The Fantastic Four: First Steps

[Glacier Peak]

23 minutes ago, BurtHutt said:

Well, I guess it's a bit more complex. Galactus doesn't seem to have an alignment in most cases. He consumes planets for his own survival - that's his sole motivation. He really should've had more dialogue and discussion with the FF. 

 

I've read Galactus stuff for a long time. I just didn't like the way he was portrayed in this movie. 

 

You suggest he is evil due to causing the suffering of the sentient beings on the planets he consumes. Would you characterize a hunter here on earth also as evil who hunts animals for sport? I can offer many other examples...

Even more so, on a galactic (ha!) scale, Galactus devours worlds to feed the greater universal ecosystem of birth and rebirth, much like a Black Hole devours all matter and then..

[BurtHutt]

9 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

Even more so, on a galactic (ha!) scale, Galactus devours worlds to feed the greater universal ecosystem of birth and rebirth, much like a Black Hole devours all matter and then..

He's an incredibly complex character. He should've gotten the Thanos treatment with a slow, detailed reveal over several movies. He is the real big bad.

 

I also take issue with how he was so weak in this movie. I know he just devoured a planet and it may not have been as nourishing but still...quite lame. To have him pushed into the device via Invisible Woman was insulting.

 

It really was not a good movie.

[battlewraith]

50 minutes ago, BurtHutt said:

You suggest he is evil due to causing the suffering of the sentient beings on the planets he consumes. Would you characterize a hunter here on earth also as evil who hunts animals for sport? I can offer many other examples...

 

There are certainly people that view humans killing animals solely for sport as evil. The cutoff line for most people seems to be sentience.

Hunting other human beings for sport is absolutely regarded as evil and killing off helpless populations is monstrous. One thing that I think the movie got wrong is that Galactus doesn't just eat planets--he needs to consume worlds that are able to support biological life. 

 

The Silver Surfer is, imo, a rebuttal to the idea that Galactus is just some inscrutable entity that can't be regarded in moral terms. As a herald, the Surfer is far beyond a human being in terms of abilities, perspective, etc. The Surfer has seen the vast scope of the universe and has the most insider perspective on what drives his boss. Yet the Surfer, after spending a brief time on Earth, decides to revolt on behalf of humanity. It's hard to view the Surfer's cross-species empathetic sacrifice as heroic without conversely seeing Galactus's complete indifference to other beings as evil. Not to mention Galactus's thuggish dealings--be my herald and I won't eat your planet. 

 

I remember the whole John Byrne trial of Galactus thing where they tried to redeem Galactus--he has some higher purpose, etc. But I default to the initial idea of Kirby and Lee, which I take to be "what if you ran into a godlike being that was just hungry and didn't give a shit about morality."

 

All that said, I agree with you that the depiction of Galactus was not great.

 

I had two ways that I think they could've resolved the situation that were lore appropriate and better than Sue hulking out:

 

Spoiler

1. When Reed sends the robot off to get samples, it unwittingly nabs the ultimate nullifier which is later used to drive big G away.

 

2. The team fails and gets their asses kicked, but Franklin Richards manifests his full space Jesus persona and either drives Galactus away or negotiates more time for Earth (more time could be a million years since Galactus is immortal). He then wipes the teams memory of the incident and reverts back to an infant. Something like this actually happened in the comics and Galactus makes a comment in the film about the infant hiding his power.

 

 

[El D]

2 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

Well, I guess it's a bit more complex. Galactus doesn't seem to have an alignment in most cases. He consumes planets for his own survival - that's his sole motivation. He really should've had more dialogue and discussion with the FF. 

 

You suggest he is evil due to causing the suffering of the sentient beings on the planets he consumes. Would you characterize a hunter here on earth also as evil who hunts animals for sport? I can offer many other examples...

 

The comparison doesn't account for the fact that a human hunter who shoots deer doesn't commit the full genocide of an entire planet's worth of civilizations every time they make a venison sandwich. Also there's a core disconnect with 'it's just basic survival!' in that as an on-going problem it doesn't jive with Galactus being a deific cosmic entity nor the otherworldly, fairy tale-esque solutions that the Fantastic Four are commonly capable of. They can make any sort of plot-solving nonsense that the story requires except engineering something Galactus can subsist on indefinitely? Nor, apparently, can Galactus himself despite all his own technology, power, apparent lack of antagonism toward those he consumes. Of course, any permanent solution to his hunger would negate Galactus' motivation to spark conflict and effectively excise him from the narrative (at least as an antagonist). Though in that case maybe he ought to have a deeper motivation to warrant ending countless civilizations and treating solar systems like Vegas buffets beyond 'I got space munchies that nothing can solve that despite every other nonsense plot solution apparently being not only plausible, but outright expected from my opponents.'

