“Oh yeah Ben. Few days in space. It’ll be great, what’s the worst that could happen?”
The summer of 2025 is making a movie comeback!
There are so many great films coming out this summer that I can’t wait to watch in the theatre with a popcorn by my side, and an icee in my hand. We’ve got a stacked lineup: How to Train Your Dragon, Superman, Jurassic World Rebirth, Materialists, F1, and of course, The Fantastic Four: First Steps. For a long time now, this author has been missing what the Marvel Universe used to be back during Phase 3 and the beginnings of Phase 4 (for those unaware, these phases refer to the stages in which Marvel has chosen to release their films). I’ve found myself disappointed when it comes to recent Marvel projects—missing the intensity of the storyline, and connection to characters that are no longer present in the universe.
A few Marvel projects did stand out to me, like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and the most recent Thunderbolts. I think that all of these films hit exactly what I’m categorizing as the ‘Superhero Movie Necessities’. Character Evolution, Action, Humor, and Pacing. Everyone who watches, and enjoys watching, superhero movies has their own version of this list; it’s all the factors that make it a successful movie to you. As of recent, pop culture and media has been going through superhero burnout. What we need now, is a win when it comes to The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Literally, we’re all hoping it’s going to be another step in the right direction.
First Impressions
As someone who once upon a time was a proclaimed MCU enthusiast (admitting here that I went and saw Avengers: Infinity War just about seven times in the movie theatre…) it may come as a shock that I had never watched the original 2005 version of the Fantastic Four until a few days ago. I know . . . that’s my bad, guys. It’s not as if the movie is phenomenal or anything (it’s not) but, from what I’ve gathered it’s a somewhat cult-classic in a ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ way. It’s fun, there’s some good action, and as the audience we do like and root for the characters—for 2005, we’ll take it. The film stars Chris Evans as Johnny Storm “Human Torch”, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm “Invisible Girl”, Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards “Mister Fantastic”, and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm “The Thing”.
*I’m going to disclaim that I know next to nothing about the Fantastic Four comics—I have no idea how accurate this plot is, if the characters are portrayed correctly, or if Johnny Storm really had to have a buzzcut (because that’s unfortunate otherwise). All of my judgments are based solely on the 2005 movie adaptation*
I went into watching this movie totally blind—I knew nothing of the plot, besides that Victor Von Doom was the bad guy. The movie opens: my first thought, “wow, this is very 2000s”. There was something in the air when people were making movies in the early 2000s. The soundtrack is also a dead giveaway. 20 minutes pass and I’ve lost the plot entirely. All I know is that these 5 people are heading into space. How? Who knows. Why? Doesn’t matter. Moving on—we are suddenly in space and the gang’s all here. Sue and Reed have a past history from their college days, and Victor has somehow convinced himself that the next step in his and Sue’s relationship is marriage (they have never dated). BOOM, now there’s a space cloud coming straight towards them. Everyone is submerged into ~space radiation~. Lots of fiery graphics are happening.
Okay—so first impressions. Not bad! I would say that the pacing is already pretty off, but I can see that the movie is attempting to introduce us to a lot of information at once. Was it perfectly effective? No, but I appreciate the effort here. Let’s get into these superpowers.
I’m Really Rooting for Ben Grimm! Justice for Ben!
Ben did not deserve all of the hardships he got, and they make that clear in this movie. My man got the worst deal of the bunch, let’s admit it. (Sidenote: have you ever watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown? If you have, then remember the scene where Charlie Brown and his friends are going trick-or-treatin’, and every house they go to, each person gets candy, except for Charlie Brown? He gets a rock thrown into his bag and iconically says, “I got a rock.” Well—that’s exactly what’s happening to Ben Grimm). Now that we have powers, it’s time to put them to use with an inadvertently caused accident on the Brooklyn Bridge! Team up time!
While Sue, Reed, Johnny, and Ben are figuring out how to handle the changes in their DNA, Victor Von Doom is already realizing how to use it to his advantage (his evil advantage). The guy is . . . turning into metal? I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but right now he’s basically becoming the tin man. I mean, with a name like Victor Von Doom, it would be almost criminal not to be a villain, you know? Victor’s reasoning to become more evil isn’t anything that requires a lot of critical thinking, he just wants to be more powerful; typical stuff. As an audience, we get a base level understanding of what Victor wants, but because his reasoning is so blasé we’re not forming a close connection to him. It will be super interesting to see how the current MCU handles this in The Fantastic Four: First Steps and the currently-being-filmed Avengers: Doomsday!
