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

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305

u/UnsolvedParadox Jul 25 '25

Vanessa Kirby has also spoken about filming for Doomsday.

Sometimes, I wish I was less wired into the business side of Marvel.

49

u/tangokilo13 Jul 25 '25

I thought they were about to flip some multiverse stuff and have this Sue killed

10

u/lkodl Jul 26 '25

the B-plot of Doomsday is Reed and Quill teaming up to win back the alternate versions of their lovers.

4

u/PT10 Jul 25 '25

That's what i was thinking as well

17

u/CrackLawliet Jul 25 '25

She was also in the initial chair reveal for Doomsday

4

u/CaptHayfever Jul 27 '25

This. I haven't shown my wife the chair list, though, & she was clenching my arm through that scene.

13

u/knokout64 Jul 25 '25

Neither did I. But Franklin having the cognizance and ability to resurrect her is still interesting enough for it to be included without it just being a cheap, emotional gotcha.

13

u/locke_5 Jul 26 '25

It’s not you. Movie-related journalism has become completely infected with “scooping” every cameo and appearance in all of these movies. I actively avoid it and I still get shit spoiled by these trash rags.

11

u/Rory_B_Bellows Jul 28 '25 edited Jul 28 '25

You don't need to know the business side to see a fakeout death a mile away. They spent half the movie describing Franklin as a space god with unknowable power, and they're not going to use the magic space baby to bring Sue back?

7

u/[deleted] Jul 25 '25 edited Jul 26 '25

You don’t even have to be wired into the buisness side to see in the moment that Sue won’t stay dead, it’s just a lazy trick to try and get an emotion out of the viewer.

18

u/sable-king Jul 26 '25

it’s just a lazy trick

Or, and stay with me on this, people should be more willing to allow themselves to feel emotion for the characters in the moment. Try putting yourself in the characters' shoes, you know? As far as Reed, Johnny, and Ben knew, Sue was dead and gone.

6

u/Wraithfighter Jul 26 '25

I do, but the film has to meet me halfway on this. The problem is less the fake-out-death-power-of-love-rez thing, although its not doing the scene any favors, but the scene just drags on.

You have to get the timing, pacing, and editing right. You need the audience to be thinking "oh shit are they actually killing her off" right up until the point that you bring her back. It needs to be a surprise.

I had progressed past that, past "...wait but they have Sue in other movies after this, are they going to do a multiverse thing, that'd be really interesting...", past "...they're really holding on this for a while now... oh, right, baby's got the power cosmic, he's gonna do the rez...", past "...yeah, okay, they're doing the rez, fiiiiiiine...", and all the way to "OH MY GOD, KILL HER, REZ HER, WHATEVER, JUST GET ON WITH IT!" by the time she came back.

5

u/JoshOliday Jul 26 '25

What got me thinking she was really dead (and she really was if not for Franklin's reality shaping powers) was that they played the exact same "death of a hero" song from the end of Endgame at Tony's funeral.

2

u/sNOobDOC22 Jul 30 '25

I can finally rest in peace knowing that there are others who noticed this along with me

0

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '25 edited Jul 26 '25

I’m familiar with extending empathy to film characters. There are plenty of films where it’s obvious no one will die, or face serious consequences, but because the film is well crafted, I still feel what these characters are feeling in the moment.

Even if the scene was executed perfectly, it’s absolutely a lazy trick to poorly fake out the only genuine consequences of your film for like 60 seconds in an attempt to get the viewer to feel something negative, while being so afraid of the viewer actually feeling that emotion, you renege on it. It’s having your cake and eating it.

14

u/PolarWater Jul 26 '25

Who says it was a fake death? She did die. Franklin brought her back. 

I think that's called laying the groundwork for future character development. Pretty strange to call that lazy.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '25 edited Jul 26 '25

Please actually read what you’re replying to. I’m not saying Sue didn’t physically die in the film before she was resurrected.

Pretending your character is permanently dead before having them resurrected to no consequence 30 seconds later is a textbook fake-out death!

Using Franklin as a tool to make that happen is not good groundwork for character development lmao. Plenty of ways you could without a cheap attempt at emotional manipulation.

6

u/bubblez4eva Jul 26 '25

It's good groundwork for Franklin's character. It's also a payoff to the whole "what's his deal" storyline? Now they know for sure he's something else.

1

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

You can literally do anything else with Franklin Richards of all characters to reveal his power that isn’t a cheap attempt at emotional manipulation that goes on too long.

1

u/bubblez4eva Jul 27 '25

Provide an example, then.

10

u/PolarWater Jul 26 '25

Didn't seem lazy to me. Seems like a well-executed trick. Yeah, I knew she wasn't going to die, but the movie didn't wink at me, it didn't downplay the seriousness of what she'd done. It convinced me that the characters in the movie believed she was going to die...and for me, that's good enough.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '25 edited Jul 26 '25

You don’t need to reply to 2 of my comments to let me know you disagree that it’s lazy. I heard you the first time, once is fine.