The first reviews for The Fantastic Four: First Steps are absolutely fantastic.
Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases in United States theaters this weekend. Directed by Matt Shakman, the MCU flick stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm.
The review embargo for The Fantastic Four: First Steps has now lifted. At the time of this article’s publication, the Marvel movie has an 88 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Over at MetaCritic, it has a 66 score.
In comparison, James Gunn’s Superman has an 83 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, while the last MCU movie, Thunderbolts*, has an 88. As for other Fantastic Four movies, the 2005 film has a 27 percent score, 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’s is 37 percent, and the 2015 Fantastic Four is nine percent.
What are critics saying about The Fantastic Four: First Steps?
ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim gave the movie an 8/10, which equates to “great.” Sim said of the movie, “Marvel has a hit on their hands. This is a grand, marvelous movie that feels wholly unique. It’s uncharted territory for the studio, and even if it is another superhero movie with some of the classic humor and action you expect, it feels like a new flavor of MCU that we haven’t tried yet.”
The Wrap’s William Bibbiani wrote, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps, whatever its drawbacks, feels like a real Fantastic Four movie, and that’s no small achievement. It’ll never be as important or influential as the comics, but it does feel like an idyllic summer afternoon, sitting under a shady tree and thumbing through back issues of a marvelous series with endearing characters. That’s more than enough. In fact, that’s a heck of a lot.”
Witney Seibold said for SlashFilm, “I appreciate that First Steps is set in a gorgeous, sleek universe of miracle technologies, and the filmmakers, through subtle editing and wide camera angles, allow us, the astonished viewers, to sit and take it all in. It’s nice to actually be impressed by a superhero movie’s visuals.”
Not everyone, however, is in love with First Steps. Indiewire’s David Ehrlich wrote on X, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a story about the terror and beauty of walking into the unknown, but the movie is so afraid of defying Marvel convention that only the terror shines through. starts strong, crawls to the finish.”
.The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in United States theaters and IMAX on July 25, 2025.
Originally reported by Brandon Schreur at SuperHeroHype.