I truly enjoyed the montage of the Four trying to live together without killing each other, or themselves. Every superhero movie needs a brief montage, whether it be for a show of humor, strength, trust—it helps us understand how the characters grow. In the case of Fantastic Four, I don’t think any character actually mentally or physically evolved, but would instead argue that Johnny regressed further into his ‘frat-boy’ behavior. Competing in a public motorbike competition? Catching himself on fire? Deciding on the team’s name and giving everyone individual hero names? Tsk, tsk. I’m on Sue’s side here—Invisible Girl would not fly by me.
As the team recuperates from Johnny’s choice words, we continue to see something bloom between Reed and Sue. I use the word something here purposefully, because to be honest, I didn’t really see a lot of romance. Besides Sue and Reed looking back at how they used to feel when they were together, there’s not a whole lot of chemistry happening on the screen. A quick moonlight walk by the water and I guess their love has been rekindled—is that how it used to work in 2005?
Victor Von Doom Goes Victor Von Boom!
We’re in for it now—the third act has arrived. Victor has decided that in order to get what he wants, he needs to get these so-called heroes out of his way. He tricks Ben into entering the machine Reed has created to get rid of their powers, and as such, Victor absorbs the energy created and becomes even more powerful. I guess his powers now include being metal and controlling electricity. Ben is left as his regular human, non-rock self again, but now questions whether that’s what he really wants (in my head, I’m telling Ben to “Run!!!” and get out of there and enjoy his newly-returned face, but this guy is better than I am . . .). A small fight ensues, in which Victor captures Reed and incapacitates Ben. Uh oh! I don’t hold Ben at fault for any of this, FYI.
Now donning a metal mask to complete his villain aesthetic, Victor Von Doom has fully become Doctor Doom. It is hilarious to me that the mask Doom chose was just, laying around his office in a fancy case. Was it an award, or prop from a movie maybe? The world will never know, but personally, I’m loving the idea of him finding that and thinking, “yeah, that’ll do”.
Abducted to Doom’s tower, Reed is slowly becoming a popsicle (in order to stop Reed from being able to . . . stretch[?], Doom is freezing him from the inside). He sends a missile attack straight towards Sue, Ben, and Johnny in the Baxter Building, but is unsuccessful as Johnny (who can fly now!) leads it away to the water. The gang now all team up to free Reed from Doom’s cold claws, and Ben makes his return as The Thing—ultimately choosing to use the gift he was given (yes, I was secretly hoping he had left town to enjoy his life, but I understand his choice). The battle leads back into the streets of Brooklyn, and the Four combine their powers to take down Doom! Looks like some Earth, Wind, and Fire does solve all problems. The day has been saved, thank you, Fantastic Four! Thank god you were all able to control your unused powers to take down this guy!
Fantastic Final Thoughts
Alright, they got me excited. I might even go ahead and watch Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Seriously though, I think the movie was good! It was entertaining, pretty lighthearted, and a good introduction to these characters. There are a lot of things I think need to be improved on for the next version we’re going to watch in the theatre, especially with all of the pressure the MCU receives these days. I have to also remember that this movie was made and released in 2005, so unfortunately there is a lot of casual sexism of Sue Storm’s character, which isn’t ideal. I certainly expect that to be gone in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
When it comes to my categories of what a superhero movie needs (character evolution/growth, action, humor, and pacing), here are my ratings: character growth scores a 5/10, action scores 6/10, humor is 7/10, and pacing is 5/10. Looking at those incredibly intricate stats means that to me, the movie scored over average, which gives it a thumbs up! It’s a little cheesy, a little campy, and all in all, some good fun.
I’m very excited to see where The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes us! So far, it looks like it has a great cast that has good chemistry, which is going to be key for a superhero group that relies on being a family. Thunderbolts set us up for a lot of things to be moving in the future of the MCU, especially with that end credits scene, and no, not the one with the Wheaties (though, that was great). If, like me, you’re eager to see the new adaption, take a look back at the 2005 version and celebrate 20 years with Sue, Reed, Ben, and Johnny! Maybe next article you’ll catch me reviewing the sequel . . .
Fantastic Four is currently streaming on Disney+. Flame on!
