‘The fantastic four: first steps’ is more than An essential film for Marvel: After some box office failures and a doubtful future, the company is at a point where the success or failure of this new installment of its superhero adventures can mark many future decisions. The previous trajectory of Marvel’s first family in cinemas does not give much hope, so this summer will be for Disney as essential as It is being for Warner.
A delicate moment. Why do we say that Marvel is at a key point? They have had a 2024 of Impasse: They just released a movie, ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’that although it was a Great box office successdoes not easily fit into the continuity of the house, that is, it does not “guarantee” future successes, as the “you will continue” of the first phases did. In 2025, Marvel has stumbled upon two films that have worked halfway at the box office, ‘Captain America: Brave New World‘ and ‘Thunderbolts‘And, in part, they frustrate the future of the house (its most emblematic hero, new avengers …) At this point, the success of’ The Fantastic 4 is vital for the company.
What comes next. The fantastic four supposes many things, and we do not speak only of a welcome and healthy turn in the aesthetics and the tone that the MCUy asked from the moment it premiered ‘Endey me‘. It also opens doors to the future, to the next Avengers and, of course, to the hopeful ‘Doomsday‘with which The Russo return to Disney. It has already been leaked that ‘the fantastic 4’ includes direct references to that future in which Marvel is putting all his wait, so he will also serve to test the real interest of the public, beyond Soponcios in the Comic-Con.
What came before. The fact is that the previous history of the fantastic 4 in cinema feeds, in part, the expectation. As much as they are the groups of key heroes of the House of Ideas (well above the Avengers), they have not had luck in the past, for both reasons. Roger Corman produced An absolutely disastrous version that it was not released in cinemas and whose intrahistory is much more interesting than the film itself.
At the beginning of the century two films arrived (one of them also adapting the arrival of Galactus to Earth) that were not bad but were something generic and forgettable, and whose only legacy seems to have been the chance of Qiue Chris Evans, future captain America, gave life to human torch. Finally, in 2015 we had another version, also with very interesting details, also with fateful results and that has again A more stimulating intrahistory than the film itself.
And what is looking like. The film reaches the screens today, but we can access the first impressions of the press: it has a very positive 89% in Rotten Tomatoes and a somewhat more discreet 65 in Metacritic. They are, to begin with, scores much higher than those of the previous films of the characters, which suspended in all cases on both platforms (some of them as abysmal as the 2015 version, which has 9% in Rotten Tomatoes, being the Marvel film with the lowest score in history).
Thus, In Variety They say that the film says it is “just what is needed to recover the public that suffers superhero exhaustion.” In Screen Rant They claim that Marvel Vuyelve “to the basics: a solid superhero film, with a lot of heart, but with little spectacular.” And Empirethat “with an exemplary cast and a brilliant new alternative universe to enjoy, this is the best movie of the fantastic four so far. And if that standard seems too low, then it is also the best Marvel movie in years.”
With nuances. There are, however, some clouds on the horizon. ‘Thunderbolts’, despite its disappointing box office, has a comparable score in Rotten Tomatoes (89%), and surpasses it in Metacritic with a 68. In fact, ‘the fantastic 4’ does not even enter into The best valued Marvel Top 10 In Rotten Tomatoes, which only includes films above 90%. Data that, without a doubt, have nothing to do with their performance at the box office, but they give away what can be the Marvel Achilles heel: we may not be facing an infallible film.
For example, Our Espinof companions They claimed that “throughout the second act the film becomes a Space Opera Moral that slows down the thrilling rhythm of the beginning “and put the character of Estela Silver, which” has a tiny character arc and a sudden evolution that cuts the film dry. “Despite everything, the general impression on the film was positive and” reminds us why we fell in love with Marvel. “The only way to dissipate these doubts will be attending the rooms.
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