With The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the saga gets a makeover thanks to a retro-futuristic aesthetic and a five-star cast. Here’s our review of Matt Shakman’s new film.
Released on 23 July 2025, The Fantastic Four: First Steps relaunches a franchise that has long been battered on the big screen. Without rewriting the rules of the blockbuster, Matt Shakman’s feature film elegantly dusts off the genre. It’s a risky gamble, taken seriously by a director who knows his classics.
The stakes were high: revive a founding team of the Marvel universe, while breaking away from past adaptations (which were often disappointing). Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1961, The Fantastic Four are the pioneers of family comics. But their film adaptations have rarely been up to scratch. The 2005 and 2007 films, despite having a certain amount of goodwill, suffered from a lack of depth and direction. As for the 2015 reboot… best forget it.
Matt Shakman takes the opposite approach. There’s no abundant multiverse, no winking and winking: this is a new world. The plot is set in a timeless New York, and it’s in this new setting that the team comes to life.
The birth of a family
Thanos and other oft-exploited universal threats are out of the picture, and in this film the plot is based on two issues. One intimate, with the birth of a family of superheroes, and the other galactic, with the threat of Galactus, the antagonist, and the Silver Surfer.
The cast features Pedro Pascal as a restrained, deeply human Reed Richards. Opposite him, Joseph Quinn gives Johnny Storm a fiery charm, even stealing the show from his co-star. Ebon Moss-Bachrach brings gravitas and tenderness to Ben Grimm, alias the Thing. And above all, Vanessa Kirby shines as Sue Storm. She is a strong, clear-sighted, emotional woman who is not reduced to romance. A modern heroine, far from archetypes, who is a pleasure to watch.
The unity of the group, almost too smooth, rejects artificial quarrels. Here, the dynamic is based on listening, complicity and brotherly love. Not to mention the arrival of Franklin, Reed and Sue’s son. A refreshing tone that gives the film a highly emotional resonance.
A retro-futuristic aesthetic that hits the bull’s eye
If there’s one thing that perfectly symbolises The Fantastic Four: First Steps, it’s its visual atmosphere. Matt Shakman opts for a retro-futuristic New York, as if frozen in a 60s dream future. Flying cars, domestic robots and Mad Men suits… everything exudes nostalgia and creativity.
This original setting gives the film a real identity. At times it reminds you of The Jetsons, at others of Watchmen, but without ever falling into caricature. It’s a visual approach that contrasts with the sometimes drab aesthetic of the latest Marvel films.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps may not revolutionise the genre, but it is a solid, elegant and sincere offering. No one-upmanship, no cynicism. It’s a clean, well-constructed, diligent Marvel film, perhaps a little too wise. Matt Shakman’s debut is a success, but we hope he’ll be more daring in the future.
Follow us on Instagram