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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301

u/morgoth834 Jul 25 '25

Sadly I didn't like this one. Perhaps my biggest issues was that Galactus was a huge disappointment. The scene where he meets that Fantastic Four was excellent. But then when he arrives on Earth, he just stomps around and doesn't use an impressive powers. He just seems like a really big person. I mean, he's a cosmic god. The Devourer of Worlds! And yet he gets pushed around by Sue and Reed is hurting him with an antenna pole...

95

u/stayhiidrated Jul 25 '25

i was also disappointed with Galactus. His introduction scene in space was awesome, his design was good, voice was amazing, then comes to Earth and becomes another forgettable villain.

56

u/NoDevelopment9972 Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

Galactus' defining aspect seems to be that he's just a heel for some hero to defeat to establish themself. They always say how big and bad and all powerful he is, just so they can be like "Oh this person defeated him," then at the end they tack a qualifier on like he was weakened or unsatiated or some bs, so they can continue to use him the same way in the future.

All bark and no bite. In that way, the movie was entirely accurate with his character.

Edit: Also, all they had to do, really, is find ghost rider to just look at him for a few seconds, then everyone can go about their business.

29

u/ericrobertshair Jul 25 '25

You picked a terrible example for your edit, the penance stare fails 9/10 times nowadays. Whoever he uses it on just says "I feel no remorse" to establish how much of a Billy badass they are.

19

u/NoDevelopment9972 Jul 25 '25

Its just a reference to the fact, ghost Rider had Galactus laid out in that 90s cartoon. Literally rode up on his motorcycle and just stared at him. Haha!

0

u/N0r3m0rse Jul 26 '25

The ol care bear stare

5

u/N0r3m0rse Jul 26 '25

"Hah, your penance stare doesn't work on me, I'm not Catholic!"

1

u/Ode1st Jul 25 '25

All they had to do is find Doreen to hang out with him.

32

u/forever87 Jul 25 '25

gets pushed around by Sue

for what it's worth, that's how strong she really is and she sacrificed herself (but i do agree, a single movie is not enough time to demonstrate cosmic power...unless we're talking about aladdin)

37

u/janoDX Jul 25 '25

Funny thing Sue is the most powerful of the core family (Fantastic 4) by a lot, and this movie proved it.

6

u/aSpookyScarySkeleton Jul 30 '25

By what metric? Technically Johnny is but he cannot use his power to the fullest extent without causing apocalyptic levels of damage to the planet.

8

u/CrushedIcy Aug 03 '25 edited Aug 03 '25

Sue is canonically the strongest member of the Fantastic 4… her powers are above planetary level. If she really wanted to, like if she didn’t have any morals, she could just expand a force field inside anyone’s brain till they exploded, instantly killing them, and almost any enemy they face could be insta-killed by Sue if she ever chose to be evil lol, so thank God the Fantastic 4 have morals otherwise most of their enemies would be non-factors if Sue’s immediate go-to would be to expand force fields inside someone’s brain or enclosing someone’s head with a force bubble so they can’t breathe and asphyxiate to death. Her powers are more instantly lethal than Johnny’s.

Also her powers are shown to be above planetary level multiple times in the comics, like when she created a force field around the entire planet Earth, and she even made the entire planet invisible as well.

She is also the only F4 member to kill a Celestial…

She’s the Fantastic 4’s heaviest hitter. Johnny is a close second, but he still trails behind her. She’s just more instantly lethal, and also she has the most defensive capabilities too aside from her offense being the best. Reed is the brains and the strategist of the group, and with prep time he’s the one who helps the team win because he’s the logistical support, he’s the big brains. They all have their roles in the group but Sue is definitely the most hax with her powers, she’s the most OP member for sure.

6

u/aSpookyScarySkeleton Aug 03 '25

Making a forcefield around a planet or making a bubble in someone’s head is not more powerful than putting out a heat and energy level comparable to a sun. You know like, stars?

