Fantastic Four, The: First Steps (Steelbook) (4K UHD Review)

Reviewed by: Stephen Bjork
Review Date: Oct 16, 2025
Format: 4K Ultra HD

Director

Matt Shakman

Release Date(s)

2025 (October 14, 2025)

Studio(s)

Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

Film/Program Grade: B
Video Grade: A
Audio Grade: A
Extras Grade: B-

Review

While Marvel doubtless intended the title The Fantastic Four: First Steps to be taken at face value, it can’t help but sound a little ironic. The film may indeed be the first steps of the Fantastic Four within the context of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s been a long, strange trip to get to this point—the film could have just as easily been called The Fantastic Four: Latest Steps. That’s due to the somewhat incoherent licensing agreements that Marvel struck in the past, which hamstrung them from using some of their own characters within the MCU. Sony has had the screen rights to Spider-Man, forcing Marvel to make a deal with them to co-produce the Tom Holland films and to use the character in other installments within the larger MCU. 20th Century Fox had the screen rights to the X-Men characters, a problem that was solved when Marvel’s parent company Disney bought the entire studio lock, stock, and (smoking) barrel. That also took care of the Fantastic Four, although they’re a horse of a slightly different color.

Marvel initially sold the screen rights for the Fantastic Four to German producer Bernd Eichinger’s company Constanin Films back in the Eighties, and when the option was expiring, Constantin teamed with Roger Corman to produce a low-budget film version in 1992—a film that was never actually released. The details have always been a little murky, with Constantin having been accused of never even intending to release it in the first place, but regardless, Marvel bought it back in order to clear the way to make a deal with 20th Century Fox instead. That led to three different films under the Fox banner: Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and finally their ill-fated reboot Fantastic Four in 2015. Like Sony and Constantin, Fox needed to keep producing new films in order to retain their option, but the failure of their Fantastic Four reboot put the first nail in that coffin, and Disney’s acquisition of Fox four years later buried it completely.

All of that put Marvel in an interesting position with The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Just like with Spider-Man, the existence of multiple previous films meant that there was enough familiarity with the characters that they could dispense with telling another origin story. On the other hand, unlike Spider-Man, that familiarity wasn’t entirely positive. Plus, despite having been core Marvel comic book superheroes ever since Jack Kirby and Stan Lee first introduced them to the world in 1961, they’ve been nonentities within the MCU. So, Marvel still needed to establish their own cinematic versions of these characters, while also finding a way to explain their absence up to this point. The solution was to lean into the Multiverse, and conveniently enough, that’s exactly what Marvel has been exploring throughout Phases Four, Five, and Six of the MCU.

In the script for The Fantastic Four: First Steps (attributed to Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer), Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm-Richards (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) have already been serving as the Fantastic Four for the better part of four years. Known as Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and The Thing, they’ve saved the world time and time again. As the story opens, Sue has become pregnant, leading to a joyous reception from their fans, but concern from Reed about what the union of their cosmic powers may do to their offspring. However, the bigger concern soon becomes the appearance of the Silver Surfer Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner), who has come to Earth in order to herald the arrival of Galactus (Ralph Ineson), devourer of worlds. That leaves the lives of everyone on Earth hanging in the balance, with Sue’s unborn child Franklin serving as the fulcrum.

Of course, none of that would make the slightest sense in the context of the Earth-616 continuity of the MCU, which is why this story takes place on the multiverse world Earth-828 instead (the number is no accident, either, as it’s a reference to Jack Kirby’s birthday). That freed director Matt Shakman to craft a more innocent world that embraces the relative naïveté of Silver Age comic books without any references to the universe-shattering events of the Infinity Saga. First Steps really leans into the Silver Age look, too, taking place in a deliberately kitschy retro-futuristic setting. It’s the modern day as it may have been envisioned by a comic book reader in 1961, with all of the technology looking advanced for that era, but still charmingly old-fashioned for 2025. Even the inherently kitschy Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser) makes an appearance, in a clear homage to his role as the antagonist of Fantastic Four #1 in 1961 (although again, this is Mole Man four years down the road from that origin story).

