Fantastic Enough

Let me start with a confession: I’ve got a soft spot for underdogs. And no superhero team has spent more time at the bottom of the Marvel popularity pyramid than the Fantastic Four. For a group with “Fantastic” in their name, their track record on the big screen has been, well… not.

So it’s with cautious optimism that I walked into Marvel’s latest reboot—The Fantastic Four, released July 25th, 2025—and I’m happy to report: they finally got it mostly right.

Director Matt Shakman (yes, the WandaVision guy) steps behind the camera to deliver a version of the Four that doesn’t feel like it was cobbled together in a lab by studio executives hoping to cash in on nostalgia. This one has heart, humor, and—brace yourselves—actual chemistry between the leads.

The film wisely sidesteps another slow-burning origin story. Instead, we’re dropped into a world where the Four already exist, operating more like elusive urban legends than costumed crusaders. Think The Incredibles meets Contact.

John Krasinski, returning from his cameo in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, takes on Reed Richards full-time here, and leans hard into the weary genius archetype. His Reed is part Einstein, part dad-joke dispenser, which somehow works.

Sue Storm is played by Vanessa Kirby, and she steals every scene she’s in—not with flash, but with that grounded, commanding presence you want from the Invisible Woman. For once, she’s more than just the team’s emotional glue.

Joseph Quinn (of Stranger Things fame) brings his Eddie Munson charisma to Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. He's cocky, combustible, and constantly seconds away from setting something on fire, usually on purpose.

And then there’s Ben Grimm, The Thing, portrayed by Paul Walter Hauser, who brings a surprising amount of soul to the rock-solid bruiser. He’s gruff, grumpy, and delivers the iconic “It’s clobberin’ time” without making you cringe. No small feat.

The villain? That would be Galactus. Yes, that Galactus. And, mercifully, he’s not a space cloud this time. Voiced with ominous gravitas by Giancarlo Esposito, he looms large—literally and narratively—as a godlike threat on a cosmic scale. But Shakman doesn’t turn this into a full-blown disaster movie. Instead, the film plays like a sci-fi adventure with shades of Spielberg, where awe and terror go hand in hand.

Of course, no Marvel outing would be complete without government agents meddling, portals opening, and a tease of things to come. But The Fantastic Four works best in its quieter moments: Reed and Sue arguing over ethics and time travel, Ben trying to eat shawarma without breaking the table, Johnny using his powers to toast a bagel.

It’s not flawless. The second act drags a bit, and the film can’t resist stuffing in cameos like it’s assembling the cinematic equivalent of an Avengers potluck. But for once, the Fantastic Four don’t feel like a prelude. They feel like a team.

More importantly, they feel like a family.

And in today’s multiversal madness, that’s a refreshing thing to see.