Marvel’s First Family finally makes its full MCU debut, granted with a lot of pressure riding on their shoulders. Considering their past cinematic outings and poor performances of recent MCU instalments, First Steps clobbers expectations with reverence for the retrofuturistic vision of Lee and Kirby’s Marvel Age. As with Gunn’s Superman, we are spared another origin movie – here condensed to the briefest of recaps to remind viewers of the cosmic forces responsible for putting the ‘Fantastic’ in the titular ‘Four’ and like Superman, this is a world that is vibrant, rich and lived in. It might not be the same Earth as the main MCU, but it is one that feels notably more cohesive and classically hopeful; one bereft of cosmic finger-snaps and fast-track film releases that grew to increasingly and more blatantly favour studio profits over creative integrity.
I was once little like you, billions of years ago. A man from another world before this relentless, eternal hunger.
Galactus (Ralph Ineson) introduces himself to the Fantastic Four.
As Susan Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) – aka the Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic – babyproof the Baxter Building in case their newborn exhibits unusual, mayhap fantastic abilities, the arrival of Stan Lee’s favourite creation, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner as the Earth X Shalla-Bal iteration rather than the 616 Norrin Radd), heralds the coming of Galactus (Ralph Ineson). As if minding a cosmic powered baby wasn’t enough for even the Fantastic Four to contend with, the Devourer of Worlds threatens to consume Earth, but is willing to yield in exchange for a price that may be too high. At it’s core, the Fantastic Four has always revolved around the familial relationship between its core members; Sue and Reed acting as the adoptive parents of perpetually bickering teens, otherwise known as Ben Grimm (the Thing – Ebon Moss-Bach-Rach) and Johnny Storm (Susan’s hotheaded brother, the Human Torch – Joseph Quinn). Add to the family drama a dash of cosmic rays and unexpected superpowers and the Fantastic Four‘s endearing qualities speak for themselves. Casting a team to capture that enduing aspect that made Lee and Kirby’s book their longest running title together is a make-or-break component to the success of any FF adaptation and one that has been perfectly corrected over Sony’s last disastrous attempt, clearly benefitting from the rock-solid cast chemistry that sells this vital dynamic.
Reconciling the missteps of past FF movies, Matt Shakman (WandaVision) fills the screen with pastiches of FF comics history – from the Mole Man to the Mad Thinker, there is a clear reverence for the source material that happens to echo the sentiment evident in Gunn’s Superman. Curiously, both films attempting to revive the cinematic superhero from the genre fatigue many have cited as the decline of the MCU and DCEU by looking more closely at the pages of the original comics than we’ve seen lately with particular interest in reconstructing the anything goes fun of Silver/ Marvel Age books, injecting more colour and vibrancy to help create a broader emotional and visual spectrum. It’s almost as if these should have served as key inspiration from the beginning. Accompanied with a boisterous score and visual curiosities, we move from a retrofuturistic New York to the cosmic domain of Galactus, including a collapsing planet and the haunting cavernous halls of Galactus’ own ship. Visually, there’s no question Fantastic Four: First Steps is a feast worthy of Galactus’ perpetual hunger, seasoned with the inclusion of 60s style costumes, rockets and Fantasti-Car.
Johnny Storm: The words you said to me earlier. What do they mean?
Silver Surfer: It’s a blessing. It means ‘Die with yours.’
While the final confrontation with the dread multi-storey-high planet eating Ralph Ineson admittedly left a great deal to be desired, the spectacle remains cinematically magnificent, the impression that we are perpetually looking up at a giant of unfathomable power only undercut by the ease with which he is dispatched with a clear indication that things are being set in motion for the future of the MCU, as seems to be the unfortunate tradition for Marvel movies. As a “first step” it is encouraging to see Marvel match DC’s ardor for the classic comics roots that sparked excitement for these characters and the limitless potential for cosmic adventures and antics possible only in pulp sci-fi. This is a team that fits the billing, that finally understands how to portray Galactus and a Silver Surfer that, while not the Norrin Radd version we expected to see, manages to carry the weight of one who has heralded the deaths of countless planets to assuage the hunger of a cosmic entity.
