The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Earth 828, 1964 – Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and his wife, Susan Storm (Vanessa Kirby), are getting ready for dinner. Sue goes to tell Reed that she is pregnant after two years of them trying and failing to conceive. While Reed seems both excited and nervous due to being uncertain how the baby will turn out with having two genetically altered parents, Sue assures him that they will be ready for parenthood. A TV presentation from “The Ted Gilbert Show” plays, with host Ted Gilbert (Mark Gatiss) giving viewers a recap on the last four years with the Fantastic Four. Reed, Sue, her brother Johnny (Joseph Quinn), and their friend and colleague Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) went on a mission into outer space. After they were exposed to cosmic rays, the four returned to Earth with acquired anomalies. Reed was able to stretch any part of his body, becoming “Mr. Fantastic”. Sue can turn invisible and generate forcefields, leading to her being dubbed “The Invisible Woman”. Johnny’s whole body can catch fire, and he also holds the ability to absorb flames in times of crisis, making him “The Human Torch”. Ben’s body was mutated, giving him rock-like features and earning him the moniker “The Thing”. Over the years, the Fantastic Four have been heroes to the people of New York, notably dealing with the supervillain Harvey Elder, AKA “Mole Man” (Paul Walter Hauser). After defeating him, Sue helped broker a deal with Mole Man to form a charter with his underground city of Subterranea. Despite his animosity towards the Four, Mole Man is touched by Sue’s kindness and agrees to her conditions. Reed and Sue go to tell Ben and Johnny the news, but Ben can quickly figure it out from Sue’s face. Everyone celebrates, alongside their robot H.E.R.B.I.E. Over the months, Ben and H.E.R.B.I.E. try to baby-proof the house, while Reed tries to take precautions for the baby’s arrival, such as creating a modified pod for him in place of a crib, until they figure out how his DNA is structured. Reed is also working on a machine to perfect teleportation. Out on the streets, Ben is excitedly cheered on by some schoolkids who want to see The Thing lifting a car over his head. After obliging their request, Ben meets the kids’ teacher, Rachel Rozman (Natasha Lyonne), with whom he becomes smitten. As Sue is due to give birth any day now, the Four receive a distress signal and watch as a storm appears to be brewing in the middle of the city. They fly the Fantasticar into Times Square, where they are confronted by an alien being known as The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). She announces that Earth is marked for destruction, as she heralds the arrival of her master, Galactus (Ralph Ineson). As the Silver Surfer flies away, Johnny flames on and chases after her. He reaches her board in space, but she says something to him in her native language before knocking him off. Reed looks further into the Silver Surfer’s path, identifying other planets that have indeed been consumed and destroyed by Galactus. The Fantastic Four promise to everyone that they will handle the threat of Galactus immediately. They launch themselves into space with the whole world watching. The Four arrive near a planet that is in the middle of being consumed. Galactus’ ship pulls the Four’s ship inside, and they are met by the Silver Surfer. She guides them to Galactus, explaining that she is the one who decides which planet her master eats. She also tells Johnny that the thing she said to him was “Die with yours” in anticipation of Earth’s end. The Four are brought before Galactus, a towering cosmic entity. Reed asks Galactus that Earth be spared, but Galactus detects Sue’s baby and can see that he harbors the ability to relieve Galactus of his cosmic hunger. He offers the Four an ultimatum – Earth will be spared if they give him their baby. The Four start making their escape, with the Silver Surfer chasing them. As they fly towards the bridge that will lead them home, Sue starts to go into labor. Reed manages to lead the team and trap the Silver Surfer in a time dilation, leaving her stuck while they make their way back. Sue gives birth to a boy, Franklin. The Four give a press conference in which they admit to everyone that they have not defeated Galactus. Reed tells them about the choice that Galactus gave them, stating that they refused to give up their child to spare the Earth. This quickly leads to the public to turn on the Four, viewing this as a betrayal. The Silver Surfer also tries to reason with Galactus that going after a baby would be too much, but he attempts to silence her for protesting. Reed comes up with an idea to teleport the Earth to a different universe to prevent Galactus from reaching them. Meanwhile, Johnny studies some of his old records, which contain the Silver Surfer’s language. The stress of everything becomes too much for Sue. She addresses the crowd to state that she will not sacrifice her child for the world, but she promises that the Four will do what they can to continue to try and save them, which helps some citizens regain their faith in the Four. After the network of teleportation towers are constructed, everyone on Earth gets ready for the Four to initiate their plan. Unfortunately, the Silver Surfer starts to destroy all of the bridges. Before she can reach the last one in Times Square, Johnny flies after her. He confronts her and says he learned the truth about her past. Her name is Shalla-Bal, and she had a daughter. Galactus came for her world, but she sacrificed herself to become his herald in order to spare her world and her daughter. She hears the voices of those lost in the destruction caused by Galactus, causing Shalla-Bal to flee. The Four come up with a last resort plan: use Franklin as bait to lure Galactus, and then send him through a portal away from Earth into an unknown void.. Despite knowing the risks, everyone, including Sue, agrees with it. They make a deal with Mole Man and get him to allow the New Yorkers to evacuate into Subterranea while the Four set up the device in the middle of the city. With the city completely empty, Galactus makes his arrival. Just as they nearly have him where they want him, Galactus detects Franklin in the Baxter Building where the Four live, and he breaks through to take him. The Four acts quickly, with Sue creating a powerful and gigantic forcefield to use against Galactus. Reed attempts to stop Galactus by stretching himself up and messing with his machinery. Galactus tries to stretch Reed to his limits, but Johnny drops Ben from a great height for him to begin initiate “clobberin’ time” on the villain. This leaves Reed a chance to get Franklin back. Sue manages to push Galactus far enough for him to fall into the portal. Before the portal closes for good, Galactus tries to get back. Johnny prepares to sacrifice himself by flying hard enough to push Galactus through, but Shalla-Bal arrives and pushes Johnny out of the way so that she may send her former master through the portal, along with herself. Reed, Ben, and Johnny go back down to find Sue unconscious. Despite Reed’s efforts to revive his wife, Sue is already dead. Franklin begins crying for his mother, and Reed lets his son rest on her. Franklin touches Sue, and after a while, she comes back to life. Sue tells Reed that their son is already more incredible than they ever could have predicted. The people of New York return home and celebrate the Four as their heroes once again. They are set to go back onto The Ted Gilbert Show, until they receive another distress signal. The team rushes to the Fantasticar, where Reed, Ben, and Johnny clumsily try to put Franklin’s car seat in. After succeeding, the Four fly off together on another mission. Mid-Credits Scene: Four years later, Sue is reading the now-toddler Franklin a story. She goes into the kitchen to get a drink and comes back to find a stranger in the room, now standing next to her son. A figure wearing a green cloak and holding a metal mask…Doctor Doom has arrived. Post-Credits Scene: An animated intro for an in-universe Fantastic Four cartoon plays on a TV screen before H.E.R.B.I.E. turns it off.

Last Updated: August 04, 2025 at 09:01