The Fantastic Four: First Steps - Frontloaded Opening Can't Match SUPERMAN

[AndyDursin]

The funny thing is, nobody would put it past Disney at this rate.

[Monterey Jack]

Make him go away.

[AndyDursin]

lol.

Get ready for more of him, Doomcock's video last week is apparently spot on that the upcoming AVENGERS is positioned so he's the new #1 hero in the Marvel universe.

[TaranofPrydain]

The Pascal build-up is confusing to me. In fairness, I have not watched the TV series that made him a "name" or whatever that means in these days of fractured programming. But all these sudden leading roles for someone that didn't register before is very, very odd.

[AndyDursin]

Pascal is just "THE" guy at the moment. As with anything it will eventually pass, but he's just the approved (sort of) straight male lead at the moment. And since he's "LATINX" it's all the better for Disney to market.

The casting in this movie, again, just puts me off from ever wanting to see it. Beyond Pascal and Kirby, who I find creepy looking, this thing's a wash. My son doesn't want to see it either so I won't be stuck being dragged to it.

[AndyDursin]

Sounds like business as usual for Marvel. Even the positive reviews say the movie is dull.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review: What Superman Does So Right, The MCU’s Latest Gets Wrong

https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/the- ... eps-review

[AndyDursin]

Funny -- Rotten Tomatoes is up to its old tricks again where 2.5 star reviews are sometimes being counted as "fresh" in the score of this movie. IMO none of them should be counted as fresh!

1.5 stars from the Boston Globe:

‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ is a fantastic bore
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/22/ ... ps-review/

[Monterey Jack]

6/10



Hooray, it's...resoundingly adequate! While it's easily the "best" FF movie to date, clearing the low bar of the Roger Corman cheapie, the pair of lame-assed 2000s Fox entries and Fan4stic is not exactly high praise. It's an easier sit than the last two MCU movies that came out this year, but you can see the scars of last-minute nipping and tucking all over it. It's like a highlights reel of a previous movie we never got to see. Hey, I'm Captain Short-Assed Movies, but this movie just moves from plot peak to plot peak, without any pesky valleys of character development that would have given them shape. You know a movie's flailing when it opens with a TV montage of fun action sequence fragments that you wish you could have seen in full (the exact same flaw of Fan4stic). I know that the recent Superman also eschewed doing a full origin retelling, but that was a film that at least gave us some downtime of characters interacting with each other, but here there's almost no beats of the characters utilizing their powers in relatable or entertaining ways (I did enjoy Sue Storm rendering her belly transparent so that Reed Richards could take a look at his unborn son, which had kind of a warm, Innerspace vibe), and the attempts to generate some flirtation sparks between Johnny Storm and a gender-swapped Silver Surfer sputter out because they have so few interactions in the film, rendering a "heroic sacrifice" moment late in the proceedings dramatically inert.

The movie also looks wan and washed-out, with none of the colorful pop a 1960s (even an alternate universe '60s) period piece should possess. I would have preferred this much more had it been specifically set in "our" 1960s, but that probably would have interfered too much with MCU continuity (which no one cares about or can follow anymore anyways). Galactus' touchdown in New York has an enjoyable Toho scale to it, and there's a mildly emotional, well-earned dramatic beat at the climax, but overall this is a movie that, like far too many MCU movies, serves just to move chess pieces around and set up the next chapter. It's an easy enough sit, and I liked Joseph Quinn's performance as Johnny Storm (they should have cast him as a young Tony Stark in a full reboot of the franchise, though, as he has such a 1980s RDJ quality to him).

[AndyDursin]

Looks like this is settling into SUPERMAN levels which is probably expected.

https://deadline.com/2025/07/box-office ... 236468412/

[jkholm]

6/10



Hooray, it's...resoundingly adequate! While it's easily the "best" FF movie to date, clearing the low bar of the Roger Corman cheapie, the pair of lame-assed 2000s Fox entries and Fan4stic is not exactly high praise. It's an easier sit than the last two MCU movies that came out this year, but you can see the scars of last-minute nipping and tucking all over it. It's like a highlights reel of a previous movie we never got to see. Hey, I'm Captain Short-Assed Movies, but this movie just moves from plot peak to plot peak, without any pesky valleys of character development that would have given them shape. You know a movie's flailing when it opens with a TV montage of fun action sequence fragments that you wish you could have seen in full (the exact same flaw of Fan4stic). I know that the recent Superman also eschewed doing a full origin retelling, but that was a film that at least gave us some downtime of characters interacting with each other, but here there's almost no beats of the characters utilizing their powers in relatable or entertaining ways (I did enjoy Sue Storm rendering her belly transparent so that Reed Richards could take a look at his unborn son, which had kind of a warm, Innerspace vibe), and the attempts to generate some flirtation sparks between Johnny Storm and a gender-swapped Silver Surfer sputter out because they have so few interactions in the film, rendering a "heroic sacrifice" moment late in the proceedings dramatically inert.

The movie also looks wan and washed-out, with none of the colorful pop a 1960s (even an alternate universe '60s) period piece should possess. I would have preferred this much more had it been specifically set in "our" 1960s, but that probably would have interfered too much with MCU continuity (which no one cares about or can follow anymore anyways). Galactus' touchdown in New York has an enjoyable Toho scale to it, and there's a mildly emotional, well-earned dramatic beat at the climax, but overall this is a movie that, like far too many MCU movies, serves just to move chess pieces around and set up the next chapter. It's an easy enough sit, and I liked Joseph Quinn's performance as Johnny Storm (they should have cast him as a young Tony Stark in a full reboot of the franchise, though, as he has such a 1980s RDJ quality to him).

I agree. The first 45 minutes or so were lifeless, indifferently directed and edited. it was like one long montage. Once they got into space and met Galactus, the movie got much better with an actual story to latch on to. The actors playing Johnny and Ben were much better than I had expected. I appreciated the "comic book" tone of the movie with an underground city, flying cars and H.E.R.B.I.E. I'm beyond tired of genre movies trying to be "realistic." You're also right about the washed-out look. Obviously a lot of work went into the "retro-modern" aesthetic but it should have looked a lot brighter. And finally, I liked the pro-family/pro-baby plotline. We need more of that in modern movies.

[AndyDursin]

Steep decline from Thrs/Fri to Saturday.

SUNDAY AM: Refresh for more….Ok, ok, ok, so Marvel Studios/Disney‘s The Fantastic Four: First Steps is coming in lighter at $118M after a -42% slide on Saturday against Friday/previews for what was $33.3M.

That’s a steep Friday/previews to Saturday decline, which indicates the movie was front-loaded. Fantastic Four‘s fall is sharper than Superman (-33%), Thunderbolts* (-22%), Deadpool & Wolverine (-36%), and Captain America: Brave New World (-32%).

https://deadline.com/2025/07/box-office ... 236468412/

[Monterey Jack]

Just like listening to Williams' SUPERMAN and Elfman's BATMAN for the first time.

[Spit-take]

[AndyDursin]

I can't believe some are saying they love the score.

The last time someone had a chorus sing an actual character name in the theme, it was Leonard Rosenman's ROBOCOP 2 and I rest my case that was one of the all-time turkeys.