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Fantastic Four: First Steps has one great scene in it… the IMAX countdown at the start, which was specifically-tailored for this movie. But about the film…
And bear in mind, I will talk about the basic plot points, such that it is.
On Earth 828 (for anyone keeping track of all that sort of thing), in a 1960s-style Marvel universe, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby, with her cute, upturned nose) is pregnant, so a little one is on the way for her and Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal – yes, he’s bloody back, again!)… Kids always ruin a film like this, and they’ve been trying for one for the last two years, since there seems to be no concept of IVF in this part of the multiverse.
Anyhoo, at the point where we join them, there’s been four years of the Fantastic Four – so that avoids spinning out a long origin story, when we had to suffer that in both 2005 and the awful 2015 reboot, that was only made to fulfil Fox’s three-films-in-ten-years contract – and they’re on the Ted Gilbert Show (Mark Gatiss, still distancing himself from helping ruin Doctor Who). That said, there are brief vignettes early on, about the first four years, which brings newbies up to speed.
In this film, we see the Four sitting down to Sunday dinner at 7pm, although while the teaser had Reed telling us that they do that without exception, there’s no such intro for this film, so that’s just something made for said promos.
That said, we see Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn – Warfare) sticking his fingers in the soup, then his mouth. Gross! God, I hate it when people do that. Still, he does redeem himself slightly by playing some interesting-looking gold-coloured vinyl LPs, which with their retro-futuristic feel gave me a brief return back to David Bowie in The Man Who Fell To Earth, with his spherical equivalent.
Ready to spoil the party is Galactus (voiced by Ralph Ineson – Nosferatu), who’s going round destroying planets, so this just feels like Unicron from the Transformers films. He’s already destroyed five, and for some reason, Earth is next on the list. However, he’s about as threatening as a damp rag.
What does he want in order to bugger off? Their new child. Should they give up the baby? Sounds like a topic on Jeremy Vine’s awful TV show.
And why does Galactus need her child, anyway? Is he Michael Jackson?
That said… a storyline where the big baddie from beyond is demanding the lead female character’s baby? This is basically the plot of… oh, what’s the film… Is it Ghostbusters II?!
Along the way, while Paul Walter Hauser‘s (Inside Out 2 in 3D) Mole Man is quite funny at times, there’s not much humour from the rest of the cast. About as much as you get is when Julia Garner‘s (Ozark) Silver Surfer turns up, only for Johnny to ask, “Is the surfboard part of your body?”
And why are the Fantastic Four giving press conferences every time they do something? Don’t they have an agent that deals with this?
Aside from that, New York has a surprisingly diverse population, because that’s what’s important in 2025.
As for how they saved the Earth, it all went in one eye and out the other, and I can’t remember. If you thought Superman was bad, this is worse. In fact, it’s as pointless as the other recent blockbuster, Jurassic World Rebirth.
I saw Fantastic Four: First Steps in IMAX 3D, and while the regular theatrical version is 2.39:1 throughout, the IMAX version is 1.90:1 throughout, so it opens up the image, and that serves the picture well.
Note that if you see this on a screen where 1.43:1 is an option, two scenes totalling around 5-6 minutes and featuring Galactus, use that full ratio.
As for the 3D, while DC’s Superman had some decent 3D in it, and with Captain America: Brave New World‘s effects being very ineffective (and I skipped Thunderbolts in IMAX 3D, as the timings didn’t fit in with other films I wanted to watch), Fantastic Four: First Steps joins the Cap in being done in post-production, and having that awful ‘cardboard cut-out’ feel, like the 1970s TV episodes of Paddington Bear. So, if you’re going to watch this, go for IMAX, but if you see it in 2D, you’ll be better off.
Plans are already afoot for sequel to this – and I hope they actually write a plot for it next time since this one is SHIT!, but while Captain America took just $415.1m at the box office, if the stated $180m production budget was correct, it would’ve needed $425m just to break even. Similarly, Thunderbolts had the same budget, but recouped just $382.3m on the big screen. For comparison, Superman apparently cost a basic $225m, but has taken $527.7m, so has broken even ($500m), but is far from a success. When Supergirl comes along, next summer, Ballerina showed the average audience does not like a Girlboss character, so that one will flop.
By comparison, Jurassic World Rebirth has a production budget of anything from $180-225m, and has so far taken $727.4m at the box office, although with that at No.4 in the highest-grossing films of the year, No.3 is the Minecraft movie with $955m, Lilo And Stitch at No.2 with $1.019bn, and top of the pile is Ne Zha 2 with an incredible $2.217bn!
Snow White is somewhere at the bottom on five pence.
So, what are the financial scores on the doors for Fantastic Four: First Steps? After just one week in the cinema, on a production budget of “$200m+”, it’s taken $250m. So, NOT out of the woods yet, by a long chalk. It only has the coming week to itself in IMAX screens, after which, some cinemas are bringing back F1.
There’s also BOTH a mid- AND post-credits scene, as described in the video below.
Fantastic Four: First Steps is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
However, you can buy a load of Funko Pops and other merch.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 114 minutes
Release date: July 24th 2025
Studio: Marvel
Aspect ratio: 1.90:1 (IMAX Digital version); 1.43:1 (IMAX GT Laser version, two Galactus scenes); 2.39:1 (non-IMAX version); 1.33:1 (some scenes)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 1/10
Director: Matt Shakman
Producer: Kevin Feige
Screenplay: Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer,
Characters: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby
Music: Michael Giacchino
Cast:
Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic: Pedro Pascal
Sue Storm / Invisible Woman: Vanessa Kirby
Ben Grimm: The Thing: Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Johnny Storm / Human Torch: Joseph Quinn
Galactus: Ralph Ineson
Shalla-Bal / Silver Surfer: Julia Garner
Rachel Rozman: Natasha Lyonne
Harvey Elder / Mole Man: Paul Walter Hauser
Lynne Nichols: Sarah Niles
Ted Gilbert: Mark Gatiss
Franklin Richards: Ada Scott
H.E.R.B.I.E.: Matthew Wood
Donna / Saved Girl: Maisie Shakman
ABC Newscaster William Russell: Alex Hyde-White
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.