WhileThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsis being hailed as one of the best adaptations of these characters, the movie has several details in common with the widely pannedFant4sticfrom 2015. TheMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)has finally brought Marvel’s First Family to the big screen, but it’s been a long road to get here.
The Fantastic Four may have arrived in the pages of the comics way back in 1961, but the first attempt to bring them into live-action wasn’t until decades later, in an unreleased film from 1994. Since then, Fox has released threeFantastic Fourmovies starring the team, with the last of these serving as a reboot.
For all the love these characters have received from comic book fans, the movies have struggled to capture the same spirit as the source material. ButThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsappears to have turned this tide, despite retreading some of the same ground that the 2015 film already covered.
6Both Movies Race To The Finish Line With Choppy Cuts
While it’s pretty common these days for superhero movies to range between the two-hour and three-hour mark, bothFant4sticandFirst Stepsclock in at under two hours.Fant4sticis an incredibly tight 100 minutes, whileFirst Stepsis just a few minutes shy of two-hours.
And in order to achieve this,both movies cut portions of the story.The Fantastic Four: First Stepsappears to navigate this pretty well, taking out characters and storylines that didn’t impact on the quality or cohesion of the final story.
However,Fant4sticsuffered a far worse fate, with studio interference leaving the film more fragmented, resulting in it missing major plot points and jumping around the narrative arc. Regardless, both would probably benefit from a director’s cut to explore the intended vision in greater detail.
5Some Scenes Are Clearly Entirely CGI In Both Fant4stic & The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Fant4stichad a major section of the film which takes place in the Negative Zone - or Planet Zero, as it’s referred to in the movie itself. Evidently, this alternate world is something that could only be dreamed up and put on camera with the help of CGI. However, the implementation of this wasn’t always so smooth.
On top of this, thefilm included the CGI character, The Thing, which proved a hurdle for the film to get right, and ultimately took the audience out of the story due to how otherworldly he looks in every scene where he appears.
The Fantastic Four: First Stepsalso established a whole new world - though, for the most part, many of its sets were built practically, helping to bring the 1960s retro-futuristic aesthetic to life. But, during a pivotal portion of the film, theheroes arrive on Galactus' ship in the depths of space.
During this section of the movie, it’s clear that a lot of what is happening is being created with CGI or the aid of an LED volume. In either instance, the scene is reliant on the aid of a computer, butFirst Stepsdoes a better job of making this feel immersive.
4Both Films Only Show Mister Fantastic’s Powers Occasionally
WhenFantastic Fourdebuted in 2005, it was exciting to see these heroes on the big screen for the first time. However, a common complaint was the lack of realism regarding Reed Richards' stretching powers, as the movie leaned into the uncanny nature of his abilities.
But, subsequent films learned to ease off on the stretching powers for the sake of realism. This meant that both 2015’sFant4sticand 2025’sThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsuse Mister Fantastic considerably less for his stretching abilities, and rely more on his intellect.
On top of this,First Stepsalso includes in-universe limitations to Reed’s powers, showing him experiencing sore joints, and having Galactus stretch him to a breaking point, which helps to ground the character, and highlights why he only uses his powers in ways that make sense and work depending on the situation.
3There Are Several Time Jumps Throughout Both Fantastic Four Movies
The story inFant4stictakes place over a number of years. As an origin story for the superheroes, it begins bylooking at Reed Richards and Ben Grimm’s friendship as kids. This leads to their eventual joining forces with Sue and Johnny Storm, and Victor Von Doom.
The film skips to when these individuals are all young adults working together to crack interdimensional travel, which leads to Victor being lost on the mysterious Planet Zero, and finallyskips ahead another yearafter they all acquire powers.
The Fantastic Four: First Stepstries to avoid repeating the origin story that was explored in both 2005 and 2015, but it still includes flashbacks and montages that detail the events that led to them getting powers. Then, thestory picks up four years afterthey manifested these gifts.
Finally,The Fantastic Four: First Steps' endingskips ahead another four years, showing a slightly older Franklin Richards, and introducing Doctor Doom for the first time in the MCU.
2Both Movies See The Heroes Working With Governing Bodies
Fant4sticestablishes that Reed, Ben, Sue, Johnny and Victor are all extraordinary young people. These brilliant minds are formed into a task force and provided with government funding through the Baxter Foundation.
Then, when they develop powers,most of the team become test subjects and weapons for the government, while Reed Richards runs and becomes a wanted fugitive. This clearly puts the team at odds with the governing body, butFirst Stepstakes a different approach.
Prior to developing powers, Reed and his team were similarly tagged as brilliant scientists and researchers, andled an expedition into space on behalf of the US government. However, after acquiring powers, the crew transforms to become heroes to the entire world.
As a result, Sue Storm takes on the responsibility of becoming a global diplomat, working as the figurehead of the philanthropic organization known as the Future Foundation. This approach is much more hopeful, and sees the heroes widely embraced by the world they protect.
1Sue Storm’s Powers Get A Bump From The 2000s Movies
Speaking of Sue Storm, the version of the character played by both Kate Mara and Vanessa Kirby is considerablychanged from the first live-action version depicted by Jessica Albain the 2000sFantastic Fourmovies.
In the earlier movies, Sue’s powers are largely downplayed as simply making her invisible for the most part, meaning she’s somewhat overshadowed by her peers. In addition,Sue is more a focus for romantic storylinethan a character that displays incredible power or insight.
This shifts in 2015, with Kate Mara playing a more independent version of the character. On top of this, thepowers that she displays appear to take a considerable step upfrom the limited invisibility and basic force fields that the 2000s movies explored.
Similarly,Vanessa Kirby depicts the most powerful version of Sue Storm to date, extending her ability to make things invisible to entire spaceships, and creating energy projectiles that pack a whopping punch. She also manages to single-handedly push the goliath Galactus through the streets of New York into a teleportation portal.
Clearly, Sue is a much more formidable character in bothFant4sticandThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsthan she was made out to be in the 2000s. Taking this and much more into consideration, it’s interesting to see how much overlap there was between the worst and best-rated movie iterations of these astonishing heroes.
