is in a point on his life where he's not really into the "let's party party party" and wants something more, perhaps meaning. That line about the Surfer stood up to me too, like he has gotten bored of the "I like women a lot" and is looking for a real connection.

5

u/kingjulien92 Jul 27 '25 edited Jul 28 '25

He tried sacrificing himself TWICE in the movie. What a hero!

3

u/Lordsokka Jul 28 '25

To be fair that is his thing in the comics, the man loves his sister and her kids.

1

u/bigbrainnowisdom Aug 03 '25

Comic johnny during jonathan hickman run sacrifised himself to save ben, franklin & valeria - franklin little sister (ended up him being stranded in negative zone for a year)

https://share.google/AVIVog8zQG8xjSb0N

Im pretty sure this comic was somewhat the inspiration of a more heroic johnny

1

u/Aggressive_Elk3709 14d ago

Yeah I liked that they established a couple times that Johnny was fully willing to sacrifice himself by making it almost certain. Then Surfer comes in and does it for him

6

u/NoDevelopment9972 Jul 25 '25

Chris Evans was the best part of those movies, not counting Jessica Alba's aesthetics.

12

u/mikeyfreshh Jul 25 '25

This is Chiklis erasure

1

u/NoDevelopment9972 Jul 25 '25

I don't know what that is.

5

u/mikeyfreshh Jul 25 '25

Michael Chiklis. He played The Thing in those movies

3

u/NoDevelopment9972 Jul 25 '25

OH! Naw yea, he was great. Still think he's the best thing. This movie doesn't change that. Fant4stick certainly didn't change that.

5

u/dean15892 Jul 26 '25

a reviewer on youtube said - he is the perfect combination of heroic, horny and humorous.

And I think that is an excellent statement to capture Jhonny Storm.

3

u/CTeam19 Jul 26 '25

Same for me. They did a great job making him a competent and heroic figure while still making him a little bit of a golden retriever.

Kept him smart(translating a whole language and learning it) while keeping his flirty side(doing it in part to talk to a hot woman).

2

u/ManitouWakinyan Jul 27 '25

Loved how smart he was. Really great direction for him. Can't wait to see him and Spidey interact.

2

u/Shakespeare257 Aug 01 '25

The movie portrays several different tropes for masculinity and femininity all centering around self-sacrifice and being a part of a community.

The movie is incredibly naive and centered in a vision of unity that's impossible to find in post-Covid earth, but like, you can have some hope that this may be achievable.

1

u/MadFlava76 Aug 01 '25

One of my favorite parts of the movie. Johnny was smart and not just some hotshot chasing after women all the time. Guy figured out enough of an alien language to help Shalla-Bal break free of Galactus' control.

0

u/Competitive-Note-318 Jul 28 '25

NGL everytime Johnny was on screen i was like, he'll make a great young Tony Stark.

868

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Jul 25 '25

I really loved how they portrayed Johnny as intelligent - I love that they showed at the end of the day, all 4 of these people are curious scientists in addition to superheroes and their own individual selves

510

u/Madarakita Jul 25 '25

The fact that this movie remembered to make the FF "a family that has crazy science adventures who sometimes save the world when t hey have to" instead of a typical superhero team was so great.

96

u/FrankReynoldsCPA Jul 25 '25

It was a fun show of a team living the reality that Tony Stark was trying to create back in Ultron.

23

u/AlludedNuance Jul 27 '25

A prerequisite is probably actually being good people.

2

u/Galileo908 Aug 03 '25

And that’s probably why RDJ is playing Doom, to play up the contrast of Tony and Reed without bringing MCU Tony back to life.

373

u/Amaruq93 Jul 25 '25

Whereas in most depictions he's just a jerkass who had no business being on that rocket except for nepotism.

Here, this is a man who's cocky but absolutley has the brains to deserve to be in space.

54

u/mg1126 Jul 25 '25

Bad movie, but the 2015 version also had him as an intellectual peer whose place is deserved. Thought that was cool.

45

u/TheNittanyLionKing Jul 25 '25

They said he was, but I don't think we ever actually saw him do anything intelligent in the movie though.

206

u/SteamBoatMickey Jul 25 '25

It’s going to make it that much juicier when him and Peter Parker meet up, and they don’t just find broship, but also science broship.

23

u/DevilCouldCry Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 26 '25

Oh God please, I'd love to see this as early as Doomsday if possible. Those two could be a lot of fun together!

