Tag: mcu

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

  • Director: Matt Shakman
  • Screenplay: Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer
  • Cast: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner, Ralph Ineson
  • Cinematography: Jess Hall
  • Score: Michael Giacchino
  • Genre: Superhero
  • Runtime: 114 minutes

20 years ago, we got ‘Fantastic Four‘, which did well enough commercially to get a sequel. 10 years later came another ‘Fantastic Four‘ – that one was a box office flop. A further decade brings a new big-budget outing for the third version of the superhero family, this time integrating them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Planet Earth is marked for destruction. This message of doom is delivered by the messenger the Silver Surfer who serves her master, the mighty Galactus. Yes, her. More on that shortly. But it’s not Earth as we know it; specifically, it’s Earth-828, an alternate reality where the citizens are living in a retro-futuristic setting. A place where people listen to music on vinyl and drive Lincoln Continentals, except the technology is advanced and the quartet have a flying car. It’s how artists in the 1960s pictured how the far-flung year of 2000 A.D. would resemble – like a live action ‘Jetsons‘ movie. The period detail is amazing, there’s a million things to spot in such a short amount of time while we’re zipping around.

The retro design makes up for what they’ve done to our lead characters. Starting with Mister Fantastic: casting Pedro Pascal as a dependable, trustworthy guy is a stretch. Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm has a couple of nice moments but feels slightly muted. The writers have reduced Johnny Storm / Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) from smokin’ hot ladies’ man to just the plain old annoying little brother because they thought his womanising ways weren’t sexy. By contrast, you have the female incarnation of the Silver Surfer, played by Julia Garner. Now, I actually don’t take issue with the gender swap like so many swathes of fans did online. She’s otherworldly and detached as she should be. Turning the character into a woman means she’s promptly objectified – “Johnny’s girlfriend”, “sexy alien” etc. – I don’t recall the male variant ever receiving this treatment. These screenwriters must still be virgins, surely?

2024 was a cooldown for Marvel films (only one was released, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine‘) so we’re back to the usual two/three per calendar year. ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ is the weakest of 2025’s trio, behind ‘Captain America: Brave New World‘ and ‘Thunderbolts*‘.

My rating: 6 / 10

Thunderbolts* (2025)

  • Director: Jake Schreier
  • Screenplay: Eric Pearson, Joanna Calo
  • Cast: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Julis Louis-Dreyfus
  • Cinematography: Andrew Droz Palermo
  • Editing: Angela Catanzaro, Harry Yoon
  • Score: Son Lux
  • Genre: Superhero
  • Runtime: 126 minutes

CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) risks impeachment due to her involvement with the O.X.E. Group, which has been conducting experiments on humans. To eliminate all traces of wrongdoings, she intends to ensnare her operatives and dispatch them.

This motley crew are:

  • Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) – an assassin trained in the infamous Red Room, adoptive sister of Scarlett Johansson’s late Black Widow.
  • John Walker / U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell) – a knockoff Captain America with none of the goody two-shoes quality about him, only hostility.
  • Ava Starr / Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) – she has the power to pass through objects as a result of a molecular instability, first seen in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp‘.
  • Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster – a professional killer who can mimic others’ fighting styles, introduced in ‘Black Widow‘ (2021) alongside Belova.

Throw in the new character of Bob (Lewis Pullman); one of de Fontaine’s human guinea pigs, plus the returning Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Red Guardian (David Harbour), Yelena’s father-figure, and you have the Thunderbolts, a bunch of lovable rogues thrust together in less-than-perfect circumstances – Marvel’s answer to Suicide Squad. There are bad guys and there are worse guys, these are the former.

It may seem a lot of info to take in, since the characters come from separate corners of the vast MCU but the writing deftly weaves their narratives into one entertaining action romp. It’s not just hits and giggles however, there’s a real vein of existentialism throbbing underneath the superhero armour.

As ever, the final scenes are crucial – they set up the stage for Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

My rating: 8 / 10