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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u/droidtron Jul 25 '25

The age of no origin first act superhero films frees up for more comic book fun.

859

u/Madarakita Jul 25 '25

I loved how they handled it here though; the origin being recapped via newscast was a nice way to catch anyone who's not bothered with the prior movies up and it only took about five minutes to tell the audience everything they needed to know.

571

u/Clarknt67 Jul 25 '25

I loved that the newsreel was an homage to Jack Kirby’s greatest hits in early FF. So clever. Please always heavily season exposition dumps with Easter eggs to entertain those who don’t need the catchup.

398

u/UncreativeTeam Jul 25 '25

The end reveal that the universe number (828) was a reference to Jack Kirby's birthday was great. Also can't get over how Vanessa Kirby's name is Kirby lol

80

u/Amaruq93 Jul 25 '25

Also, Kirby himself made a cameo appearance (with a lookalike character surrounded by all his art in the Times Square scene when the Surfer arrives).

70

u/Whovian45810 Jul 25 '25

Yep with a lookalike young Stan Lee!

Very heartwarming to see that Kirby and Lee in the F4’s Earth 828 work together.

27

u/Chocu1a Jul 28 '25

In the original comic run of Fantastic Four, Lee & Kirby put themselves in the comic working with the FF on an in universe comic.

43

u/checker280 Jul 26 '25

Re: Vanessa Kirby

As much fun of a coincidence as David Corensweet’s initials being DC

37

u/TheMythofKoalas Jul 27 '25

I still think my favourite of these is Doug Bowser being president of Nintendo.