Marvel’s Fantastic Four 2025 Review: Retro Aesthetic, Low Tension

Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps has style to spare and good performances all around (especially Pedro Pascal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach), but even at a brisk 101 minutes, it feels like it never reaches escape velocity. That’s a shame, because the film could have been the best introduction to Marvel’s oldest superhero team.

Produced, directed, and written by people who love the look and feel of the Fantastic Four in the ’60s, First Steps does its job of reintroducing Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. But it never really creates the tension or stakes necessary to hook audiences, either as a traditional action movie or a comic book adventure.

Kevin Feige, Marvel’s producer and de facto studio boss, described it perfectly as “a no-homework-required” film. Marvel movies have become maddening for newcomers over the last decade, with layers upon layers of multiverses, cameos, and spin-offs to absorb before even getting to new characters or stories. Not so with First Steps, which has a familiar Marvel villain but no dangling connections to Spider-Man, Thor, Loki, Black Panther, the 2005 Fantastic Four, or any other film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This Fantastic Four is free to live in its timeline and world, and it takes full advantage of the fresh start. With none of the messy continuity from past adaptations to contend with, First Steps is happy to go for a no-frills origin story in a retro-futuristic world with Marvel superpowers.

Four years ago, our leads were astronauts on a cosmic space mission. An accident exposed them to some kind of radiation that caused mutations to their DNA. Reed (a thoughtful, warm-hearted, and very funny Pedro Pascal) discovered he could stretch his body like Silly Putty. Sue (a strong Vanessa Kirby) learned she could turn invisible and project force fields from her hands. Johnny (a cocky, swaggering, and very charming Joseph Quinn) was able to set himself on fire and fly. And Ben (the reliably down-to-earth Ebon Moss-Bachrach) transformed into his new alter ego, The Thing, with superhuman strength and a rock-hard mountain for a face.

The four live together in a home that looks a lot like a mid-century modern architectural design magazine spread: a tri-level loft space with a flying car parked out back, chalkboard equations all over the walls, a toddler-sized version of Marvel’s robot assistant H.E.R.B.I.E. zipping around doing chores, and not a smartphone in sight. It’s pure square-screen-television-era retro-futurism—the kind of stylized set dressing that looks like the Jetsons family car crash-landed on the set of Lost in Space.

The plot could not be more straightforward, and it takes a while to get going. While the world of First Steps is a thrill for retro-loving Marvel fans, it leaves the movie itself struggling to find any sense of urgency. The heart of the story is family, the family being the four leads. Sue finds out she is pregnant early on, and Reed is predictably (and endearingly) nervous and neurotic. One of the better sequences in the film has Pascal instructing H.E.R.B.I.E. to baby-proof both their apartment and science lab.

Johnny and Ben offer sibling-style teasing and comic relief, but it’s clear they are also excited and relieved to have their older brother and sister in their lives and looking forward to playing with their nieces and nephews. (Presumably.) Family time is short-lived, though. A second new character shows up to break the peace.

Galactus, a large, armored figure with glowing red eyes, is flying toward Earth and plans to eat it. Before he gets there, he sends a herald to warn Earth’s mightiest heroes: the Silver Surfer. Played by Julia Garner in motion capture, the silver-skinned herald shoots through the sky with sleek menace. The sight of her seems to get under Johnny’s skin, and she is a gift that keeps on giving as an object of his fascination (and infatuation).

Galactus is a cosmic giant, and there is no stopping him, but that doesn’t mean the Fantastic Four won’t at least try. So the leads race through space, evade attacks from the Surfer, and have some fun punching through planets. A final “save the world” sequence happens after Sue goes into labor mid-mission to add some surreal dramatic irony to the strange combination of birth and planetary annihilation.

The effects work, and explosions don’t have the pop of recent Marvel movies. They fit the retro aesthetic: visual accents include light bursts, flame trails, smoke plumes, and use a lot of soft color palettes and almost watercolor explosions. It’s vintage Marvel with cartoonish energy but no exclamation points.

To its credit, the movie has plenty of heart, but it just never seems to build to anything. The action is relatively tame, and the stakes don’t ever feel high, even as Sue is in labor and the end of the world is just seconds away. It’s more children’s adventure story than adrenaline-fueled superhero action.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is pleasant, well-acted, and frequently very charming, but lacks the dramatic heft of Marvel’s best entries. It’s also accessible, nostalgic, and full of heart—but it’s not a film for thrill-seekers. It’s the perfect movie for fans looking for something lighter than world-ending. But for the wider audience, it may feel like a pretty box with a less-than-exciting gift inside.