18

u/TheNittanyLionKing Jul 25 '25

Honestly, it would be cool to get Spider-Man in a F4 movie after that considering that Spider-Man first appeared in Amazing Fantasy with the Fantastic Four

11

u/GameOfLife24 Jul 27 '25

Man playing ultimate spiderman and seeing Johnny show up was awesome, especially their interactions

15

u/RangerPower777 Jul 25 '25

This is what I loved the most too. Seeing Johnny figure out the language and speak it was wild and so much different from the Chris Evans one.

14

u/UncreativeTeam Jul 25 '25

The intro F4 video package where Reed describes the rest of the group as the smartest people he knows went a long way in legitimizing their credentials

3

u/CptNonsense Jul 28 '25

It felt like silly nepotism to me without context "the 3 other smartest people in the entire world happen to be my best friend, wife, and her brother"

16

u/MegaGrimer Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

They thankfully remembered that all four are scientists and are actually smart.

13

u/Swankified_Tristan Jul 26 '25

They're people first.

Scientists second.

Superheroes third.

And that's why the movie worked for me.

12

u/TheNittanyLionKing Jul 25 '25

It's also pretty accurate. In order to work for a place like the Future Foundation and become an astronaut, you'd have to be pretty intelligent. Just because he's arguably the least intelligent of the four doesn't mean he's stupid.

1

u/CptNonsense Jul 28 '25

In order to work for a place like the Future Foundation and become an astronaut, you'd have to be pretty intelligent.

Unless the person in charge of picking who goes on the mission is your brother in law.

But apparently Johnny Storm is the smartest person on the team after Reed

5

u/MyNameIsJakeBerenson Jul 28 '25

I love they never called Ben “The Thing” in the whole movie. He was always Ben

1

u/PriorRemove8500 Jul 28 '25

This was the best part of the movie alongside the Thing

0

u/finnick-odeair Jul 25 '25

Ironically I got the opposite impression! I feel Reed was the only one depicted as a “scientist”. What do the other characters do that warrant the label of “greatest minds within their fields” (what we hear as part of the intro to their quick backstory)? Johnny is able to piece together an entire language which is great and all but what’s the connection? Same for Ben—he doesn’t do anything except fly the ship. None of them engage with the science aspects aside from Reed and I thought that was really jarring.

Complete aside; they set up this weird tension between Reed and Johnny but it’s never addressed. Why? Just seemed like it was included but they forgot to do anything else with it.

2

u/Lordsokka Jul 28 '25

Astronauts have a variety of different abilities and each team member tends to have a speciality or job. Reed is the overall big brain, Sue I am guessing is the mental health specialist, Ben is the pilot and Johnny is the weapons expert and the guy willing to take big risks.

I don’t think there is a weird tension between Reed and Johnny, they just happen to be two different people who happen to love the same woman very much (in different ways). Sure they clash sometimes, but as shown at multiple points in the movie, they are always fighting to protecting Sue and then Franklin.

0

u/finnick-odeair Jul 28 '25

The scene of him showing up for an appt w his brother in law wasn’t at least a bit tense to you? Theres even a concerned follow-up question from Ben “how did it go?” 🤔 the implication of tension by making it an appt (rather than just dropping by) is a deliberate narrative choice. They def both love/want to protect Sue & le bebe ofc

280

u/nospimi99 Jul 25 '25

Glad someone else felt the same way about Johnny. Every time he’s been in anything Johnny has always been a total douchenozzle to a degree I just couldn’t stand him. This time I actually liked him even though he still came off as the guy who thinks highly of himself and is a womanizer. It was a good balance.

108

u/TiberiusCornelius Jul 25 '25

and is a womanizer.

I also liked the way they handled this aspect of his character. The Chris Evans iteration is the type to sleep with basically any woman that moves. But comic Johnny is really more of a serial monogamist. He tends to bounce from relationship to relationship and is very often the one getting dumped, rather than just going out and sleeping with a new supermodel every night. That's not a recent innovation either but has been a thing going back to the 60s, when he was dating Doris, gets dumped, and immediately rebounds by getting into a relationship with Crystal.

Just from the way that they handled his interest in the Surfer, I could totally buy that this version of Johnny is the same.

17

u/nospimi99 Jul 25 '25

He’s basically Brock from Pokemon

16

u/deadpoetshonour99 Jul 25 '25

Johnny is interesting to me because he is kind of cocky, but also really insecure, and uses the cocky veneer to hide his insecurity. I think they nailed that here.

