At long last, the new and fourth attempt at a Fantastic Four movie has arrived at our theaters, this time by the actual Marvel Studios. Did you know that I have never seen Fan4stic? It was apparently bad and I’ve never had enough curiosity to watch it. And I knew Marvel would get the rights back eventually.

Movie Rating: 9/10 – Great

Personally, I would have been fine had Marvel found a way to fit the Fantastic Four into the existing Marvel Cinematic Universe. I had my own idea once on how to make it work. But screw all of that because this retro, multiverse idea worked flawlessly! I loved the vibe, I loved the world, I loved the characters, I loved the movie!

Join me after the jump for my full thoughts on Fantastic Four: First Steps. Expect FULL SPOILERS for the film. And feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments below.

6. Wonderful, enjoyable flick

I very much enjoyed this movie and can’t wait to see it again with some friends, a second time in theaters. The movie is a nice, self-contained adventure with a very unique sense of style and a very good sense of scale and story. I enjoyed the recapped origin story; a great way to do it. I enjoyed the feeling of family and teamwork. And I very much enjoyed the arrival of Galactus and the Silver Surfer. I’m very glad they decided to use those characters again.

This was an all-around entertaining package that kept to itself and told an enjoyable, emotional story. I would have loved another half an hour in this world, maybe more time with the Thing and his lady friend, maybe that Red Ghost scene that was cut, but I’m content and happy with what we got. There were a couple of really spicy moments that I enjoyed, like Sue telling Johnny to kill the Silver Surfer. And Sue’s speech about being a mother to the angry crowd. And then they just straight up physically fight Galactus on the streets of New York. That was a hoot!

Fantastic Four: First Steps is a full, engaging, enjoyable film that could have been longer just so we could enjoy that much more.

5. I loved the retro feel

When I first heard the idea that Fantastic Four would take place in the 1960s, I was against the idea — because I thought it was the 60s of the existing MCU. But now that we know it was a completely alternate universe with just a retro-futuristic feel, I am fully on board with every design choice they made. It was so good! So perfectly toned and designed! The whole movie had this very fun feeling to it, and that made Fantastic Four extra special. I think it’s going to be weird having them interact with the 616 Avengers, with the weird tonal shift, but I’m confident everyone involved will make it work.

4. Everybody was perfect

I have always trusted Marvel’s casting and they knocked another one out of the park with Fantastic Four. Everybody was great! Pedro Pascal is as good as always, and really brought a new part of himself into playing Reed Richards. A very unique take on the character, and a unique version of Pascal. Vanessa Kirby brought all the warmth and power to Sue Storm that one would need. Joseph Quinn easily came into his own as Johnny, giving the character brains and empathy instead of just being silly. And Ebon Moss-Bachrach was excellent as the Thing! Gave some real humanity to the character. I wish the Thing had more to do, but it wasn’t his story and that’s fine. He was still darn good! We’ve got a great Fantastic Four on our hands and I can’t wait to see them interact with other characters.

3. Would have liked more Galactus and Surfer

I am a huge fan of Galactus and Silver Surfer. The Surfer was my favorite superhero as a kid, and that was without even reading most of the great Surfer comics of the time. And I am so, so glad that we got accurate portrayals of the characters. This is the real Galactus, not some cloud. And they were great in the movie. They looked good, their roles were awesome and they ended nicely. All great!

Also, allow me to take a moment to say that I don’t mind at all that they made Shalla-Bal the Silver Surfer in this movie. Doesn’t bother me one bit. And I’m not holding out hope that Norrin Radd is the Surfer in 616. I simply do not care that they did a character swap between Shalla-Bal and Norrin Radd. The character works either way.

What I would have liked was a bit more backstory on both of them. A bit more explanation. Perhaps a bit more dialog between them. There’s 60+ years of comic lore that they could have used. Maybe do a little better job explaining that Galactus isn’t evil, he’s a cosmic gardener, and devouring planets is like pulling weeds from a garden. Or explain why the Surfer uses a surfboard, because she doesn’t need to be encased in a spaceship. I would have liked more of Surfer’s flashback scenes, like how she approached Galactus and the deal she made with him. The flashbacks could have used Norrin Radd, even if he didn’t speak. He could have been the father of that child. And then perhaps there could have been a callback when Surfer turns on Galactus to defeat him in the end, just some dialog to do more for their situation.

That we didn’t get all of this doesn’t ruin the movie for me at all. I’m just particular about some of my favorite characters from the comics.

Also, is Galactus’ ship just hanging out in Earth’s orbit now?

2. They should have given us more Doctor Doom

I was expecting a Doom-related post-credits sequence. I wasn’t spoiled, I just assumed. And I liked the one we got…I just think they should have gone bigger with Doom. This movie came out on Comic-Con weekend. Avengers: Doomsday is currently being filmed. Everyone at Marvel Studios knows exactly what they’re doing with Doom. So why not show the audience? Is he going to be a Tony Stark variant? Is he going to be a classic, masked Doom with no connection to Tony (my hope!)? Why not reveal that in the post-credits sequence? Why not let that be the talk of the town for the next year? Or at least at Comic-Con? It was a year ago that they revealed Robert Downey Jr. as Doom in the first place. I just think that mid-credits scene could have been a lot bigger…but then we do have to wait a year and a half for it to pay off.

1. I’m starting to make my peace with a combined universe after Secret Wars

The MCU cannot go on forever with the same continuity. Actors get old. Only so many movies and TV shows can come out in a single year. And we’re not going to live in a world where the MCU ages in real time and just creates a whole new universe of legacy characters. Someday there will be a reboot, and maybe it will come after Secret Wars. And if it does…I’m making my peace with it.

I read online that someone thought it might realign the Multiverse like Crisis on Infinite Earths at DC Comics, wherein all the important characters and histories from other universes are simply made part of the main MCU. Like when Miles Morales was folded into the regular 616 after the comic book Secret Wars. I think I’d be perfectly happy if the movie Secret Wars ends with the existing Fantastic Four and a new X-Men just being folded into the existing MCU. I think I would be OK with doing it that way. Especially if it means we get an actual, stand alone Fantastic Four sequel.

Bring on the Second Steps!

I’m not looking forward to recasting Steve Rogers or Tony Stark though…

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