‘First Steps’ has all the issues you’d expect in a superhero movie: Violence, some foul language and a bit of murky spirituality. And some parents might want the Silver Surfer to put on some more clothes. But it’s also cleaner than most superhero flicks. And at the root of it all is the beauty, and importance, of family.
Figures, right?
Just when life is going well, it throws you a curveball: You get laid off. Or you break up with your boyfriend. Or maybe a gigantic, planet-eating creature shows up and decides your planet is next on his menu.
So it is for the Fantastic Four on Earth 828.
It’s been four years since the fearsome foursome—scientist Reed Richards; his wife, Sue Storm, and her brother; Johnny; and Reed’s best friend, Ben Grimm—went into space, tangled with some cosmic rays and came back … different. Reed now can stretch like a rubber band. Sue can turn invisible and can generate forcefields. Johnny can ignite his whole body and fly. And Ben? Well, he looks like a walking pile of granite these days. Not great for Ben’s dating life, but his tough hide and super strength do come in handy.
In fact, all their abilities have done that. This corking quartet has saved the world plenty in the last four years. No wonder folks love ‘em so.
And now—after years of trying—Reed and Sue are pregnant.
Yep, life is just dandy for the Fantastic Four. Never been better.
But then comes a silvery herald, announcing the impending the arrival of someone (something?) called Galactus and his literally astronomical hunger.
“Your planet is marked for death,” a silvery alien woman on a flying surfboard says. What a killjoy.
The Fantastic Four aren’t about to tolerate a world-devouring evildoer in their backyard. They quickly pack up their spaceship and fly off to talk with the big guy in person.
Alas, the talks do not go well.
For decades now, we’ve seen a steady, cinematic stream of flawed superheroes save humanity’s bacon. Just take a look at 2025’s Thunderbolts* for definitive proof. But with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the superhero pendulum swings to the other side: These supes are more than heroes that save the world on occasion: They’re full-time role models.
Reed tries to teach classrooms full of kids something about science (even if the kids themselves just want to see something blow up). Ben entertains a bevy of schoolchildren by hoisting a VW Beetle over his head—and returns it to its parking spot with nary a scratch. And Sue? Well, all Sue did was get the world’s governments to enter a global disarmament agreement. Achieving world peace in one’s spare time? Yeah, not too shabby, Sue.
But they really shine when faced with some sort of supervillain. And even though none of them have ever encountered an antagonist who’s the literal and existential size of Galactus, they’re determined to save this little world of theirs. “We will protect you,” Reed says to the world, and he means it—even if he’s not quite sure how.
But it’s worth noting that these aspirational superheroes inhabit a better world than we do, too. It’s an alternate universe without snarky social media or crankish conspiracy theories; a world where leaders can be trusted. And so, for the most part, they are. And when Reed asks the people of Earth to sacrifice for a greater good, they buy in without hesitation. The planet seems powered by optimism and idealism—the sense that, hey, we can make the world a better place if we just work together.
And the bedrock of all this community can-do spirit and high-flying heroism? First Steps suggests it’s family. We see that the Fantastic Four’s familial bonds are huge elements in both doing good and being good. Sue suggests that the greater worldwide community is a family of sorts, too—and as such, they’ll do whatever they can to protect each other.
“Family is about connecting to something bigger than yourself,” she says. And when you’re dealing with a threat as big as Galactus, you need that family in your corner.
I like that quote from Sue. It’s a nice message, as far as it goes. But it does hint at the movie’s underlying humanism: God won’t save us from Galactus, the film seems to say. We must save ourselves.
That said, we do see some evidence of faith. As Galactus draws closer, Ben visits a synagogue where his would-be girlfriend serves. When the woman asks Ben if he’s there for spiritual reasons he says no. He just wanted to see her. But plenty of other people in the synagogue are there to spend what might be their last hours with their God and their community.
Galactus is called a “god” or god-like entity a handful of times, and we learn that some people around the globe have created a “Galactus cult.” An announcer wishes the Fantastic Four “good luck and godspeed” when they’re about to take a trip into space. The phrase “heaven and Earth” is repeated a few times.
In a post-credits scene, we learn that a 5-year-old child enjoys hearing his mother read Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species out loud to him.
[Spoiler Warning] A character apparently has the ability to raise the dead.
