THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS (2025)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *cosmological, metaphysical, sociological*

I wrote this ARCHIVE essay to get into some of the reasons I wasn't captivated by FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, even though I highly approved of the film's avoidance of the political pandering seen in so many other MCU movies. But I might boil down my reaction to STEPS to one sentence: "it's one of the first attempts to make a superhero film about 'ideas,'  but its ideas are not well executed."

Many fans of the FANTASTIC FOUR comic have lauded it for being more in the vein of the genre of "science fiction adventure" than of whatever they see as "ordinary superheroes." I understand this distinction but don't agree with it. However, like the unnamed fans, I think the filmmakers were seeking to foreground the FF's science-fictional associations over whatever they considered typical of the typical long-underwear crusader. This priority is reflected most visibly in the decision not to locate the new FF in "the world outside your window," but in a futuristic 1965. It's four years after Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny came back to Earth from a space-mission that endowed them with super-powers. But although the four former astronauts have become celebrated for using their powers against evil super-villains, just like any comic-book heroes, arguably it's the genius of Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) that has refashioned the world-- for instance, by putting faster-than-light space-flight in the hands of Earth-people. To be sure, his wife Sue Richards (Vanessa Kirby) almost equals his influence, having used both her celebrity and an unexplained skill at diplomacy to nullify the arms race. (Guess that makes her an Ultimate Nullifier.)

As for Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) and Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), the two of them can't be said to have had such monumental impact on society, except through their popularity in advertising and in kids' cartoons. In the comic books, the overall family dynamic was that even though the powers of Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman were not nearly as consequential as those of The Thing and The Human Torch, the latter two were often like brawling children and often had to be reined in, and properly directed, by their "daddy and mommy." The two "kids" were the muscle, but Dad was the brains and Mom was the heart. Director Matt Shakman and the four credited writers have zero interest in this dynamic, though, with the result that Ben and Johnny barely utter a contentious word to one another. If the four of them were the whole ball of wax in STEPS, then the overall dynamic would been more like THE DONNA REED SHOW than like anything in the comic, much less the better sitcoms. Indeed, after about a half hour of watching the film, the DONNA REED comparison popped into my mind-- and that was without my knowing that one of Director Shakman's most notable projects for the MCU was the streaming series WANDAVISION, which also tended to portray American sitcoms as safe, sterile, and not actually funny.

Yet, Shakman et al do have a new dynamic that dominates STEPS, because it just so happens that in 1965 Reed and Sue also enjoy a new personal best: that of conceiving their first child. Franklin Richards becomes the new cynosure around which the four costumed crusaders revolve. Sue is largely serene and unflappable, even when she gives birth to Franklin roughly halfway through the movie, under circumstances that would make the parturition of Zeus sound positively pacific. From start to end, though, Reed's new status as a father fills him with something like existential dread. In the comics it's Ben Grimm who suffers the most from the foursome's elevation into creatures of mythic importance to their culture. But Shakman et al wanted the protean genius of Reed front and center, because he's the one most responsible for turning New York into a benevolent version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. This change is not without some positive repercussions. However, none of those good repercussions have anything to do with celebrating what was great about the FANTASTIC FOUR of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (even though both of them are given a fair number of "Easter eggs," while Kirby gets a special dedication at the end).

So fidelity is not STEPS' greatest virtue. This isn't a serious crime against art-- I for one think Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER far exceeded the Philip Dick novel on which the movie was based. But the focus upon the first child of this world's "first superhero family" necessitated that STEPS' adaptation of one of the comic's most famous story-arcs must also orbit the same cynosure. One podcast suggested to me the possibility that STEPS may have taken inspiration, not from the 1966 "Galactus Trilogy" by Lee and Kirby, but a much later 21st-story in which Galactus and Franklin Richards became intertwined. I have avoided looking at any latter-day stories in writing this review, but I've observed that where superhero adaptations, Hollywood often favors the update over the original.

