Marvel’s first family is finally back—and this time, they’re putting the “fantastic” back in Fantastic Four. Set in a dazzling, 1960s-inspired alternate universe (Earth-828, to be exact), The Fantastic Four: First Steps skips the origin story and drops us straight into a world where Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm are already full-fledged heroes.
But behind the flying cars and cosmic threats is a deeper story about found family, sacrifice, and the kind of love that binds people together—sometimes literally, if you’re Mister Fantastic.
“It’s a nostalgia and a kind of fantasy fulfillment of the future,” said Pedro Pascal, who stars as Reed Richards. “Flying cars, geometric design, disarming charm. The world helped me understand the person I was playing and the movie I was in.”
And that world, crafted with evident reverence for Jack Kirby’s original comic vision and a dash of 2001: A Space Odyssey, comes courtesy of production designer Kasra Farahani. Retro-futurism bleeds from every frame, giving the MCU a splash of vintage soul that fans didn’t realize they were missing.
However, the visual wow factor is merely the scaffolding for the emotional engine at the film’s core: the Fantastic Four as a genuine family. Not just a squad. Not just a team. A messy, loyal, emotionally complex family.
“They’re joined by an experience that we can’t fathom,” shared Joseph Quinn, who plays the hotheaded Human Torch. “And they suffer the consequences of that and the responsibility of that every single day.”
And that burden turns intimate when cosmic destroyer Galactus (played with otherworldly menace by Ralph Ineson) threatens not just Earth, but Reed and Sue’s baby son, Franklin. Suddenly, the galactic becomes heartbreakingly personal.
“There’s an existential threat that’s going to wipe out the whole world,” said Vanessa Kirby, who plays Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman. “You go, ‘OK, but we’re one family against that. How on Earth do we [stop him]?’ It helped that there is a baby at the center of it… You think about protecting what that child represents.”
For The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who plays The Thing, the emotional weight was matched by the richness of the world. “[Director] Matt [Shakman] created a world, and then our job was to populate it,” he said. “It was so specific—like you could smell the year, in a way.”
That sense of atmosphere, memory, and depth is what the cast and crew hope will stick with audiences when the film opens in theaters on Friday, July 25.
And if early reactions are any sign, they might just get their wish.
Already hailed by The Telegraph as “Marvel’s best film in a decade,” and by Variety as a return to form, First Steps is being credited with helping the MCU “get its mojo back.” And it’s not just because of the aesthetic glow-up or the refreshingly tight, self-contained story—it’s because the heart of the film is right there in the performances.
“We want people to be moved,” adds Pascal. “We all were very moved by the experience we had together making the movie… We’re very close and had a lot of rich things to do together, on- and off-camera, and asked ourselves to put everything that we have—our whole hearts—into it and into each other.”
That intimacy permeates every scene, from quiet domestic moments to planet-saving showdowns. At its core, Fantastic Four: First Steps isn’t just about defending the Earth. It’s about protecting the love that makes life worth saving in the first place.
And in a superhero universe that’s gotten a little too big for its spandex, that might just be the boldest move of all. Fantastic Four: First Steps is now exclusively in theaters.
The Geek is a working screenwriter, director and screenwriting instructor.
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