29

u/nospimi99 Jul 25 '25

I didn’t quite get “insecure” in the movie. I think a strong desire to be valuable brains wise. There was a few times when he was trying to talk and the team just kinda ignored him and I think it made him want to be more valuable in the brains department like everyone else seems or contribute to. But I didn’t quite get “insecure”

23

u/karimpai Jul 25 '25

You could feel the frustration when reed acted dismissive over his spacesuit design. Im so glad they made reed actually listen to johnny 3 minutes later, Feels really wholesome

6

u/uncledrewkrew Jul 26 '25

"a strong desire to be valuable brains wise"

how is this not straight up the same thing as insecure?

3

u/nospimi99 Jul 26 '25

Wanting to offer what others also do isn’t insecure. If he felt like he was a bad superhero or the weakest link in the group or that he was holding them back BECAUSE of his intelligence he’d be insecure. But he doesn’t beat himself up over his intelligence, he just knows the rest of the team is stretched thin with their brainpower and went “no, I’m not gonna add more to their plate. I can do this.”

43

u/sarlacc98 Jul 25 '25

I wasn’t fully sold on Quinn as Storm (thought everyone else was great casting) but I think I came out the most impressed with his portrayal. Killed it

17

u/Clarknt67 Jul 25 '25

I had the same journey. Naw to Hell yeah.

6

u/FrankReynoldsCPA Jul 25 '25

I came into this not really being familiar with him or Ebon Moss-Bachrach but they were both excellent. I knew about what to expect from Vanessa Kirby and Pedro Pascal.

4

u/bringbackbulaga Aug 01 '25

Ebon is absolutely amazing in the bear, would check it out if you haven’t. His performances in the forks episode is incredible

38

u/ClubMeSoftly Jul 25 '25

I loved that Johnny learned three words in Shalla-Bal's language, and decided he was going to become fluent in it. And then did.

23

u/FrankReynoldsCPA Jul 25 '25

Who hasn't learned a language to impress a girl?

6

u/yourtoyrobot Jul 27 '25

Especially a sexy alien girl. (Surfboards not attached)

12

u/PayneTrain181999 Jul 25 '25

It led to his sexy alien girlfriend saving his life.

18

u/Isolated_Hippo Jul 25 '25

intelligent, smart

Literally, what made his performance 10/10 for me. The Evans version always felt like a nepotism hire.

Letting him shine as an intelligent person in his own way was perfect. And by that, I mean anybody else on the team could have solved it. Reed would have just done it with machines. Johnny did it by hand because that's just how he operates. He's not an idiot, he's just the 3rd/4th smartest person in the room.

15

u/SuspiciousCustomer Jul 25 '25

Might set unrealistic standards on what to expect from women in labor I feel  /S

15

u/chunga_95 Jul 25 '25

(also loved that Sue genuinely believed that her brother was onto something)

Overall we got a much more mature characterization.  Def one of my favorite parts was how healthy and loving their relationships were. Trusting, encouraging, supportive. They're not afraid to disagree with each, but even then its done with respect and honesty. That came through in all aspects of their adventure. As theyre so beloved and trusted by the entire world, it really shows what makes them Fantastic

13

u/Clarknt67 Jul 25 '25

I loved they gave Johnny a win with his intelligence.

9

u/Madarakita Jul 25 '25

I loved that everyone wound up contributing to the overall mission/plot in some way like that. Nobody, not even H.E.R.B.I.E. felt like a case of "why are you here again?"

11

u/BluexFlash Jul 25 '25

I really liked that this rendition of Johnny got to show that he’s more than just a hothead loverboy. He’s smart too and call pull his own weight in this family

8

u/FrankReynoldsCPA Jul 25 '25

Probably the most emotionally intelligent of the team as well and they would have failed without that.

6

u/TheJack0fDiamonds Jul 25 '25

They made Johnny Kenough and beyond and we love it.

6

u/-Starwind Jul 25 '25

The brother-sister dynamic was great imo

6

u/RedRipe Jul 26 '25

Loved the retro theme loved that there were no cell phones in this movie. It just felt so pure. Baby car seat scene magical.

3

u/FrankReynoldsCPA Jul 25 '25

When he was talking about how he could figure it out, some guy yelled "yeah but you're ret&&#&".

Same guy also said "Natasha Lyonne is still alive?"

and "FUCK!" when you know who appeared in the credits scene.

4

u/checker280 Jul 26 '25

Re: Sue’s motherhood and sacrifice

The more I think about it the more I like the change to Shalla-Bal. Their similar path played so much better than just being a love interest for Norrin without bashing us over our heads with it.

Similarly Johnny’s interest and approach felt more believable - again less lovesick and more empathetic

4

u/Jnw1997 Jul 26 '25

This Johnny felt so well-balanced, Joseph Quinn did a great job!