 

Which, funnily enough, is why this movie took the route it did. The Fantastic Four do have a possible solution to Galactus' eternal hunger, it just happened to be something they were unwilling to give up. That makes the conflict personal for both the Four and Mr. Big Purple and Hungry. It also gives Galactus a reason to keep pursuing them because its the only solution he knows about. He's got a Reason to go after the Four repeatedly now versus just 'welp, guess I'll just eat more worlds despite not especially wanting to.'

[Ghost]

Instead of a hunter killing for sport, wouldn’t a fairer comparison be humans eating animals and plants, with no regard?  Or even humans killing insects and rodents for simply existing within the same space?

 

By the definition laid out, that would mean we are also evil.

 

[battlewraith]

26 minutes ago, Ghost said:

Instead of a hunter killing for sport, wouldn’t a fairer comparison be humans eating animals and plants, with no regard?  Or even humans killing insects and rodents for simply existing within the same space?

 

By the definition laid out, that would mean we are also evil.

 

 

Key words are no regard. Humans that just kill plants and animals for funsies are seen as bad, if not outright evil. If an ant is in my house, I kill it because I know that it's a drone with no consciousness and it doesn't make much difference to the colony. Furthermore, I don't leave food out so that ants won't be attracted and I won't have to kill a bunch.

 

If I went to step on an ant and it said "please don't kill me, I want to live." That would present a moral dilemma. I would at least try to communicate with the ants to get them to stay out of the house.

 

Galactus in this situation, not only kills the ant communicating with him. He kills all the ants on the planet as well as every other living thing.

[Krimson]

I think there is one proper resolution for this movie. At some point Galactus should take a good look at unborn Franklin, and then become completely unnerved when he sees Franklin unflinchingly staring back.

[Ghost]

Watched this yesterday.

Thought it was much better than I was expecting it to be.

 

Galactus was really good, and I thoroughly enjoyed Silver Surfer.

I thought the few action scenes we got with her, were the best in the movie.

After watching, it made perfect sense to go the female route.  If not, it would have been a complete retread of Rise of The Silver Surfer.

 

Knew I was watching Superman today, so held off writing this so I could decide which I liked better.

Most definitely enjoyed FF4 more and will be adding to my collection.

[BrandX]

On 8/17/2025 at 10:15 AM, Ghost said:

Watched this yesterday.

Thought it was much better than I was expecting it to be.

 

Galactus was really good, and I thoroughly enjoyed Silver Surfer.

I thought the few action scenes we got with her, were the best in the movie.

After watching, it made perfect sense to go the female route.  If not, it would have been a complete retread of Rise of The Silver Surfer.

 

Knew I was watching Superman today, so held off writing this so I could decide which I liked better.

Most definitely enjoyed FF4 more and will be adding to my collection.

 

I'm surprised.  I enjoyed both movies and both movies were good, but I find Superman to be the more rewatchable (seen it three times in the theater)

[Ghost]

7 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

I'm surprised.  I enjoyed both movies and both movies were good, but I find Superman to be the more rewatchable (seen it three times in the theater)

Superman to me seemed like a movie that just jumped from one set piece to the next.

I did enjoy it, just not as much as FF4

[Skyhawke]

Just finished it and loved it. Between this and Superman, maybe the film industry will start to realize that we want comic accurate suits, good vibes and a fun movie with some action and character building. Not just either super grim dark or a quipathon. 

[Ghost]

Passed $500mill globally

[Techwright]

On 8/22/2025 at 3:28 PM, Skyhawke said:

Just finished it and loved it. Between this and Superman, maybe the film industry will start to realize that we want comic accurate suits, good vibes and a fun movie with some action and character building. Not just either super grim dark or a quipathon. 

 

Just got to see the F4, and I, too, loved it.  I can't get enough of the retro-future look.  I could wish for an F4 video game where a player could explore retro-future New York similar to how one could explore Manhattan in the currently popular Spider-Man video games.

 

I thought I'd be annoyed with Johnny Storm, instead, I was pleasantly surprised.  His putting on the thinking cap to figure out a key plot point was great.  Sue was good, not mishandled but confident,  Ben Grimm is easily my favorite (not sure I like the beard, but it made things interesting).  Loved that the showed him as an extremely competent pilot.  Reed was the only character I didn't completely like, and that is because they had him so nervous and doubting.  I can't think of any other work that I've seen with him in it where he doesn't show complete confidence.  But I didn't hate the character, I just wish they'd put a bit more stiff spine into the flexible character.  Galactus was very well done.  The visual scale alone was worth seeing it.  I wish I could have viewed that on Imax.  Silver Surfer was done well, and I really liked the aggression at times, while the sorrowful compassion at others.  The robot was both cute and practical, something that don't always go hand-in-hand (*glances at a little red can of a robot in Andor*)

 

Above all, I loved the tight-knit team/family dynamic.  It should prove a great contrast to the barely-assembled Avengers in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

 

Neat little featurette: 40 years ago, F4 rights holder Bernd Eichinger phoned the late, great Roger Corman.

