The Fantastic Four: First Steps

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is hardly the first time Marvel’s foremost family has been on the big screen. However, this movie marks their Marvel Cinematic Universe debut. And yet it’s set in a Jetsons-like parallel dimension with no Tony Stark, Spider-Man, or other Avengers they can call for help. While this might be disorienting at first, it also means that we needn’t have seen any of the previous Marvel movies or TV shows to watch this movie.

In a brief news special, we’re told how they got their powers and that they’ve been saving the world for the past four years. Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) is the brains with an elastic body. His wife, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), can turn invisible, create force fields, and negotiate world peace. Younger brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) can turn into a human torch. And Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) has a passion for the culinary arts despite being made of orange rocks.

Since their transformation, Reed and Sue assumed they would never have children. So it comes as a happy shock when Sue realizes she’s pregnant. While she and the rest of the family are celebrating, Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner), the herald of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), announces that Earth is scheduled for consumption. Galactus, you might recall, devours worlds. They have only a few months to prepare.

There’s a time jump while The Fantastic Four trace Shalla-Bal’s route back to Galactus and go to negotiate. Galactus offers a deal: he’ll spare Earth if Sue will give him her baby. They tell him no and escape in one of the movie’s best sequences. But the question remains, is the life of one child worth that of the entire human race? Most of the planet thinks otherwise, and, to Sue’s disgust, Reed dispassionately considers it.

“I’m not sacrificing my son for this planet,” Sue says in one of the most powerful scenes. “But I won’t sacrifice this planet for my son.” Not being a parent myself, I can only imagine accepting the responsibility of a child at the cost of a world of freedom. But I also understand that life shouldn’t revolve around one person. Science fiction is often at its philosophical best when presenting impossible choices and working through them. While I wish this movie dug a little deeper and found a clever solution, I can still appreciate its pro-family message.

Compared to most comic book movies, First Steps doesn’t have much violence. Only a few out-of-place blasphemies mar the dialogue, and even though Johnny is supposed to be a ladies' man, we never see him as anything other than a gentleman and fantastic uncle. Any member of the family would sacrifice his or her life for the others, though it’s Shalla-Bal who ends up with the significant character arc.

For myself, I still prefer the 2005 Fantastic Four for action entertainment. However, I must admit that First Steps is more family-friendly. Unfortunately, it falls short of fantastic. (Disney)