Yet this isn’t really the Silver Age version of the Fantastic Four at all. For one thing, the filmmakers couldn’t resist throwing in the robot H.E.R.B.I.E. from the short-lived 1978 Depatie-Freling animated series The Fantastic Four. (H.E.R.B.I.E. replaced the Human Torch in that series due to yet another problematic licensing agreement by Marvel.) More importantly, this is anything but the Silver Age version of Sue Storm. The original Invisible Woman (still called the Invisible Girl in the early years) was vastly underpowered compared to this iteration, who ultimately proves to be the most powerful member of the team. That shift to the modern era Invisible Woman was necessary in order to set up the introduction of Franklin Richards, whose powers go far beyond that of his extended family. But patience, True Believers, that story remains to be told in the MCU.

The elevation of Sue Storm-Richards was also necessary to deal with the story that Marvel elected to tell in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Despite the fact that Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer had already introduced Galactus and the Silver Surfer, that film left such a bad taste in the mouths of fans that Marvel must have felt obligated to right the ship. The Tim Story-directed film opted for a nebulous cloud version of Galactus inspired by the Ultimate iteration of the character, probably because of fears that a giant humanoid figure would look silly on film. Whatever fair questions can be raised about the MCU’s Earth-828 version of the Fantastic Four themselves (despite being related, they feel like less of an authentic family than the extended family of Thunderbolts* did), Matt Shakman and his myriad collaborators did Galactus a solid this time around. Marvel had already tested the waters with giant humanoids in Eternals, and that experience definitely paid off with a sense of scale and mass that they gave to Galactus. It’s a version of the character that would have made Jack Kirby proud—and unlike the way that Galactus was dealt with in The Fantastic Four #48-50, The Watcher isn’t around to intervene this time, which necessitated the powers from the later iteration of Sue Storm-Richards.

Mind you, there’s been some predictable online grumbling regarding the fact that Marvel elected for the Shalla-Bal version of the Silver Surfer instead of Norrin Rad. But there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, The Fantastic Four: First Steps takes place on the previously unseen Earth-828, so it’s a continuity entirely its own. Second, it’s not like the Earth-616 in the rest of the MCU was tied to any specific comic book continuity in the first place. The MCU has always offered its own version of these characters and their stories—the books are the books, the movies are the movies, and never the twain shall meet. Plus, it’s worth pointing out that Shalla-Bal was first introduced in Silver Surfer #1 back in 1968, and she was granted at least a portion of the Power Cosmic as far back as 1982. In other words, get over it. (It’s also worth noting for those who were put off by the terrible T2-style CGI in the early trailers, she’s been given much more depth and texture in the final film, more like tarnished pewter than glossy silver.)

What does all of that mean for the future of the Fantastic Four in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? That’s unknown at this point. The closing credits bumper in Thunderbolts* seemed to imply that they were going to get dragged into Earth-616 at some point, but the closing credits scene in The Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn’t run with that. Instead, it sets up the introduction of another character who has previously been missing in action from the MCU, and the fact that it takes place on Earth-828 raises more questions than it answers. But that’s the whole point of teasers, isn’t it? So, while these First Steps might be slightly shaky ones, there’s still enough going on in the film to whet the appetite of fans for where everything might be heading in the future.

Cinematographer Jess Hall captured The Fantastic Four: First Steps digitally at 6.5K resolution (in ARRIRAW format) using Arriflex Alexa 65 cameras with modified Ultra Panatar II 1.3x anamorphic lenses, custom-built spherical lenses, and some vintage Bausch & Lomb Super Baltar lenses. Hall also shot reference footage for the newsreel and television sequences on 16mm film (in Super-16 format) using an Arriflex 16S with Angénieux and Zeiss lenses, and some of that footage ended up in the final film, although it was mostly just reference material for sequences shot on the Alexa 65 with the Bausch & Lomb lenses. Post-production work was completed as a 4K Digital Intermediate, framed at the variable aspect ratios of 1.90:1 and 1.43:1 for IMAX GT Laser, static 1.90:1 for standard digital IMAX, and at static 2.39:1 everywhere else. (This was the first time that Marvel has included 1.43:1 sequences since Eternals in 2021.) Per Disney’s usual policy, only the 2.39:1 framing is included on UHD and Blu-ray. First Steps isn’t available for streaming on Disney+ as of this writing, so it’s unknown if the IMAX version will be available there, but the UHD does offer both Dolby Vision and HDR10.

As Hall, visual effects supervisor Scott Stokdyk, and Panavision vice president of optical engineering Dan Sasaki explained to American Cinematographer in the September 2025 issue, the retro-futuristic period look that they crafted for First Steps involved modifying lenses to create intentional artifacts like chromatic aberration, halation, color fringing, flaring, and focus fall-off edge-to-edge. Combined with the abundance of digital visual effects, that means that First Steps won’t be the sharpest, clearest, and most detailed 4K presentation on the format. It’s also been encoded on a BD-66 with a wildly variable bitrate, dipping surprisingly low at times but also spiking into the 80Mbps range for the most visually complex material. But since it’s a two-hour 2.39:1 film with a substantial amount of screen real estate devoted to black bars, and there aren’t any significant extras or language options on the disc, a BD-66 is adequate. The image is sharp enough and clear enough for what it is, and there don’t seem to be any issues with encoding artifacts. Textures like Ben Grrimm’s rocky “scales” show a nice amount of detail in closeups, as does the costuming. It may not be 4K demo material, but it’s accurate to the look that Hall and Shakman intended.

Hall told ASC that he selected 40 primary colors from reference material that included a 1969 comic book cover (although he doesn’t specify which one), and he limited the color palette of the film to match. They also designed a LUT (look up table) to enhance those specific shades. So, while there’s not necessarily much breadth to the available colors in the HDR grade, there’s plenty of depth to them. Those pale Sixties pastels in the costumes and production design are richly detailed, but there are also some brilliant rainbow hues at the edges of Sue Storm’s energy fields, and when Johnny Storm flames on, the fire effects are particularly intense. (Interestingly enough, the specular highlights on the Silver Surfer aren’t as bright as you might expect, but that’s because they toned down her surface textures in order to add a “dirty” patina that reflected the centuries that she’s been on the job.) The contrast range is strong, inspired by the sharp contrast in Jack Kirby’s artwork, and it adds an interesting effect when combined with the softer color palette. Again, it’s not necessarily dazzling, but First Steps is still beautiful on 4K Ultra HD.

Primary audio is offered in an English Dolby Atmos mix that continues their welcome trend of improving on previous Disney/Marvel physical media tracks. While it’s still mastered at a lower level than it should be, raising the volume isn’t detrimental to the overall dynamics. There’s some decent bass response, too, especially whenever Galactus is onscreen—Ralph Ineson’s already deep voice really rumbles when Galactus speaks. The soundstage springs to life during the action scenes, surrounding the viewer with the sounds of battle, but there are some interesting uses of subtle effects as well. While the overhead channels are used to provide some major impact sounds like when Galactus walks over Subterranea, there’s a wonderfully low-key moment when the neighborhood kids goad Ben into picking up a car. The camera moves in close to him as he spins the car around, and one end of the car can be heard rotating overhead. It’s still not quite a reference-quality mix but it’s a damned fine one.

Additional audio options include English 2.0 Descriptive Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, and Spanish 7.1 Dolby Digital. Subtitle options include English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Disney’s 4K Ultra HD Steelbook release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a two-disc set that includes a Blu-ray with a 1080p copy of the film, a J-card slipcover, and a Digital Code on a paper insert tucked inside. The artwork meshes perfectly with the overall aesthetic of the film, even on the inside of the case (although online artwork critics will doubtless find something to complain about anyway). The real upside is that there’s no annoyingly redundant Cinematic Universe Edition branding on the packaging, but if you just can’t live without that, there’s also a standard edition available that proudly proclaims its MCU status.

The following extras are included, all of them in HD:

DISC ONE: UHD

Commentary by Matt Shakman and Kasra Farahani

DISC TWO: BD

Commentary by Matt Shakman and Kasra Farahani
Meet the First Family (9:08)
Fantastic Futurism (13:04)
From Beyond and Below (9:37)
Gag Reel (2:56)
Deleted Scenes:
- Thanksgiving Soup Kitchen (:10)
- Fantastic Four Day (1:48)
- Subterranea (1:56)
- Birthday Sweater (1:01)
- Taking Turns (1:20)

The commentary pairs Matt Shakman with production designer Kasra Farahani, and it naturally focuses on many of the design elements in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, starting with the way that they revised the opening Marvel logo to fit with the retro-futuristic feel. They describe the design of the massive Times Square set and the various other locations on Earth-828, and small details as well like the design of the Fantasticar, which was based on vintage turbine vehicles like the General Motors Firebird IV concept car (although to be precise, that was a display model only that didn’t actually have a drivetrain). They also describe some of the reference material that they used to create the look of the film, like the Apollo space program footage, and the way that they worked out practical details like how the world ship processes planets in order to feed them to Galactus. They do dive into the characters and story as well, but this is really a design-focused commentary track.

Unfortunately, there’s no Marvel Studios: Assembled episode covering The Fantastic Four: First Steps, so the rest of the extras consist of the usual EPK fluff featuring interviews with Kevin Feige, Matt Shakman, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby. Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ralph Ineson, Paul Walter Hauser, Julia Garner, and Kasra Farahani. It also includes interviews with producer Grant Curtis, executive producer Tim Lewis, set decorator Jille Azis, special effects supervisor Alistair Williams, H.E.R.B.I.E. puppeteer Jack Parker, miniature effects supervisor Ian Hunter, visual development supervisor Ryan Meinerding, and costume supervisor Dan Grace. (Stan Lee appears via an archival audio interview.)

Meet the First Family looks back at the creation of the original comic book before breaking down the individual characters and how they were reimagined for the big screen. (Feige points out that casting has been the key to the success of Marvel Studios, and as much as I may question one or two of the choices in this film, he’s absolutely right.) Fantastic Futurism delves into the retro-futuristic look of the film, from the production design to the practical and visual effects, including the on-set practical H.E.R.B.I.E. that was created to give the actors something to interact with. (Unsurprisingly, it largely omits any reference to the actual digital visual effects, including the digital H.E.R.B.I.E.) From Beyond and Below focuses on the creation of the supporting characters in the film: Galactus, Mole Man, and the Silver Surfer.

Finally, there’s a Gag Reel and a collection of five different Deleted Scenes. The Gag Reel is as disposable as ever, consisting more of unfunny mugging for the camera than actual bloopers. The Deleted Scenes include trims that look like they were made relatively late in the game, since most of them include final renders for the visual effects (with the notable exception of Birthday Sweater, which is still early rough animation). They’re mostly disposable, too, although there’s a nice character beat that helps flesh out the relationship between Sue Storm and Harvey Rupert Elder (aka Mole Man).

It’s an adequate if unspectacular collection of extras, but it’s pretty much par for the course for Marvel/Disney physical media releases. It certainly isn’t going to change your mind about the film, but a second viewing of the film itself might. Personally, I wasn’t that impressed by The Fantastic Four: First Steps when I saw it in the theatre—I was really put off by the retro-futurist aesthetic and some of the casting choices. It was fine, but for me it was a step down from Thunderbolts*. Yet I’ll admit that it improves on a second viewing, and even H.E.R.B.I.E. didn’t bother me as much this time around. It’s always worth giving something a second chance, and I’m glad that I did in this case. So, if you were equally unimpressed by First Steps, it’s worth taking another look—and getting great video and audio quality like this in 4K certainly never hurts. In the end, Galactus rocks, and that’s all that really matters. ‘Nuff said.

-Stephen Bjork

(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).