FIRST TIME WATCHING: The Fantastic Four: First Steps

I'm glad you watched it, Nat. As a child of the 60s, I loved it. I can understand your somewhat disappointed reaction to the story, even if I don't share it. The movie really encompassed the feel, look, and even the storylines of the time. Comics have become more involved and evolved over time. Although the characters were flawed and human superheroes, the stories and the conflicts were often more straightforward. Plus, I cannot tell you how cool it was to see a "real" Galactus. He's an awesome antagonist; your cousin is justified in liking him so much. The movie was also way above the previous three.

Sorry Nat, but I don’t agree with your criticism. 1) (nitpick) The tractor beam destroyed 2 of their engines when they first arrived (showing it can harm). He forced her into early labor on his ship, hoping the Silver Surfer would take care of the others long enough for her to give birth. Then, he sent Silver Surfer to Earth after the baby, but she left because of Johnny. He didn’t want any harm to the baby, so he went to get it himself. Not to mention, the tractor beam is on his ship, which is in space, and Franklin would immediately die after leaving the atmosphere. 2) (nitpick) Not liking a fake-out death is a you problem. You even state why it’s necessary immediately after. 3) (you’re not the only one to talk about that speech) It’s called “humanizing your child.” Up to that point, everyone was talking about him as an object. Making them see him as a person, just like their family, and reaffirming that she wouldn’t give up anyone on Earth for Galactus is the best way to change minds. 4) What part about the script was weak? (empty statement) The character & relationship dynamics are strong, Galactus is strong, Shalla-Bal is strong, the world building is strong, each of the four are strong, the plot is strong, and there could always be improvement on the dialogue but that was still pretty strong. 5) On top of all this, this is not our universe, and some answers are that simple.

Hi Nat, people probably forget it takes us 10 months to get to Mars. It takes 2 years to get to Jupiter. In the movie "2001" (a respectable sci-fi) they have to go in hibernation sleep because it takes that long to get there. We can assume Galactus can travel a bit faster... but also he has lived billions of years... and his hunger spans eons. I'm going to think that he doesn't care if it takes 6 months to go through the solar system to get to Earth. Luckily they were in a different Earth where people aren't as jaded yet. For us, we can't tell the truth from lies anymore... so it's totally improbable for us to see Reed Richards in that moment when he didn't lie to people about what Galactus asked for. I am reminded of the series Chernobyl where it's really unfortunate that their way of living is actually embedded in systemic lies, falsehoods all around them every day that they cannot recognize the truth anymore. Let's not go that far. "And folks, that is how an RBMK reactor explodes." -Excelsior!

Fun movie but I agree with your criticisms. Apart from the tractor beam plothole, it was also wildly unlikely for this giant not to break their little bridge contraption thingy. It is a pet peeve of mine when you establish a genius character who then does dumb things for the plot to happen. The switch to an empty carrier was incredibly stupid given that they saw Galactus scan the magic baby in the womb.

Nat watch the previous Fantastic Four films and you’ll start thinking this movie is Citizen Kane by comparison lol. Like this is the first FF film that by all accounts didn’t have the director basically bully the Sue Storm actress, weird that that happened twice. Poor Jessica Alba nearly quit acting after those films.

Jack Kirby was the artist who brought a lot of Stan Lees scripts to life with FF, X-men and more he also co-created Captian America. Often Stan would most do an outline and Jack would just draw a whole comic and Stan would go back and ad the dialogue. The pitch for the Galactus trilogy of issues “Jack what if the 4 fought a god” and Jack just drew the thing. The silver Surfer was all Jacks original idea because he thought a god would have a herald. Part of why Jack eventually left marvel was when Stan became editor in chief he green lit a Silver Surfer solo book and didn’t give the first crack at writing or art. To top it of Stan insisted being listed as a co-creator of the character even though he was a Kirby addition to the story and no in stans notes to Jack. Stans logic was well I later wrote the dialogue for him after he was drawn so I was a “creator”.