Johnny is drawn to the herald of Galactus—known to Marvel fans as the Silver Surfer—and refers to her as a “naked space woman” at one point. Reed says, “I don’t think she was naked,” adding that she was likely wrapped in some sort of “space polymer.” Still, you can understand why Johnny described her as such, even if the overall effect is more like that of an undressed, silvery Barbie doll. (Johnny calls the Silver Surfer “sexy” a time or two.)
When Sue reveals that she’s going to have a baby, Reed notes that they conceived after they stopped talking about trying to get pregnant. “Talking was not the most important part,” Sue says with a smile. We see the two gently kiss on occasion.
Johnny likes to play the field, the film suggests, and he seems to be something of a sex symbol. One advertisement—a riff on a famous Coppertone ad—depicts a dog pulling down his shorts to reveal his tan line (and a small part of his bum).
Superhero movies are violent, and you’d expect that one featuring a world-devouring monster would be especially so. And yes, The Fantastic Four: First Steps unleashes its fair share of mayhem. But compared to most other superhero movies, this one feels surprisingly bloodless and nearly free of fatalities. (Property damage? That’s another matter.)
We do hear about Galactus’ previous planetary conquests: He’s devoured at least five known worlds and probably more—destroying countless lives on each. Johnny says that the worlds’ inhabitants all begged to be spared (and we hear an audio recording of their pleas), but to no avail.
The Silver Surfer literally tries to yank Sue’s baby out of the womb—though the scene is not particularly graphic. (The Surfer can pass through surfaces, and her hand simply passes through Sue’s abdomen without finding her unborn quarry.) Sue tells someone to kill the Surfer and protect her baby.
The Fantastic Four all risk their lives during their fight(s) with Galactus. Reed is nearly stretched to his breaking point. Someone else gets catapulted into space, nearly dying there. Another character succumbs to utter exhaustion. Another nearly runs out of oxygen and has to be carried by one of his cohorts. And our heroes are battered and thrown around plenty.
Galactus suffers some, too: Fire sears his eyes. He suffers massive blows to his midsection. His own suit (powered, it would seem, by flame or lava or somesuch) causes him some ouchies, too. He teeters and partly tumbles—which is a big deal when you’re somewhere around the neighborhood of 1,500 feet tall. His arrival causes massive, tsunami-like waves, and he destroys plenty of buildings in downtown New York City. Someone seems to be pulled apart in a black hole but later seems no worse for wear. We hear news (and see some brief footage) of riots in a few hot spots around the world.
We see a montage of the Fantastic Four fighting with some of their more notable early comic book enemies (including Mole Man; the Puppet Master; and the Rest Ghost and his Super-Apes). The clips are quick and frenetic—just meant to give the moviegoing audience a taste of action before the movie’s Big Bad arrives.
One s-word and a few uses of “h—.” God’s name is misused three times, and Jesus’ name is abused twice.
None.
Sue’s pregnant abdomen is exposed to the camera once or twice, and when she gives birth, she kicks off her pants. (We don’t see anything even remotely critical.)
Yes, merciless, world-eating beings are pretty scary. But you know what else can be kinda terrifying? Parenthood.
But most of us wouldn’t trade that terror for the world.
And that is a big reason why The Fantastic Four: First Steps works.
It’s not about the style (oh-so-cool retro) or the special effects (though they’re impressive) or even superheroes doing superhero stuff. It’s about this core theme of parenthood: It’s about Reed and Sue bringing a new life into an uncertain, sometimes terrifying world.
The world that we see on screen is, indeed, a scary one. First Steps comes with some issues to navigate, from a smattering of language and its humanistic worldview to its silvery, sultry surfer.
But this is also a delightfully fun film, filled with optimism and hope and—dare I say in 2025—innocence. And even though the story’s centered around people who can stretch like taffy or set themselves on fire, the core themes of parenthood and family are rooted in our reality. And they aren’t just universal; they’re aspirational. In Reed and Sue, we don’t just see a pair of ludicrously talented individuals in outlandish outfits: We see a dad and a mom doing the best they can. For their baby. For their family. For the world.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps may have a handful of frown-worthy elements, to be sure. But I’d wager that when most folks walk out of the theater at the end, they walk out smiling.
And that’s a step in the right direction.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