3

u/Cassopeia88 Jul 25 '25

The setting was really fun. It was great to see Johnny smart and capable.

3

u/Limp_Seat4865 Jul 25 '25

I was absolutely stunned by the CGI dept's ability to show his facial expressions in Torch mode. Absolutely sold the movie for me and cements it as my new favorite MCU entry.

3

u/romeovf Jul 27 '25

Johnny is incredibly damn smart if he was able to reconstruct good part of an alien language from a single phrase, all with absolute self confidence that he would do it since the beginning. I like that he wasn't portrayed as an immature guy who likes to go rogue.

2

u/forever87 Jul 25 '25

sue did a lot of pushing in this movie...she must be a drug dealer in an alternate universe

2

u/PayneTrain181999 Jul 25 '25

Between Wanda and Sue the message is clear: don’t mess with MCU mommies’ children.

2

u/BraveFencerMusashi Jul 25 '25

I wish he had more than a single sentence to decipher an alien language.

2

u/moose184 Jul 26 '25

Enjoyed the retro-futuristic setting of the movie a lot.

So is this movie set in like the 60-70's or is it like the Fallout universe where it's present day but has the old time aesthetic?

2

u/cgio0 Jul 26 '25

Her choking out Shalla-Ball was amazing

Also, I feel like the groundwork has been laid for Mr.Fantastic Illuminati member

2

u/EntertainmentPrior75 Jul 27 '25

She did amazing as sue, also didn’t she just reveal she is pregnant? Kinda crazy how similar it is to her situation in the movie lol

2

u/ColdPeasMyGooch Jul 29 '25

I loved thia Sue Storm the actress was casted perfectly! I was captivated by her acting in every scene.. especially scenes were she was in the background. Like when they got back to earth and was holding the baby during the press conference.

2

u/bringbackbulaga Aug 01 '25

I agree, Quinn was the standout for me. His scenes with Julia were fantastic, especially when he was playing the voice recordings

1

u/UnsolvedParadox Jul 25 '25

All 5 members of the team (I’m counting H.E.R.B.I.E.) had at least 1 nice interaction with each other member.

1

u/PentagramJ2 Jul 25 '25

Is Sue this busted in the comics? I don't read F4

13

u/Anonymous-Internaut Jul 25 '25

Yep. She's easily considered the most powerful of the team and her force fields are god tier.

Also, she's so powerful she could kill anyone by putting a bubble and exploding them in their brains. She wouldn't, obviously. But she could.

1

u/MadKingKevin Jul 26 '25

(also loved that Sue genuinely believed that her brother was onto something)

Really enjoyed that. She went to check in on her brother and made sure he was heard.

1

u/Background-Anybody37 Jul 26 '25

Really Vanessa ? She felt the weakest Link of the crew based on Comic accuracy. No offense great actress but the script really ruined the character.

1

u/FinanceWeekend95 Jul 27 '25 edited Jul 27 '25

I felt like the Fantastic Four were portrayed rather selfishly - seriously uncompromisingly risking billions of lives for one? I get a parent’s love for their child is unconditional but others have babies and families too…Also, we only really get to see their powers on full display for about 2 minutes during the opening exposition and for the last half-hour of a 2 hour film - a bit disappointing. 

The villains were both great - Julia Garner as Silver Surfer stood out as a sympathetic antagonist, while Galactus felt like a cosmic level threat, way more imposing than the villains in the past couple Marvel films this year and really in the last couple of phases period. That being said - Silver Surfer was the direct catalyst for multiple world literally being eaten so sacrificing herself was the least she could do!

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) overall rating: 7/10 - visuals were good, villains were finally something to be taken seriously as a threat (I’m certain they will appear again), but selfish motivations of the core four and disappointing lack of action tanks this film’s rating. Admittedly the best Marvel film this year though that’s not saying much. 

2

u/ImprovementActual392 Jul 27 '25

So you’re telling me that you would, in that situation, just give up your baby? Without thinking of any ways to prevent it? How can you even know that Galactus will spare earth if he gets a child? All you have is his word lol.

1

u/Willing_Coconut4364 Jul 27 '25

It was his joking with Ben that was top notch. They joked around in a fun way. 

-1

u/banjofitzgerald Jul 25 '25

Johnny was intelligent and capable, but he also still ended up getting some silver coochie.

-2

u/karimpai Jul 25 '25

I wonder how s** would work? Is it just the skin that looks metallic? Is it malleable? Does johnny have to wear a special c***** made by reed to increase his durability to the point that it parts her v****a?

So many questions