‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps': Marvel goes interstellar in an amiable outing for comic books' First Family
Here, Earth's mightiest heroes are space-age pioneers too: the pregnant Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), her scientist hubby Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), her headstrong brother Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), and Reed's best pal, hulking concrete-faced enforcer Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). There are no other superheroes to clutter up the scene, leaving the four to protect humanity together – when they're not squabbling amicably in their gleaming HQ.
Having previously demanded near PhD-level knowledge of their interlocking stories, superhero movies now seem to be flipping to the other extreme. As with James Gunn's Superman, the back story and set-up are brushed past swiftly, via an ABC special fronted by Stephen Moffat, First Steps ' answer to Basil Exposition. The quartet, we learn, were zapped by cosmic rays on a space voyage and returned to Earth with superpowers.
What those powers are, and why they're all different, remains a little hazy for anyone not versed in MCU lore. But there's plenty of chance to figure them out in the action ahead – including a 2001 -esque foray into space. Gender-swapped (deal with it) space-nymph the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner) arrives to share the news that giant, planet-munching superbad Galactus (Ralph Ineson) is en route to make Earth the latest Malteser in his interstellar buffet.
For a movie that looks this sleek, there's a lot of scrappiness around the fringes
It's all entertaining enough, with Moss-Bachrach an earthy presence beneath Ben Grimm's rocky CG exterior and Quinn injecting a note of boyish vulnerability into an offbeat flirtation with the Silver Surfer. Kirby anchors the drama as a mum-to-be trying to pull off the ultimate juggle, while Pascal is charmingly gawky as the anxious Reed, who reacts to impending fatherhood by having the city's villains rounded up. 'You're baby-proofing the world,' notes Grimm.
For a movie that looks this sleek, there's a lot of scrappiness around the fringes. Paul Walter Hauser is fun as subterranean mastermind Mole Man, but gets barely a toehold on the plot. Half of whatever Natasha Lyonne's character, a teacher with a thing for The Thing, was due to be doing is surely on the cutting room floor. The Four's droid helper H.E.R.B.I.E. doesn't leave a massive impression.
Needless to say, don't leave your seat as the credits roll, as a crucial new character gets intro'ed (the second post-credit sting is the very definition of inessential). Next stop? Avengers: Doomsday. Your research starts now.
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