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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe \u201cFirst Steps\u201d part of the title of the new \u201cFantastic Four\u201d movie is misleading. We don\u2019t see the superhero quartet take their first steps, not as changed individuals and not as a team. The movie takes place four years after a space anomaly altered the DNA of astronauts Reed \u201cMister Fantastic\u201d Richards (Pedro Pascal), Ben \u201cThing\u201d Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Johnny \u201cHuman Torch\u201d Storm (Joseph Quinn) and his sister, Sue \u201cInvisible Woman\u201d Storm (Vanessa Kirby). Fortunately, the alterations turned out to be mostly positive, and the team uses their newfound gifts to better the planet of Earth-828.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The team certainly uses their powers for the greater good, but they don\u2019t rely on them as much as you\u2019d think. Richards is such an outstanding intellectual that he barely ever calls upon his ability to stretch. Sue uses her diplomatic talents to broker a peace deal that has nothing to do with her (admittedly poorly-defined) force-field powers. Johnny tries to prove his worth to the others by tackling problems without relying on his fire powers. Ben is more than happy to lend his rock-body to issues that require physical force, but he\u2019s just as happy to live as normally as he can. The team is certainly good for fighting off the occasional supervillain, but they also motivate the inhabitants of Earth-828 to do good with their own lives so they don\u2019t need to rely on superheroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, sometimes the world needs the Fantastic Four at their most Fantastic. As couple Reed and Sue are preparing to welcome a baby, extraterrestrial being Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner), later known as the Silver Surfer, arrives on Earth-828. She\u2019s there to herald the impending arrival of planet-eating giant Galactus (Ralph Ineson). Nice of her to give everyone a chance say goodbye to their loved ones, though I don\u2019t see why Galactus needs a herald to give away the element of surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Four won\u2019t stand for their entire world to be eaten, so they go on a space mission to try to reason with the hungry humongoid. He\u2019s willing to cut a deal: he\u2019ll spare the planet in exchange for Reed and Sue\u2019s baby, which may have an all-powerful combination of his parents\u2019 powers. The team refuses to hand over the baby, of course, but that does leave them with the residual problem of Earth being doomed. Can the Fantastic Four save their world from a villain the size of a skyscraper? Do the Marvel Cinematic Universe and its Disney overseers want to keep making money off of these characters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Story-wise, there\u2019s not much new here, other than maybe how little action there is for a superhero movie. There\u2019s a chase scene midway through the movie, and a typical-of-the-MCU battle involving a big glow-y thing at the end, but other than that we see little more than quick bursts and highlights. The Four actually try to stop Galactus by calling upon help from civilians on a global scale. I seriously doubt that enough people on our Earth would be willing to chip in and make these sacrifices, but remember, this movie doesn\u2019t take place on Earth, it takes place in a parallel universe on Earth-828.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The appeal of \u201cThe Fantastic Four: First Steps\u201d doesn\u2019t lie in the likeable-but-familiar heroes, it lies in the setting of Earth-828. The world looks like what people in the 1960\u2019s thought the world would look like in 2025. Technology has advanced and there are things like flying cars, but style and decoration have retained what I would call a retro aesthetic. Yes, there\u2019s even an agreeably-chirpy, charmingly-cumbersome robot servant in the team\u2019s headquarters. It\u2019s the most memorable MCU setting since Wakanda, and it might even have that one beat. I can see why the Fantastic Four want to work so hard to save this world. Earth-828 elevates this otherwise-middling MCU entry into the best installment in years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grade: B<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Fantastic Four: First Steps\u201d is rated PG for action\/violence and some language. Its running time is 115 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Bob Garver The \u201cFirst Steps\u201d part of the title of the new \u201cFantastic Four\u201d movie is misleading. We don\u2019t see the superhero quartet take their first steps, not… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDhcL2ltYWdlLTIwMjUtMDgtMDJUMTc1NDU5LjA2Ny53ZWJwP2ZpdD02OTElMkMxMDI0JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiVGhlIEZhbnRhc3RpYyBGb3VyOiBGaXJzdCBTdGVwcyBcdTIwMTMgTW92aWUgUmV2aWV3IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.7lUjWq6Tx6b6Ej8N44hwYG3MMLfScrdOm_uwW0KfyhYMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":57052,"url":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-2025-08-02T175459.067.webp","type":"image\/png"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[11921],"class_list":["post-57051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-the-fantastic-four-first-steps-movie-review"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57051"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57053,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57051\/revisions\/57053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}