The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Marvel needed a win, and they mostly got one.…
Marvel needed a win, and they mostly got one.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the best MCU film in years, which admittedly is a low bar after the studio's rough stretch from 2022 to 2024. But credit where it is due: this movie remembers what made the Marvel formula work. It has characters you care about, stakes that matter, and an emotional core that does not depend on 37 films of continuity to land.
The setup is clever. Rather than retelling the origin story for the third time, the film drops us into Earth-828 in 1964, where the Fantastic Four have been heroes for four years. Reed Richards has used his genius to advance technology decades ahead of schedule. Sue Storm has founded the Future Foundation, a diplomatic organization that has achieved global demilitarization. Johnny Storm is the team's cocky flyboy. Ben Grimm is the rock-skinned heart of the group. They are celebrities. They are beloved. And then Sue reveals she is pregnant, and the entire world starts asking whether the baby will have powers.
This retro-futuristic 1960s setting is the film's secret weapon. The production design evokes a world where Kennedy-era optimism never died, where science is heroic and progress is celebrated. It is the kind of America that conservatives remember fondly, even if it never quite existed that way.
Pedro Pascal is perfectly cast as Reed. He plays the character as brilliant but warm, a genius who has never let his intellect distance him from his family. The relationship between Reed and Sue is the film's emotional anchor, and it works because both actors sell the partnership. These two love each other. They argue about Galactus with the same energy they argue about baby names. It is a marriage, not a romance, and that distinction matters.
When Galactus arrives and offers to spare Earth in exchange for their unborn child, the team's refusal is absolute and immediate. No deliberation. No utilitarian calculus. The child is not for sale. The world turns against them for this decision, crowds literally protest demanding they sacrifice Franklin, and the film treats the public's utilitarianism as wrong. A child's life is not a bargaining chip. That is an extraordinarily conservative moral stance for a Disney film in 2025, and it is the film's best moment.
Now for the woke elements, because they are real.
The Silver Surfer. In the comics, the most famous Silver Surfer is Norrin Radd, a man. This film uses Shalla-Bal, a female Silver Surfer from a separate comics run. Julia Garner plays her as stoic, remorseful, and ultimately heroic. The performance is actually quite good. But the decision to use the female version feels calculated. Marvel has been doing this for years, gender-swapping characters or sidelining male legacy characters in favor of female versions. The Shalla-Bal character exists in the comics, so this is not fabrication. But the choice of which version to adapt is the editorial act.
Sue Storm's Future Foundation has achieved global demilitarization and peace. In the film's retro-futuristic 1960s, this is presented as an unambiguous good. A world without armies, united under a shared diplomatic framework, where one woman's emotional intelligence accomplished what politics and war could not. It is a globalist fantasy wrapped in a bow. When the world needs saving, Sue's organization coordinates all nations to build teleportation bridges simultaneously. The entire planet cooperates as one. It is beautiful filmmaking and blatant utopian globalism.
For conservative audiences, this film offers a genuine family adventure with strong moral bones. A married couple protecting their child against a universe that wants to consume him is a deeply conservative premise. The film occasionally dresses that premise in progressive clothing, but the traditional heart beats strongly enough to recommend with noted reservations.
Adult Viewer Insight
Conservative adults should approach The Fantastic Four: First Steps as a genuinely enjoyable family adventure that happens to contain several progressive elements. The traditional core is real: a married couple, an unborn child they refuse to sacrifice, a family that stays together through cosmic crisis. These are not token gestures. They are the emotional engine of the film. The progressive elements are also real but secondary: the female Silver Surfer, Sue's globalist Future Foundation, and the committee screenplay's occasional wobbles. None of these undermine the family story at the film's center. This is the rare MCU film that conservative audiences can recommend without heavy caveats. The pro-family, pro-life, pro-marriage messaging is stronger than anything Marvel has produced in years.
Parental Guidance
Appropriate for older children and teenagers. The violence is superhero-scale: cosmic battles, building destruction, and physical combat, but relatively bloodless. No sexual content. Language is mild. The emotional intensity is moderate; the threat to baby Franklin may upset younger children, and Sue's temporary death is handled with gravity. The most significant conversation point for parents is the utilitarian dilemma at the film's center: the world demands that the team sacrifice their baby to save billions, and the team refuses. This is an excellent starting point for a discussion about the inherent value of human life and why some things are not for sale regardless of the cost. Recommended age: 9 and up with parental engagement on the ethical dilemma.
Woke Trap Warning
Trap Present: Yes — Degree: Low. The Fantastic Four: First Steps has strong traditional bones throughout. The woke elements are real but secondary: a gender-swapped Silver Surfer and Sue Storm's globalist Future Foundation. The family story at the core is genuine. Conservative viewers buying into the family adventure may be surprised when the globalist framework is presented as the mechanism of salvation, arriving after 60% of the film has established the traditional family as its center.
Formula: Weighted Score = Severity × Authenticity Multiplier × Centrality Multiplier
🔴 Woke Tropes
| Trope | Severity | Authenticity | Centrality | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender-Swapped Legacy Character (Silver Surfer) | 3 | Moderate | Moderate | 3 |
| Globalist Utopia as Salvation | 3 | Low | High | 3.78 |
| Girl Boss (Sue as De Facto Leader) | 2 | Moderate | Moderate | 1.4 |
| Female Sacrifice and Resurrection | 1 | High | Low | 0.35 |
| Diverse Supporting Cast | 1 | High | Low | 0.35 |
| TOTAL WOKE | 8.9 | |||
🟢 Traditional Tropes
| Trope | Severity | Authenticity | Centrality | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family as Foundation | 5 | High | High | 6.3 |
| Defense of the Unborn Child | 5 | High | High | 6.3 |
| Traditional Marriage Celebrated | 3 | High | High | 3.78 |
| Self-Sacrificing Heroes | 3 | High | Moderate | 2.1 |
| Industry and Scientific Ingenuity | 2 | High | Moderate | 1.4 |
| Team Loyalty Through Crisis | 3 | High | Moderate | 2.1 |
| Faith and Hope in Adversity | 2 | High | Moderate | 1.4 |
| Restored Family and Home | 2 | High | Low | 0.7 |
| TOTAL TRADITIONAL | 24.1 | |||
Score Margin: +3 TRAD
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