The Marvel Cinematic Universe has arguably been struggling to reclaim its former glory since 2019, when Avengers: Endgame was released. There have been several films between then and now that I’ve personally enjoyed, notably its most recent film Thunderbolts*, but in a time of near-undeniable audience superhero fatigue, it’s been tough out there for the heroes we know and love. And there’s enormous pressure on WandaVision director Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. It needs to work as an introduction to this group of heroes, but has to excite audiences enough to get them excited for what comes next, and it needs to make a whole bunch of money. While the new Fantastic Four hardly rewrites the rules of the comic book movie, it’s a breezy, entertaining and visually dazzling summer confection that’s easily the closest cinema has come to getting Marvel’s First Family right.

In the 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic Earth 828, the world has been under the protection of the Fantastic Four for the last four years. Scientist Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), her brother Johnny (Joseph Quinn) and Reed’s best friend Ben (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) went to space and came back with spectacular superpowers. Once Sue announces she’s pregnant, there is a lot of speculation about if her child will be born with superpowers. The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) arrives, announcing their planet is marked for death by the villainous Galactus (Ralph Ineson). The Fantastic Four must find a way to save their planet from certain doom.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is such a visual delight, such a stunning film to look at, that I worry if this suffocates the rest of the movie. Because the story is fine, every actor is well-cast and is very good here, and there’s a decidedly lighter tone to the proceedings, which is something I enjoy in a Marvel movie. But what I’ll really remember is how cool this movie looked. And I’m not sure if that will be a negative for audiences. But Matt Shakman’s steady directorial hand and the script by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, keeps things moving along at a nice enough clip. First Steps, almost by default, is the best Fantastic Four movie yet, but it also can’t help but feel like the First Step it is.

Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby have the kind of chemistry you need to sell this central relationship. Kirby seems to have more to work with than Pascal, but it’s also possible she’s just that good of an actor, she can make a meal out of scraps. Joseph Quinn as Johnny is energetic, handsome and charming, but not every beat with his character lands. The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach kind of gets short-changed here, as there’s really not very much for the human version of this character to do. We meet these characters after they’ve come into their power and have been saving their world for four years. And I think it’s smart to not do this as an origin story, because lord knows we’ve seen that movie before, and this script does a commendable job at keeping the exposition minimal. I would say, as a note for future installments, let these characters lean into the procedural, sitcom-style bickering that the comics are known for. Because as good as everyone is here, it would be nice to have spent some more time with them as a group before we get to the big action set pieces.

The casting of Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer seemed inspired to me, and she’s doing very good work here with what is essentially a CGI-motion capture performance. She actually gets a backstory and a fully developed character arc and I enjoyed that. Ralph Ineson as Galactus has less of an opportunity to make an impact, but considering the big, hulking, borderline goofy villain performance this demands, I guess he’s fine. He does what the movie needs him to do. We also have the great Natasha Lyonne and Paul Walter Hauser depressingly wasted in thankless supporting roles.

But what really stands out about The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the craft on display. This is a stunningly gorgeous film from top to bottom. The sleek retro-futuristic production design by Karsa Farahani is immaculately detailed and endlessly creative. He creates a world with analog technology and no cell phones, but also flying cars and hovercrafts, and from a design and world building standpoint, this film will blow you away. It’s a world you want to live in forever – one where every detail is more charming and surprising than the last. Alexandra Byrne’s costume design is also painstakingly detailed and couldn’t be better. The vibe of the film itself is kind of a metaphor for those cozy blue sweaters. Michal Giacchino’s score contains an instantly iconic theme, and lots of surprising flourishes along the way. 

Overall, I was definitely more pleased than not with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. As an introduction to a different world and its heroes, I was charmed, entertained and honestly a little impressed with what Shakman is able to pull off here. The story itself and the characters are never breaking new ground, but I’m not sure they really need to after 17 years of these movies. But you will drive home from the theater humming the score and thinking about the production design. I was never really moved, but I was sufficiently wrapped up in all the aesthetic razzle-dazzle of this world Shakman has created. For a movie where the objective is to get you, the viewer, excited about these movies again, this is a very confident First Step.