Third time was the charm for Spider-Man: once to break the seal, once as an obvious cash grab for the rights holders, and finally into the MCU proper. As with Spidey, so with the Fantastic Four: a flagship property for Marvel, literally their First Family, and in desperate need of some way to get it right. And like Spidey, they figured it out by going back to the comics as they were in the beginning.
Fantastic Four: First Steps is the MCU’s first love letter to Jack Kirby, and long overdue, and perfectly executed. The whole New Frontier retro future, set in 1964 to match. A Ben Grimm that you can absolutely see growing up on Yancy Street and who never lost touch with his roots. The sci-fi conceit of “we can do anything and we will.” And all leveraged into modernity with a Reed Richards who is clearly on the spectrum, a Sue Storm with tremendous emotional intelligence, and a Johnny Storm who is young and goofy and loves the ladies without coming across as a skeeze.
In a way, it’s of a piece with James Gunn’s new Superman, which also eschewed retelling an oft-told origin story in favor of straight Silver Age madness – and also reminded us that it’s possible to have heroes who are unambiguous, no shades of gray, just good people trying to do good in the world as best they can, in the face of pure evil and implacable forces alike. Lex Luthor and Galactus are very different threats, but the approach is the same: square up, stick together, we rise and fall as a team. As a family. As all of us.
It’s a bit on the nose, given our present circumstances, but it’s true: we get nowhere by giving up. Which is a hard lesson to learn and live with, but sometimes there’s no alternative.