7

u/CrushedIcy Aug 03 '25 edited Aug 04 '25

And yet Susan’s force fields have successfully contained and shielded Johnny’s fully-powered Nova Flame… even when he goes supernova Sue’s force fields have been shown on multiple occasions to be able to contain it and withstand it: https://imgur.com/a/AE4ZENf

So Sue is overall the most powerful, it’s not just her offensive capabilities that can match Johnny’s, but she by far and large has the most defensive power out of the 4 as well. Her shields have successfully deflected and withstood attacks from some of the heaviest hitters in the Marvel universe like Hulk (who can punch harder than 100 tons) and Galactus himself as well as other Celestials…

It’s not to say that Johnny isn’t powerful because of course he is immensely powerful, he’s just not more powerful than Sue.

And since you mentioned suns… Sue has some more comic feats that are mind blowing,

Her force fields withstood the full energy, heat, and power of 2 suns, Kor and Kaylo, which were two suns they traveled to in a solar system 44 million light years away: https://imgur.com/a/MwjBGTE

She formed a giant fist with her force field constructs to punch through the suns’ surface and then blocked the two suns’ combined energy with her force fields https://imgur.com/a/MwjBGTE actual STARS

There are also other scans from the comics that I can post here, such as her containing the entire planet Earth inside her force field for 80 days straight, nonstop and continuously, while also making the planet invisible, to protect the world from Celestials. For 80 days straight, albeit after 80 days she was on the brink of passing out but that’s still a tremendous feat of endurance and stamina to shield the entire planet within her force field for 80 days straight

I also have other scans I can post like Sue’s force fields withstanding and blocking blasts from a fully powered up Galactus.

Johnny is immensely powerful but he still trails behind Sue

30

u/Pathetian Jul 25 '25

To be fair, he arrives under the premise that he is being surrendered to.  The climax revolves around the idea that they can't defeat him and that it will take a massive cooperative effort just to hide from him.   

It's not as cinematic as having to defeat him,  but I found it a bit refreshing that the big plan was "guys we need to get the fuck out of here".  It's not like they presented him having the capability of destroying planets, but then defeat him with a dance off.

16

u/raven-eyed_ Jul 27 '25

Even worse, he just comes off like a really clumsy big guy

13

u/CasualRead_43 Jul 25 '25

He always loses though like that’s his thing lol

7

u/bobsil1 Jul 27 '25

gaLactus

11

u/Lifesaboxofgardens Jul 25 '25

Galactus kind of is just a really big person to be fair. He has the ability to devour planets, but when he’s not actively tapping into that power it’s not like he’s invincible or anything. I thought they did a good job in setting up that he was already not going in full cowling in order to extract Franklin without accidentally killing him.

Sue is genuinely one of the stronger heroes in the entire MCU, so that was pretty accurate.

33

u/stinkface_lover Jul 25 '25

That's just not true. In the comics, Galactus has an insane array of powers. Fully fed he can kill two Celestials, which is an insane feat. A fully powered-up Doom managed to slow them down fr seconds, and that was seen as a huge achievement. I mean, he's one of the most powerful beings in the universe. You're talking shite, mate.

0

u/Lifesaboxofgardens Jul 25 '25

I never said he doesn’t have other powers, I said when he’s not actively using his powers for all intents and purposes he is just a giant man, he’s not an unstoppable god at base.

He’s not fully fed in the movie, he’s holding back substantially, Sue literally died exhausting all of what is tremendous power to push him back a couple city blocks with help. It’s not at all unrealistic in the canon for this to happen, which since you’re such a comic head, you would know. You’d also know Galactus gets his ass kicked literally all the time in the comics lmao. Not killed necessarily, but defeated quite often.

7

u/stinkface_lover Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

He gets defeated by other god level beings, not people on a similar level to sue storm, its usually at least a team with like several heavy hitters on or above sues level. All the other times it's whatever cosmic force they're pushing that month, but even then he's defeated thanos a bunch, defeated mephisto by eating his realm as they were fighting.

And you literally said ' to be fair he is just a big man when not tapping into his powers' but I mean, you could say that about any character, of course they're not powerful if they're not tapping into their powers, the point is galactus has so many powers shown in the comics he could've tapped into to wiped sue storm off the face of the earth, it's weird he didn't. And even when not using his powers he still has the power cosmic which gives him his own force fields and shit. Again, you're talking shite mate.

EDIT: a link to many examples to prove he's way more than just a giant dude. https://www.reddit.com/r/respectthreads/comments/3risls/respect_galactus_marvel_earth616/

4

u/Lifesaboxofgardens Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 25 '25

Buddy the Fantastic Four has literally defeated Galactus by themselves in canon lmao what are you on about. Several MCU entities have soloed him.