He needed an F4 movie to keep them, and he needed it now.

 

It wasn't exactly going to change the world, but the actors, director, artists, makeup crew and FX team squeezed everything they could out of a meagre $1m budget (and a slightly dodgy script). And it never got released.

 

That is not going to change on D+. (Probably. They might do something like drop it for April Fool's Day.)

But Matt Shakman loved all of them so much, they were invited back to take bit roles in the new movie.

 

If you love moviemaking - especially the "trenches" of no-budget stuff - this is a nice little watch, and I think I'd like to take all of them for a pint next LFCC.

Edited Thursday at 07:11 PM by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[JKCarrier]

I remember when the bootleg tapes of the Corman movie started to go around. I watched it, and my heart just went out to them. The cast was so charming and earnest, and it was clearly a labor of love for everyone involved, despite everything. It really warms my heart to see them recognized and getting a measure of redemption all these years later.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Finally managed to catch this on D+, and both I and my non-True-Believer partner loved it.

Spoiler

• Partly because the emphasis was solidly on character building rather than fights. Even Johnny wasn't a himbo and had plenty to do...
• ...but, the intro sequence neatly ran over everything you needed to know about F4 in a fun, very Incredibles-esque way.
• Speaking of worldbuilding, the 60s-future-vision really felt like a comic book thing come to life...
• ...and reflected the earnest joy and possibility of the Space Race era (without, y'know, all the nasty war and nuclear bits) and Jack's Silver Age imagination.
• The ensemble cast works really well - which is interesting, because Pedro was dialling down his usual charisma.
• Gags and interplay between characters were great, particularly the Ben/Johnny double act...
• ...and Harvey The MoleMan was a cameo role for the ages. Nat Lyonne also made the most of her small role (wonder who got the job of having to straighten that hair? That's gonna be 6 hours in FX. Maybe it's CGI, who knows.)
• It is a crying shame that they left John Malkovich entirely on the cutting room floor. But he got paid, and I presume Attack Of The Super-Apes! is going to be a neat little extra at some point.
• Also extras: there's so many in-jokes, references and tributes stuffed into the movie - and the credits, of course. Keep an eye out, but...
  • The arrows on the chat show set are a direct reference to The Beatles' first appearance on Ed Sullivan.
  • The set crews have done their usual fine work slipping jokes into the background - for example, the movie theatre playing Attack Of The Fungus.
  • If you roll right to the end of the credits, it has a quote from Jack Kirby and his dates. And as Jack was born on 28th August... Earth-828.
  • There's also a tribute to the Hanna-Barbera cartoons...
  • ...and a Future Foundation title card/QR that takes you to a page on Marvel.com where you can read classic F4 stories.

 

All-in-all, the most flat-out, no-notes-enjoyable Marvel offering since Shang-Chi, and definitely up there with the likes of Homecoming.

Edited Monday at 11:07 AM by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

I've been "rewatching" F4 via reactors' videos, and have additional thoughts:

 

1.) The film creators went creatively out of their way to show how long a time jump in the story is without using text to say it.  In fact, the only time text is used to explain the passage of time is at the beginning of one of the two credit scenes.  Instead, they utilize things we see in the real world and have a natural understanding of how long those things take.   These include:

Spoiler

...Sue's pregnancy and Ben's beard.   

 

Without typing a word, we know all the events we see from the first Sunday dinner to the good ship Excelsior leaving Earth a second time are encapsulated in roughly 8 1/2 month, since we see the results of the pregnancy test, and the healthy birth of Franklin.

 

A very few reactors commented on the seemingly storybook lightning speed in which 828's humanity came together to build a space bridge to move Earth, but if you're watching, well into the development of this, ahem, marvel, Ben stops shaving (or would that be grinding?) and grows a full beard.  While I've no idea if growing rock for a beard takes longer, a standard full beard for a man takes a minimum of 3 month, and up to a year, depending on various factors.  So, design and construction of the world-wide wonder are still swift, but are more driven by urgency, rather than miracle comic book speed.  

 

By the way, a note on the speed of Galactus.  Some reactors pointed out the seemingly ridiculously slow speed of Big G's ship traveling in the solar system.  I get it: if it takes a mere day to reach the Sol system from the distant heavens, why would a faster-than-light craft take weeks, or possibly a few months traveling from Jupiter to Mars to Luna (moon) and finally Earth?   I'm no physicist, but I've watched a lot of sci-fi in a Holiday Inn Express (poor joke on an old American commercial), and a lot of sci-fi shows that using FTL drives and massive items with their own gravity, say, the size of a moon or dwarf planet, in the area of a solar system can really mess with things, or be messed with.  While the movie doesn't show an FTL drive being use by Galactus, its not a stretch to assume his ship uses a different speed when moving through the gravity wells of a star system with planets.  One doesn't want the new wax finish to be dinged when passing close objects, do they?

