The Fantastic Four - First Steps

Yes, I’m as surprised as any of you. Marvel’s lacklustre run since Avengers: Endgame (2019) has meant that Kevin Feige has been looking to consolidate for a while. He’s been badgered with constant firefighting that’s been needed since the sudden passing of Chadwick Boseman in 2020 (Black Panther), the abuse allegations against Jonathan Majors, who was playing Kang – supposed to be built up as the next big Marvel villain after Thanos – and the reality-check that Feige got for the female-led films like Black Widow (2020), The Marvels (2023), and a black Captain America (played by Anthony Mackie) – all of which turned out to be disappointments. Coupled with Marvel’s strained relations with director Ryan Coogler, actors Scarlet Johansson, Brie Larson, and the two main draws – Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr sitting out (till RDJ was announced to return as Doctor Doom) – it all looked like the cinematic universe was too scattered. But that seemed to take a new turn with Thunderbolts*, which teased reinvention of the Marvel movies with almost a M Night Shyamalan-esque take on a superhero movie.

The Fantastic Four - First Steps marks the entry of the Fantastic 4 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Their appearance has been hinted in the past, most obviously in the post-credits scene of Thunderbolts*, earlier this year but this is their first full-fledged film and they will be seen again in Avengers: Doomsday, scheduled for 2026.

There has been enough representation of The Fantastic Four in pop culture. My earliest memory is of the animated series on TV. Of course, there were some underwhelming films too that came out in the early 2000s. In the post-pandemic era, as Marvel tries to reboot and revive its lost glory, The Fantastic Four: First Steps fits well in the larger scheme of things. It takes the audience, new and loyalists included, back in time and narrates the story of Marvel’s first family. It changes some of our earlier perceptions of the four superheroes from Earth 828, adds certain new elements, and makes it a formidable franchise that hopefully will see more films in the future. Does it make for a thrilling ride, though? Let’s find out.

I remember being traumatised by the mediocrity of The Fantastic Four (2005) and its Silver Surfer sequel (2007), back when superhero movies were still in the ‘Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man’ era. One of my first thoughts, as a red-blooded male teenager, was: Is Jessica Alba really worth the fuss? The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a considerable step up from both the 2000s debacles and the 2015 disaster (I bet you didn’t remember that one — well, neither do Michael Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Miles Teller). Granted, that doesn’t take a lot of doing, but as an MCU movie that absolutely ‘needed’ to be made to thicken the chaos of the next Avengers movie, it’s not the worst thing. It’s not the best thing either, but when did Marvel ever pretend to be ambitious within its anti-cinema aesthetic? The Emmy-nominated Martin Scorsese will tell you more.

Writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby premiered the Fantastic Four in a comic book in 1961, and the quartet soon came to be known as Marvel’s ‘first family’. They lived together as a family, tackling both interpersonal issues and intergalactic threats. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a reboot with a brand-new cast that places this family of superheroes firmly within the MCU’s multiverse sprawl. Set on Earth-828, First Steps recalls how four space travellers were transformed into beings with superpowers. It begins with a fateful space mission led by Dr. Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), accompanied by astronauts Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), his sister Susan Storm (Vanessa Kirby), and Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). When their ship passes through a cosmic storm, the event changes them forever. Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, is a no-nonsense genius with an elastic body. Sue Storm, aka Invisible Woman, can create force fields and turn invisible. Johnny Storm becomes the Human Torch, able to burst into flames and fly. Ben Grimm is physically transformed into The Thing, a super-strong, rock-skinned pilot and fighter—with sad eyes. Their trusted assistant is a robot named HERBIE.

चार वैज्ञानिक, जो एक स्पेस मिशन के लिए अंतरिक्ष में गए, मगर वहां कुछ ऐसी ब्रह्मांडीय किरणों से टकराए कि वे सुपरपावर्स से लैस होकर वापस लौटे और बन गए फैंटास्टिक फोर। वे सुपरहीरोज, जो अपनी दुनिया को हर तरह के खतरों से बचाते हैं। मार्वल के ये ‘फैंटास्टिक फोर’ फिर पर्दे पर लौटे हैं, मगर इस बार जोर एक्शन, एडवेंचर और रोमांच से ज्यादा इमोशन और फैमिली ड्रामा पर है। यह कहानी एक काल्पनिक रेट्रो फ्यूचरिस्टिक दुनिया अर्थ 828 के मसीहा, ‘फैंटास्टिक फोर’ रीड रिचर्ड्स (पेड्रो पास्कल), उसकी पत्नी सू स्ट्रॉम (वैनेसा किर्बी), दोस्त बेन ग्रिम (एबन मॉस-बैचराच) और साले जॉनी स्ट्रॉम (जोसेफ क्विन) के परिचय से शुरू होती है। एक टीवी होस्ट दर्शकों को बताता है कि कैसे 4 साल पहले ये चारों स्पेस में गए और अलग-अलग सुपरपावर वाले हीरो बन गए। मसलन, तेज दिमाग वाला रीड किसी रबर की तरह फैल सकता, सू गायब हो सकती है, बेन अब विशाल पत्थर की तरह बन चुका है, वहीं जॉन उड़ते हुए आग के गोले में तब्दील हो सकता है। इन चार साल में अपनी इन ताकतों के दम पर इन्होंने कई खलनायकों से लोगों की रक्षा की है। चारों एक परिवार की तरह साथ रहते हैं और जल्द ही रीड और सू के घर एक नन्हा मेहमान भी आने वाला है। लेकिन तभी इनकी दुनिया पर गैलेक्टस के रूप में एक खतरा मंडराने लगता है।