I’m probably TheGamer’s biggest superhero movie hater, but the two superhero movies that came out this month have reminded me that the genre itself isn’t the problem, but the execution. Neither of July’s offerings were perfect, butSuperman was a sincere and hopeful watch, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps surprised me with its character building and gorgeous aesthetics despite being part of a larger, all-encompassing universe.
Both films, fittingly, have done fairly well so far both with critics and at the global box office – First Steps garnered the best opening weekend of aMarvelmovie since Deadpool & Wolverine, and Superman has been just as successful and seems like a solid start for James Gunn’s DCU. It’s tempting to look at these two films and think that superhero movies must be coming back in vogue. I’d argue instead that it’s fresh starts that are hitting the right notes for moviegoers.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Cares About Its Protagonists
What makes First Steps good is its focus on its characters instead of its universe. TheMarvel Cinematic Universeis notoriously exhausting because of the amount of homework you have to do just to understand a movie and identify its characters. Movies like Avengers: Endgame, in particular, made me particularly miserable, not because I didn’t understand what was going on or what characters I was looking at, but because it was all spectacle. There were few moments in which I felt actually connected to a character – there were few minutes in which I felt anything about them at all.
So many Marvel movies feel like connective tissue to satisfy the necessity of an Endgame situation. They link characters together, give you insights into superheroes’ lives and origins, and fill in gaps in time, but so rarely do they feel like good standalone movies. But First Steps is a good standalone movie.
First Steps doesn’t attempt to tie in to other movies, reference external characters, or breadcrumb what’s going to happen next in the franchise’s overarching plotline. It doesn’t even really attempt to tell the Fantastic Four’s full story, since we first meet them years after getting their powers. It explains the story so far through a well-edited, fairly succinct montage of archival footage and short scenes that effectively explain who each of these characters are and how they’re perceived in the world, but the focus is on the here and now.
And the here and now is pretty dang compelling. First Steps’ rendition of the Fantastic Four’s retrofuturist world is gorgeous, captured not just with impressive set and prop design but through beautiful costumes and a director’s eye for excellent lighting. Its cast has undeniable chemistry, and Vanessa Kirby in particular pulls off a wonderfully restrained but ferocious Sue Storm.
Unfortunately, The MCU Still Sucks
Doubling down on creating a movie worth watching outside of its connection to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe has paid off, and it’s about time – acting as if its audience cares more about the multiversal plot than the characters within it has led to a slew of middling to bad movies that are heavy on fan service and light on anything that actually makes a film good.
Not to mention all of the streaming shows that also tie into the cinematic universe. For a very long time now, audiences have switched off and just don’t care to keep up anymore.
Unfortunately, that’s still the central conceit of the MCU. Any sequel to this movie that attempts to link it to the rest of the universe’s characters will be undeniably worse than First Steps. We care about these characters because the film lets us spend time with them and see them in quiet moments, in lovers’ spats, in the everyday routines of their lives.
But eventually, we will see these characters join with others, probably in an Endgame-like situation. Screentime will be split amongst a huge cast (alongside characters audiences care much less about), allowing for little character development if any. The Fantastic Four will likely be plucked out of their unique, beautiful world, and dropped into one more like ours. It’ll be back to business as usual.
Business as usual, sadly, sucks. That’s why I’m an MCU hater. I want to see more movies like First Steps, films that treat the characters like more than pawns in a convoluted, bombastic game of cinematic chess, but we’re not likely to get much more of that before Avengers: Doomsday. It says a lot about Marvel that the quality of First Steps feels like a fluke and not the start of a new, better MCU.
