Marvel's legendary supergroup finally has a movie worthy of its prestige.

It was a sin. That Marvel hadn't been able to make a cinematic version of the Fantastic Four with a face and eyes was unforgivable. Neither version (crappy, like the one produced by Roger Corman in 1994, or bland, broken, and ugly like those directed by Tim Story and Josh Trank in the 21st century) did justice to the greatness of this family of superheroes who were the core of Marvel, the pure essence of the charming power of gripping comics. In the end, the closest thing the Fantastic Four had on film was... The Incredibles, which wasn't from Marvel and wasn't them, but was a superpowered family with almost the same charisma as the unit formed by Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and siblings Sue and Johnny Storm.

Arrives now Fantastic Four: First Steps Not only with the feeling of finally trying to pass that core subject you've been missing every year in September, but also with the scent of a big event: the MCU unleashing the Holy Christ now that they no longer know how to monetize or give even the slightest bit of appeal to other superhero franchises. Very high expectations, then, and... high results too (to say very high would perhaps be a bit of a stretch).

Fantastic Four: First Steps It's quite funny, which is something we haven't said about a Marvel movie in years. Every decision he makes is perfectly fine: the casting, which in previous versions was catastrophic, is a goal in the top corner here (the serenity of the ubiquitous Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn with the shameless style of Robert Downey Jr. are very good, but Vanessa Kirby outdoes them all); the retro-futuristic aesthetic between 60s New York pop and the space race vintage It is seductive; the archenemies, united by the visual impact they have (and they were not exactly easy to resolve), and the plot mixes transcendence and frivolity, human scale and cosmic adventure with that alchemy for which only Stan Lee and Jack Kirby seemed to have the formula.