So, long before the appearances of either Galactus or his female herald (whom I believe is only called "The Herald" in the theatrical release), Reed is very worried about how Pre-Natal Franklin will turn out, given that the child has been spawned by two mutated human beings. In the comic books, Baby Franklin's manifestation of godlike super-powers doesn't take long at all. However, for reasons that may have a lot to do with future MCU projects, STEPS never totally answers the question of what Franklin is, except that the average viewer will be reasonably sure he's not just a normie kid.

  The Herald, unlike the Silver Surfer in the 1965 Trilogy, very considerately informs all humans on Earth that their days are numbered and they should prize what time they have left. She leaves, and the Human Torch tries to overtake her, though he does not seek to fight or capture her. Rather, because it's important to the script, his first contact with The Herald gives him a linguistic clue to her background that will later prove important to the narrative. 

Nevertheless, Reed's technology is key to tracing the Herald's path back to her master, and to using the established space-tech to follow her. Shakman channels heavy "Apollo 11" imagery to sell these costumed crusaders as serious astronaut-heroes, and the entire world assumes that the Fantastic Four cannot help but triumph. One marked difference between this scenario and anything in the 1960s FF comic is that as long as Sue Richards was pregnant, Reed benched her from participating in heroics. But it's not feminism that makes it certain that this preggers superheroine will join the guys on the front lines, it's plot convenience.

 Though the space-journey is a little boring, the culminating arrival at Galactus' space-station is bracing, as is the foursome's first encounter with Galactus. The planet-eater confirms his intention to consume the Earth, but there's a new wrinkle. Even though neither Reed nor any other human was able to detect cosmic powers in Pre-Natal Franklin, Galactus is sure that he senses the Power Cosmic in the unborn infant. So he offers the Rumpelstiltskin Bargain: "I'll let your planet live if you give me your cosmic child, whose power can somehow annul my unceasing hunger."

And here's where I return to my opening statement. This reworking of Galactus' original modus operandi presents the audience with a particular idea-- the question as to whether it's morally justifiable to sacrifice "the One" to save "the Many'-- but does a poor job of answering the question. Granted, I enjoyed the scenes of the Herald surfing through the stars, pursuing the FF when they flee the station, and Sue giving birth in the Four's beleaguered spacecraft. Still, I had to ask-- what was the point of the Four fleeing? Didn't Galactus just give the heroes a choice as to whether to yield up their Little Stranger, rather than just outright trying to take the kid? Similarly, when the Four return to Earth, Reed unwisely reveals the suggested bargain to the populace. Shakman and the scripters totally fail to capture the drama of Earthlings turning against their former champions, and they do no better at coming up with a rationale that allows all Earth-nations to work together, seamlessly, on an alternate method of defeating the cosmic menace.

I won't descant on the movie's ending, or on the teaser for AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY. Both were decent for what they were, and I wasn't bored. But I have no sense that Shakman and the rest really knew what sort of story they wanted to tell. The casting of the actors is as much a mixed bag as the script. Moss-Bachrach does adequately with the various comedy scenes with The Thing, but his efforts to play against type-- Ben Grimm is more a sensitive funny uncle rather than a curmudgeon with a bad temper-- comes off as cumulatively tedious. Joseph Quinn's Torch is at least as lively a personality as the one from the comics, even if his quasi-relationship with The Herald boils down to connecting plot-points rather than meaningful communication. Vanessa Kirby probably does the best at projecting both courage and maternal solicitude even though Sue Richards is just as underwritten as she was in the Fox films. Pedro Pascal remains the weakest link, and I say that as one who has no previous acquaintance with his other roles. I think he did passably well with the character the script gives him: a man with an unparalleled master of all the sciences, who nevertheless worries about the possibility of losing his moral center as a human being. But while I don't need a Reed Richards who's a control-freak authoritarian, Pascal's Reed is too tentative to be credible as the leader of Marvel's First Superhero Family.