'Fantastic Four: First Steps' Is a Fun Reset for the MCU

Plus: some quick thoughts on Ari Aster's 'Eddington.'

A still from the ‘Fantastic Four’ trailer. Image credit: Disney.

This review will mention details revealed in the trailers for Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been a bit of a drag since Avengers: Endgame, hasn’t it?

To be fair, they’ve had a lot to deal with. There’s been COVID and dual strikes and the death of the beloved actor whose character was supposed to serve as the linchpin of the next Phase and scandals featuring the guy they picked to be their next big bad and a mandate from the bosses to make as much stuff as possible. It’s no wonder it’s led to lackluster films and nearly-unwatchable TV shows.

The MCU’s latest entry, Fantastic Four: First Steps, feels like a reset of sorts (don’t call it a reboot). In addition to kickstarting Phase Six of the MCU, the film also tries to introduce us to a version of these iconic comic book characters that doesn’t suck. It largely succeeds at both.

Refreshingly, First Steps offers us a near-total clean slate in terms of its plot and characters; no other Marvel films are referenced in a significant way and you can pretty much watch this one fresh as an entry point into the MCU if you so desire. The film takes place in Earth-828, an alternate-history version of our planet in which no Avengers Initiative happened but where a different set of heroes became Earth’s preeminent protectors. Genius scientist Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), and her brother Johnny Storm (Sue’s brother played by Joseph Quinn) all traveled to space but were bombarded with cosmic radiation. They came back to Earth with incredible powers and formed a team, saving Earth from supervillains and using their formidable intelligence to broker peace amongst fractious rivals. By the time the movie kicks off, the Fantastic Four are already well-known and embraced around the world.

My friend/co-host Jeff Cannata and I recently spoke about Superman and in that review, Jeff described the concept of “post-modern” superhero films. It used to be that when you made one of these movies, you had to dedicate an enormous amount of time to hand-holding the audience through the basic concept of characters who had super powers. (“He was bitten by a radioactive spider you see, and we’re going to show you how it changed his DNA!”) But after 36 Marvel films in the last 17 years, the audience already understands what superheroes are, not to mention the concept of origin stories. The way First Steps conveys its backstory to the audience is incredibly efficient; we just accept that this version of Earth and there’s really no need to explain how the Fantastic Four came to be, what their powers are, or even what we’re doing here on Earth 838.

If there’s one thing First Steps succeeds at, it’s aesthetics. The retro-future vibe of Earth-828 is irresistible with lots of little details and touches that will probably make you nostalgic for mid-century architecture and advertising. But the film’s plot also takes these characters to the far reaches of space and I found some of the cosmic elements, especially those involving Silver Surfer, to be visually breathtaking. There’s definitely some janky CG here and there but between First Steps’ vivid color palette and its rad production design, this movie is one of the best looking MCU films ever.

I’m also a fan of the chemistry between these actors. There’s a fun, quippy vibe between the foursome and you really buy the relationships they have with each other. These characters will also theoretically play a significant role in the next big Avengers films and if that’s the case, I think we’re in good hands.

As for what doesn’t work, it’s the same thing that plagues a lot of Marvel films: Villains and third-act stuff. The villain of the movie looks cool but he’s basically a total nothingburger of a character. The film doesn’t seem to really care about what his whole deal is and barely dedicates any time to explaining it. And the third act feels like it’s rushing to get us to the end of the film, which clocks in at just under two hours. A couple of plotlines and character arcs feel like they don’t get to fully pay off as a result. Calling the movie First Steps connotes the initial stages of a longer journey and the movie definitely feels like we haven’t seen the full story of these characters quite yet.

The Fantastic Four have had a lot of film adaptations over the past few decades and none of them have been particularly great. While I wouldn’t describe First Steps as a masterpiece, it’s undoubtedly the best version of these characters we’ve ever seen on the big screen, honoring the source material and giving us a fun and energetic sci-fi adventure in the process. It’s nice to have fun at an MCU film these days. It feels like they finally have a plan again.

Fantastic Four: First Steps is in theaters this weekend.

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I Did Not Care for ‘Eddington’

I was a huge fan of Ari Aster’s Beau Is Afraid, which I named one of my top 10 films of that year, so it gives me no pleasure to report that his new film Eddington is the first film of 2025 that I actively hate.

The film takes place in the fictional town of Eddington, New Mexico in late May 2020 when COVID awareness and precautions were at their peak and George Floyd protests were rocking the nation. Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) is trying to enforce mask mandates but he finds an uncooperative sheriff in Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix). Cross is so incensed by the situation that he decides to run against Garcia in the next election. As the rivalry between the two of them escalates, things begin to spin wildly out of control.

I think there are many topics on which Eddington is trying to speak intelligently about: the distortionary effect that social media has on our personal incentives, the way in which national politics bleeds into and can be weaponized in small town environments, the petty and personal motivations that cause people to run for political office, and so on. The problem is, I don’t find any of those things particularly insightful or useful in our current political environment. Notably, the film has absolutely nothing to say about the forces of misinformation that actively tried to make the pandemic fight more difficult and which are, in fact, still at work today.

Instead, the film satirizes every party in the equation, from the sheriff who believes in freedom from mask mandates to the BLM protestors using the cause to further their own personal agendas. Everyone’s a grifter in Ari Aster’s world and all of them have the potential to do some form of harm to us all. But when I look back at what happened to this country during COVID, I think there were people who were trying their best to help us navigate an extremely difficult time in which an unknown, contagious, and deadly disease killed over a million people, and people who mostly did not give a shit about the collective good. To me, only one of those groups demands critique and it’s not the people who were trying to do the right thing, even if they did so in a flawed manner (That said: I respect that others may feel differently on this point).

While people largely don’t take COVID seriously anymore, we still live in a world that is incredibly bitter about how things played out and where people still want to settle scores over how the response was handled. To me, making a movie like this in which all sides are bad actors and in which the only character given any interiority whatsoever is the protagonist who’s violently anti-science is not only irresponsible, it’s morally reprehensible.

For an alternate viewpoint, check out Stephen David Miller’s review from Cannes this year.

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Other Stuff David Chen Has Made

• On Decoding TV, Patrick Klepek and I discussed the new season of The Bear, which I thought was a significant improvement on the last season.

• On The Filmcast, we reviewed Superman, which we all really enjoyed! Be sure to also check out my written review.

• On Instagram/Tiktok/YouTube, I shared my reaction to the trailer for Avatar: Fire and Ash.

• [PAID ONLY] Over on my personal Patreon, I’m giving away a bunch of cool stuff.