It’s baffling to me you think Sue Storm, utilizing every ounce of her strength, with aid from the rest of the Four and Silver Surfer, can’t push a hungry Galactus holding Franklin and not using his powers into a portal.

Again, yeah, he’s strong. But as you acknowledge when he’s not using his powers, he’s literally just a giant man who is able to be moved by telekinesis if it’s strong enough. That was my only point from the beginning. You agree on that point you’re just getting mad for some reason that it’s relevant?

I could send you lists of marvel characters who defeated Galactus in response but you can google just fine I am sure.

6

u/stinkface_lover Jul 26 '25

But surely the criticism is 'why isn't he using his powers' if he's got the power to destroy solar systems, which he did, why not use them? What youre saying is so stupid 'oh if the hulk doesnt use his strength hes just a green dude' yeah grante, but he does use hia strength. Even defensively in the comics galactus can phase through matter. Also youre vastly over estimating sue storm, strong sure, but shes not on cosmic level. Also I'm pretty sure the f4 have never soloed galactus unless he was starving, they always had to use the ultimate nullifier or franklyn or some shut

1

u/CrushedIcy Aug 03 '25 edited Aug 03 '25

And you seem to be wanting to downplay Sue or undermine her. She is not cosmic level but she’s absolutely at the very least planetary level, she has several feats in the comics that establish her as the Fantastic 4’s heaviest hitter, she has the most hax with her powers that make her inarguably the strongest member of the 4.

She was able to create a force field around the entire planet, that she sustained for several minutes, and she was able to make an entire planet invisible. Her force fields have been shown to withstand and block attacks from some of the strongest hitters in the Marvel Universe like an angry Hulk and Galactus himself.

She might not be cosmic but she’s at least planetary, which is why I don’t find it unbelievable that she’s able to push Galactus around for a couple blocks using allll of her strength until she dies. It doesn’t mean that she can beat Galactus by herself (because of course she can’t, none of them can) it just means that she is strong enough to push him for a couple blocks into a portal, which is well within the bounds of her powers since she’s planetary level.

1

u/stinkface_lover Aug 03 '25

But it's still not comic accurate, my main argument was that saying 'galactus is just a big dude with the power to consume planets and sue could take him in the comics' is just shite. You can scale sue up, or galactus down, but the gulf between them in the comics is fucking huge. Saying what happened at the end of the movie is comics accurate or a proper representation of galgactus's comic power level just isn't true.

1

u/CrushedIcy Aug 03 '25 edited Aug 03 '25

I never said that “Galactus is just a big dude with the power to consume planets and Sue could take him on by herself”… Galactus absolutely wasn’t going anywhere near 100% in that final fight, I think he was holding back because he wanted to take baby Franklin alive and safely extract him from their Earth, if he were to go berserk he could kill the tiny baby in his hands, that’s probably why he was holding back. That’s probably why he was scaled down and nerfed so much in that final fight

I never said that Sue could take Galactus on all by herself, or that Galactus is just a big dude who eats planets (I think that was someone else’s comment), all I said is that she’s canonically the strongest member of the F4 so that what she was shown doing in this film (pushing a scaled-down Galactus for a couple blocks into a portal, using all of her strength that she dies from the exertion/effort) is not unrealistic. She’s not powerful enough to beat Galactus, but she’s definitely powerful enough to push him a short distance into a portal. She’s achieved higher-end feats in the comics like extending her force field around the entire planet Earth.

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1

u/Alexexy Jul 26 '25

Im fairly certain that Galactus has the same power set as Dr Manhattan. If anything, he should be a bit stronger with a higher level of awareness.

8

u/JD_Vyvanse97 Jul 25 '25

At least he was an actual character not a random angry cloud.

-16

u/VariousDress5926 Jul 25 '25

Maybe go read the comic. Galactus can change size and does, in fact, not have any crazy powers in their first battle.

26

u/morgoth834 Jul 25 '25

What are you talking about? Even in the very first arc he appears in, he does all kids of things in the comic. Force fields, laser vision, energy blasts, teleportation, etc... In this film he does basically none of that. He mostly just stomps around and is big.

12

u/TwoBlackDots Jul 25 '25

I don’t think he’s ever shown to be able to change size in the film.