“I will not sacrifice my child for this world,” declares an impassioned Sue Storm, both superhero and new mother (in the superhero industry, maternity leave is evidently scant), in one of the emotional high points of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel’s much-anticipated franchise revival.
After a lackluster Phase Five — marred by formulaic, forgettable fare like Brave New World and Thunderbolts — the MCU’s sixth chapter opens with one of the strongest entries in its entire run. First Steps is an unabashedly pro-family, even subtly pro-life narrative, brimming with themes of sacrifice, moral clarity, and perseverance. It embraces emotional weight without undercutting it with the MCU’s trademark vapid snark.
Mercifully, the film dispenses with a traditional origin story. From the outset, we learn that Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), after years of failed attempts, are finally expecting a child — complicated, of course, by their genetically enhanced DNA. But before they can even finish assembling the nursery, their hometown of Manhattan is shaken by the arrival of a shimmering herald: the Silver Surfer, an emissary of Galactus. Towering, implacable, and beautifully rendered, Galactus is introduced as the (literal) devourer of worlds — and Earth is next on the menu. There is something about a foreigner with a destructive ideology showing up to consume Manhattan that New Yorkers in the current mayoral election cycle can sympathize with.
The twist comes when Galactus offers a bargain: he will spare Earth in exchange for Sue’s unborn child, whose latent powers he deems unimaginably vast. Until this point, Storm’s powers — force fields, invisibility — have seemed formidable. But now, as the film insists, there is no force in the universe greater than a mother’s love. “We will move heaven and Earth,” she vows, “before surrendering our child.”
That promise becomes the engine of the film. It’s a rare and refreshing change to see a superhero movie grounded in something as deeply personal as motherhood and family, rather than vague imperatives like “save the universe (or multiverse).” Storm’s maternal instinct, depicted as cosmic-scale resolve, gives the film both its moral weight and its emotional center.
This marks the cinematic debut of director Matt Shakman, whose previous Marvel credit was WandaVision. Shakman has a keen eye for retro-futurism. Set in a stylized early-1960s Manhattan, the film bursts with Saarinen Tulip tables, floating classic cars, sunken living rooms, and suspended fireplaces — interiors that feel lifted from Design Within Reach showrooms, filtered through the optimism of the Space Age. It’s an immersive and slick world that draws heavily from comic book creator Jack Kirby’s original aesthetic.
And yet First Steps still remembers to be fun. It’s not a weighty Christopher Nolan production. But its levity is well-placed — like when Reed and Ben are late to a hero call because they’re wrestling with a child car seat. (“You have to loop it around — then tie it!”) These moments are contained, never awkwardly wedged in to upend the film’s more poignant scenes.
It has become cliché to opine about the inescapable prevalence of Pedro Pascal these days, but he continues to earn his ubiquity; I have never been disappointed by any one of his performances. He was a convincing narcotics officer in Narcos, and he is an equally convincing scientist in First Steps. “It’s arithmetic, ethical, logical,” he coldly deduces, calculating the implications of pawning off his child to Galactus in exchange for his promise to spare the world — until parental instinct upends the logic.
Joseph Quinn is a serviceable Johnny Storm, though he lacks the playful spark and comedic timing Chris Evans brought to the role in the 2005 version. Quinn’s Human Torch is more subdued, but also more interesting. He is eager to impress Reed and even takes the initiative to study the Surfer’s language to help find a way to defeat Galactus — a gentler, less flippant portrayal. His flirtation gag with the Surfer doesn’t quite land, but his character arc has more emotional shading than expected.
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Michael Giacchino’s score also deserves mention and praise. The main theme — ascending staccato notes across the syllables of “Fantastic,” resolving gracefully on “Four” — is deceptively simple but striking. It channels the aspirational wonder of 1960s space exploration and is easily the most memorable MCU composition since the original Avengers theme.
As someone who has grown skeptical of the MCU’s output over the last decade, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first sign that superhero fatigue isn’t inevitable. All it takes is emotional commitment from the filmmaker — a willingness to show relatable characters fighting personal battles. Sometimes, the most powerful force in the universe isn’t laser-beam eyes or vibranium gimmickry, but the resolve of a mother refusing to give up her child.
Harry Khachatrian (@Harry1T6) is a film critic for the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a software engineer, holds an MBA from the University of Toronto, and writes about wine at BetweenBottles.com.