I can’t wait to get Human Torch and Spiderman together in a film. In the comics Spider-Man’s first story after the origin was him breaking into the F4s HQ to try and impress them to let him join. Johnny at first didn’t get on with him but they eventually became best friends.

Please please please react to miss marvel and the marvels

8:05 in the incredibles, he goes by “the underminer” lol

Nat, when you say “subversion of expectation” I think the phrase you actually mean is “suspension of disbelief” but yeah, I get it the movie’s got logic holes.

I do think they missed the mark on the ending. They should’ve lost, Galactus should’ve destroyed the Earth, and they should’ve fled to the main universe tying into the Thunderbolts post-credits

Johnny's suit gives off oxygen so he can flame up and the suit is fire proof so it doesn't burn and that's why it burns thru his o2

Why didn’t the eagles just fly the ring to Mt. Doom? 🍻

Franklin is a ridiculously overpowered character who can do pretty much anything, he doesn’t even work in the comics unless you’re rebooting the universe or making standalone stories. And that Temu ass Dr Doom mask at the end 😭 not even mentioning the nightmare of RDJ playing the character I think a lot of people are about to realise movies and comics can’t play by the same rules. Bringing everyone back from the dead all the time isn’t compelling and will have diminishing returns. Rebooting a universe and expecting the same amount of fans isn’t realistic. Even if Doomsday semi-reboots the MCU, I think it’ll still become too confusing for general audiences. And doesn’t guarantee any uptick in quality from their recent projects. It’s sad, and we had fun, but I think the MCU is done after secret wars

This has the benefit of being the first movie I ever saw in IMAX, so there’s that! I think the space chase scene is genuinely amazing. The moment the surfer reached into Sue’s belly made my stomach drop, tension was crazy! And getting the surfer stuck in a black hole was sick I think the family unit works and I enjoy all the characters, and I enjoy the weird retro-futuristic world they created but I think you can tell the movie has been hacked to pieces in the editing room, wouldn’t have minded a longer runtime to see a more fleshed out world

Nat seems to be stunned that leaders would be honest with the people. I wonder why? 🍻

I agree with your review and reaction to this movie. I'm a big comicbook fan and lately Marvel just hasn't been hitting it for me. I really enjoyed Superman, so it's not super hero fatigue. That not to say Fantastic 4 is a bad movie, not by any means. I had fun and enjoyed it. I'm just not excited by Marvel any more, and that kinda bums me out.

as someone who is a fan of the fantastic 4, your review is totally valid. too many suspensions of disbelief for me. the bit where Sue addresses the mob was just so absurd. it went from "we're so unreasonably angry!" to "aww... a baby..." in literally seconds. wtf...

8.5/10 is not a bad score at all I think ur criticisms were really fair tbh

So the guy at the end was Victor Von Doom aka DOCTOR DOOM who is being played by… ROBERT DOWNEY JUNIOR! That’s his big return to the MCU is playing the Fantastic Four’s biggest villain and maybe the best villain in the entirety of Marvel comics.

Dr doom nat the big bad of this saga.

Woof Nat went full CinemaSins with this one

I did like your reaction, but I found it a bit weird you thinking some of it were not believable . Like you said its a superhero movie.

Michael Giacchino's score is once again great, can't wait to hear his score for The Batman - Part II after how great the first one is. His son Mick Giacchino's score for The Penguin show is great as well, and when Michael scores the second film he is gonna use his son's score for Oz which is historic.

Based on the comic book films that released this year: Superman, F4, Thunderbolts, Cap4

LETS GOOOOOOO!!!! Love this movie!

Excited for this reaction. I might have to wait to watch because I'm waiting for this movie to hit Disney+ or at least a cheaper price to rent.

Ha ha Nat. I wondered if we would get the 3 F's in the first line of your post, and you didn't let me down 😊 I enjoyed this movie a lot and I'm really looking forward to watching along with you today.

Yesss Nats getting back into marvel!