THE FANTASTIC 4: FIRST STEPS

Director: Matt Shakman
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Julia Garner, Ralph Ineson, Mark Gatiss, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, Sarah Niles

Marvel has brought the Fantastic Four to the big screen multiple times before to lukewarm response. The Fantastic 4: First Steps stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss Bachrach as our title heroes and is a solid relaunch thanks to their dynamic approach. First Steps continues to take Marvel in a new era as it leads up to next year’s Avengers: Doomsday. The first half of this film is crammed full of exposition and origin story world building as its writing team assumes we need a recap on who all these characters are. It’s set in 1960s New York City and the Fantastic Four are four astronauts who boarded an important mission and encountered a cosmic storm. They returned to Earth with superpowers and became heroes. They’re led by Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pascal), his wife Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Kirby), Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm/The Thing (Moss-Bachrach) and Sue’s brother Johnny/The Human Torch (Quinn). There’s an idilic sense of community present, as everyone adores them and celebrates their groundbreaking accomplishments. All eyes continue to be on them when Sue announces her pregnancy. The good news is quickly halted when the Silver Surfer (Garner) ascends down on Earth warning there’s grave danger ahead from a mysterious entity known as Galactus. In theaters

Here’s my review