 

2.) There's a moment when Mr. Fantastic picks up a very large steel beam of some kind and begins an attack...

Spoiler

...by climbing Galactus and then using the steel beam to wrench open one of the feeding ports on the back of Galactus, spilling hot life force (magma?) and injuring Galactus.  I've yet to see any actor pick up on this, but this is exactly the same move that Jason uses to defeat the enchanted Colossus in the classic movie Jason and the Argonauts.  There, Jason attacks the port in the heel of the bronze behemoth, causing it's heated life force to spill out: a literal Achilles heel.   Though I've seen nothing to confirm my suspicion,  I have a very strong sense that whomever incorporated this type of attack in the F4 scene was paying homage to the Jason scene.

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Thoughts:

Spoiler

58 minutes ago, Techwright said:

Some reactors pointed out the seemingly ridiculously slow speed of Big G's ship traveling in the solar system.

 

There is the possibility that Big G just took his time. He's in no rush. A planet's not going anywhere (or so he thought). It's even possible he enjoys watching the "bugs" scurry around and beg for mercy, or it improves the taste somehow.

 

Then again, this Galactus regards his Cosmic-level, insatiable hunger as a curse that he wants to be rid of, so sadism may not be in his particular wheelhouse.

 

One other thing we should mention. Sue, Richard and the uncles can't be there all the time. So Little Franklin needs a teacher/nanny who can keep up with his needs and understand his power level. And in the comics... that's one Miss Agatha Harkness.

 

Marvel are not known for letting good characters stay dead for long (or it could be a Harkness-828). Throwing Kathryn Hahn in alongside this team almost seems too much. But giving her the Edna Mode role to play - while scheming to take his power - sounds like a lot of fun. And you never know, she might find out something about him that comes in very handy in a future movie...

 

[Ghost]

3 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Thoughts:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

There is the possibility that Big G just took his time. He's in no rush. A planet's not going anywhere (or so he thought). It's even possible he enjoys watching the "bugs" scurry around and beg for mercy, or it improves the taste somehow.

 

Then again, this Galactus regards his Cosmic-level, insatiable hunger as a curse that he wants to be rid of, so sadism may not be in his particular wheelhouse.

 

One other thing we should mention. Sue, Richard and the uncles can't be there all the time. So Little Franklin needs a teacher/nanny who can keep up with his needs and understand his power level. And in the comics... that's one Miss Agatha Harkness.

 

Marvel are not known for letting good characters stay dead for long (or it could be a Harkness-828). Throwing Kathryn Hahn in alongside this team almost seems too much. But giving her the Edna Mode role to play - while scheming to take his power - sounds like a lot of fun. And you never know, she might find out something about him that comes in very handy in a future movie...

 

I took the slow travel to be the fact that if it was traveling as fast as mentioned, it would need a LOT of room to safely slow down before entering earths atmosphere to keep it from either crashing through planets, or flying past and completely missing

[ShardWarrior]

I watched this a few nights ago.  It was ok.  Nothing special, nothing terrible and about what I had expected.  A highlight was the set design which was beautifully done and impressive.  With exception to Pedro Pascal, the casting was well done.  I just cannot take Pedro Pascal seriously as Reed Richards.  Ralph Ineson was a perfect choice for Galactus and captured the character very well.  Vanessa Kirby was great as Sue Storm. 

 

Overall not terrible, but not great either.  I would give this an average score.  It was leaps and bounds better than CA: BNW and The Marvels, but certainly a step down from early MCU offerings.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

1 hour ago, ShardWarrior said:

 Ralph Ineson was a perfect choice for Galactus and captured the character very well.

Fun thing: Ralph went Method for Galactus.

No, not becoming a planet-devouring overlord. Not sure even Dan Day-Lewis would go that far.

 

But he did do his mocap in the full, practical Galactus armour - which was apparently heavy as all hell.

He also described a new technique I've never heard of before. He was shot with an ultra-HD camera on an all-white set, bathed in very bright white lights (which made that armour get very hot.) That footage can then be blown up to giant scale without losing detail and digitally matted into real or virtual scenes. So, in effect, he was a human miniature prop. He rather liked that idea.

 

He also practiced lines while standing on top of the tallest buildings he could find, to get the perspective of belittling pathetic Earthlings.

As the man says, it's not easy to talk down to a small X of gaffer tape on a studio floor, so you've got to have your mind in the right place...

Edited 6 hours ago by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

You may have heard that the original, 1990s live F4 cast all cameoed in Fantastic Four: First Steps.  Here's the story as they tell it: