Fantastic Four : First Steps is scheduled for a July 25 release and Marvel Studio casting decisions have angered core fans . Casting a female Silver Surfer, and Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/ Mr. Fantastic were bad enough. Now comes news the Invisible Girl/Sue Storm Richards will be leading the group, which now has many wondering if the correct title of this film should be Fantastic Four : Missteps?.
This new release will mark the fifth try of getting Marvel’s First Family right. First, there was the low-budget, unreleased Roger Corman version , made simply to retain the rights .
Next, came the Tim Story directed films:Fantastic Four in 2005, followed by a 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four : Rise of the Silver Surfer. Then, came the 2015’s Josh Trank-directed dark, body-horror influenced, Fant(4)stic which flopped hard at the box office.
Now, we have the soon to be released 2025 version which Marvel desperately needs to be a home run after two flops this year: Captain America: Brave New World and The Thunderbolts/New Avengers . The latter got pretty decent reviews from critics and the audiences that saw it in the theater, yet it still flopped. Why? Because audiences have lost faith in Marvel because of its obsession with woke storylines and girl bosses.
You would think Marvel/Disney would have learned its lesson with a steady stream of diminished box office returns. With the exception of Deadpool/Wolverine, Spiderman: No Way Home and Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Marvel movies have steadily declined in story quality since embracing woke themes, first with this remarkably eye-rolling scene in Endgame:
This began the shift from engrossing storytelling to virtue-signaling and pandering. And how has that worked for Marvel? You would think after one failure after another, someone higher up in Disney and Marvel would say , “Hey guys, the audience keeps rejecting our message, maybe we should change course?” Instead Marvel’s and Disney’s honchos Kevin Feige and Bob Iger seem to be doubling down.
The Fantastic Four deserve better than this. This quartet created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby ushered in the Marvel Age of Heroes in the 1960’s
Unlike DC’s Justice League of America, the Fantastic Four didn’t just meet to fight a common foe and then part ways. The FF lived together in the same building, sharing a family dynamic where they sometimes bickered or didn’t get along. The Lee/Kirby run on this book was unparalleled in comic history, introducing iconic characters such as the aforementioned Silver Surfer, the Black Panther, Dr. Doom , Galactus, and the Inhumans.
I recently re-read the “Galactus Trilogy” which still holds up nearly 60 years later. I couldn’t resist anger when thinking about Marvel’s decision to lessen Reed Richards’ role :first, by casting beta male Pascal as the stalwart and chiseled leader…
and then by making his wife, Sue Richards/ The Invisible Woman as the girl boss leader of the FF.
And what the heck is Marvel thinking by gender swapping the Silver Surfer?The Silver Surfer is Norrin Radd , a man . Period.
I grew up reading the Fantastic Four and it was one of my favorite titles. I was really pulling for this film, willing to give Pedro and the female silver Surfer a chance. However, making Sue the leader , diminishing Ben Grimm/ The Thing (the heart of the FF)and changing Johnny Storm/ The Human Torch from a skirt chaser into a sensitive cuck was the last straw.
I’ m hoping I am wrong about this movie, but I doubt it. Unless I hear positive word of mouth from trusted personal and internet sources, I’m out of this latest FF iteration .
What are your thoughts ? Is this Fantastic Four : Missteps instead of Fantastic Four : First Steps? Will this latest release make the 2005 version (pictured below) look like a classic? Please leave a comment below and please “like” and share this article.
