Fantastic Four: First Steps Features Fantastic Action and Terrifying Villains

I'm quite surprised to say that Fantastic Four: First Steps was a damn good Marvel film. I was able to catch an early showing at the Cinemark on Tuesday, and I was blown away. The audience along with me appeared to really enjoy the movie too, and I smiled as I listened to several people praise the movie as I was leaving the theater. 

Even they sounded surprised with how good it the movie was, and I can see why. 

It's been so damn long since we got a good Marvel story like this. 

- The CGI was awesome, and it looked far better on screen than it did in the trailers.

- The movie took place in a 1960s retro setting, and it was so awesome and fresh to watch. The old school news sequences talking about the Fantastic Four were some of my favorite parts of the film. 

- We got several dark moments in the film I wasn't expecting, and I heard some people freak out during one particular scene. (I'll go over this part later).

- The story was fast paced and straight to the point. 

- The villains were honestly so freaking scary, their motivations were so evil, it's been so long since we got evil bastards like this in a superhero movie. 

- The characters and their chemistry with one another was so good, I really enjoyed the banter between two particular characters that were my favorite from the movie. 

- We got great action scenes I wasn't expecting. The director and the writers knew how to play with the powers of these characters on screen, and it was so fun to watch.

And the best part, is that we don't have to watch 10 other films or watch several TV shows on Disney + to get what the hell is going on in this movie. I'm so tired of this stupid trend where you have to watch other stuff to understand what is happening in a specific Marvel movie. It turns into a chore at that point, and it really takes the fun out of these stories. 

I was so happy to see that Fantastic Four is a standalone Marvel movie, and man, it was so entertaining!

We follow the story of the Fantastic Four that are stuck in a horrifying situation of saving their planet from a formidable foe.

The Fantastic Four, Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben, meet a woman named Shalla - Bal who warns the heroes and their world that they will all die by her master, known as Galactus. The heroes go over to meet with Galactus in space, to hopefully negotiate some sort of deal with him to avoid the planet's demise. 

Galactus is a cosmic being that must consume planets to continue his chance at survival. He tells them that in order to save Earth, Reed and Sue must give up their child to Galactus, for him to consume. It turns out that their son has the cosmic energy that Galactus is searching for. Reed and Sue don't agree to this deal, and the crew is constantly chased for a while by Shalla - Bal who is desperate to retrieve the child from them. 

The crew is able to fight off Shalla - Bal with their wits, and they escape. Sue gives birth during the chase on the ship, and the crew welcomes another member to their family. Sue names the child Franklin, and they return to Earth a month later. 

They tell the people on Earth that they were not able to defeat Galactus, and they reveal that to save the planet, they must give up their child, but they refused. This sparks an outrage from their people throughout the world, and the crew is left in disarray and worry about the fate of their world. 

People in the theater freaked out when Shalla - Bal tried to steal Sue's baby out of her womb. Like seriously, that was a dark scene. And I was not expecting Galactus to want to eat the kid. Wow. I missed this side of Marvel.

The Fantastic Four come up with a plan to stop Galactus.

The crew come up with the idea to locate Earth to a different part of the galaxy to avoid Galactus' arrival. This does not go well when Shalla - Bal suddenly appears, destroying the machine that would have been used to locate the Earth. Johnny Storm goes after her on his own to confront her. 

He had been conducting his own research on her throughout the film, and we get a dark backstory of her character. She had been forced to work for Galactus, so that her planet and child would be spared. She had helped him to choose the planets he would consume, as part of their deal. 

Johnny forces Shalla - Bal to listen to the screams of the other planets that were consumed, and she flees from the planet in a rage. Johnny follows after her, and she begs him to give up the child to save their planet. She leaves after this encounter. When Johnny returns, they come up with a different plan, one that does not sit well with either of the heroes. 

They decide to use Franklin as bait, to lure Galactus to the planet, and to use their own invention to send him to a different part of space. They go through with the plan, and this leads to a fantastic battle. 

I loved how Johnny forced Shalla - Bal to listen to the last screams of her victims on the other planets. That part was so disturbing, I loved it!

The Fantastic Four battle Galactus to the death.

Before the crew battle their powerful foe, they ask an old enemy to hide the people in their city underground with him. He complies with this arrangement, and the heroes can now use an empty city to fight their rival.

The crew is left struggling to defeat Galactus, and he is able to steal Franklin during the fight. In a panic, Sue uses her power at full force, to stop Galactus from taking her child. Reed, Johnny, and Ben use this advantage to fight Galactus, and they succeed in throwing him into the machine to send him back. 

Unfortunately, this does not work, and Johnny decides to sacrifice himself to be rid of their foe once and for all. Johnny is stopped by Shalla - Bal, and she charges at Galactus, throwing herself into another part of the galaxy with him. 

Then the crew finds out that Sue died during the fight. 

While the crew is mourning her loss, Franklin shocks the group by bringing her back from the dead, proving that he did indeed have powers after all. 

The movie ends with the crew now being seen as the Fantastic Five, baby Franklin now being a part of their group. 

We then get a post credit scene of a time jump of four years, revealing a future foe for the heroes. 

I'm still kind of mad that a recurring actor that played a past hero in the old Marvel is playing this particular villain, but hopefully this multiverse bullshit will be good like the Fantastic Four movie going forward. Sorry to be so blunt and mean about the multiverse storylines, but man, it has gotten so old. 

Fantastic Four: First Steps was a great film. You might even say…that it was fantastic!

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Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn