This weekend we went along to watch the eagerly awaited Fantastic Four – First Steps, that not only properly introduces Marvels First Family to the MCU, but also launches Phase Six of the MCU!
“This summer’s release of The Fantastic Four – First Steps is a love letter to Marvels first family creator Jack Kirby”. Mike Buss, Editor Entertainment Swindon.
Where did we go?… Well Obviously to Swindon’s premier cinema, Vue Cinema at the Greenbridge Retail & Leisure Park. They are of course the best seats in town!
So lets take a step backwards first, as huge fans of The Fantastic Four, we here at Entertainment Swindon have been rather disappointed with previous attempts of bringing The Fantastic Four to the big screen over the years, first with the low budget attempt by Roger Corman in 1994, which although had its trailer shown across cinemas, it never made an official release and ended up many years later on YouTube where you can see it today, its worth seeing for nostalgia, but it was not a great movie for many reasons!
When 20th Century Fox got hold of the rights to The Fantastic Four, promising a big budget block buster, unfortunately, it was disappointing, the two movies released between 2005 and 2007, starting with Fantastic Four – Rise of the Silver Surfer were ok, but just failed to capture the comic book hero family. In 2025, things just got worse with the 2015 reboot and was a complete box office bomb!
With 20th Century Fox now in the hands of Disney, reverting the rights back to Marvel, this years eagerly awaited release has been a long time coming, and it was worth the wait!
Taking place in an alternative universe, we meet Marvels first family four years after their life-changing exposure to cosmic rays, the now named Fantastic Four , they are celebrated around the world; a superhero family led by the brains and stretchiness of Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), his wife, Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), her fireball flying of brother Johnny Storm (Human Torch) and the clobbering best friend Ben Grimm (The Thing), whose skin is now made of rock.
But when the Silver Surfer arrives one day to warn them that their planet has been marked for destruction by a power beyond imagination, they’re going to need all their smarts to confront it!
Directed by Matt Shakman, a self-confessed fan of The Fantastic Four was the perfect man for the job, to introduce Marvels first family to the MCU. The movie, is a big screen love letter to The Fantastic Fours creator Jack Kirby, setting the film in a 1960s retro-futuristic world, was the perfect way to bring The Fantastic Four to the MCU, paying homage to the original 1960s comic publications of the Marvel family.
With a stellar cast and and the retro alt-universe to enjoy, this is the best Fantastic Four yet, and the best Marvel movie since Avengers End Game, First Steps has set the bar for Phase Six of the MCU.
The Silver Surfer storyline, although already done in the 2007 20th Century Fox movie, it was the best place to start The Fantastic Four integration into the MCU.
Along with the 1960s retro-futuristic backdrop coupled with the perfect casting of the Marvel First Family with Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, the socially awkward brainiac, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph ‘Eddie Munson’ Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm as The Thing. The chemistry of this quartet of actors on screen helped make this latest Marvel instalment a Fantastic watch.
Living in a world where it seems there are no other superheroes, The Fantastic Four are left to stand against the Silver Surfer and Galactus, the world destroyer alone. Finally Galactus has been portrayed perfectly, and on Vue Cinemas IMAX in 3D, it really did make it feel like Galactus was going to step out of the screen and destroy our earth!
Just like when the MCU came into our lives and brought us the Avengers, the MCU have done it again with The Fantastic Four, we now have to wait for 2026 for next years Avengers Doomsday, the cast have already back in March revealed, where on Marvels social media channels, 26 empty chairs were slowly filled, ending with Robert Downey Junior who will be playing Doom, something when it was revealed last year, I really wasn’t happy, how could Downey play another character when we all knew him as Iron Man, but now we’ve seen this weeks release of The Fantastic Four from an alternate universe and knowing that the next Avengers movie will bring The Fantastic Four from Earth 828 to our earth, its obvious Downey’s Doom will be coming along with them.
So it you have not seen the movie of the summer in our opinion, then get to Vue Cinema in Greenbridge for the best seats in town to watch the best movie in town in Ultra Lux style!
No spoilers, but we will save you sitting in the cinema longer than you want, or feel you need to… Marvel fans are used to sitting for the complete credits to pass by to give us a teaser for whats to come, well the teaser comes a little earlier than normal, however, if you are happy to sit through the complete credits, you will get a little cartoon homage to the First Family of Marvel and to their creator Jack Kirby.
The Fantastic Four movie teaser at the end of The Fantastic Four – First Steps, sets up the franchise for something very special!
Avengers: Doomsday is being directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay by returning writer Stephen McFeely, who’s teamed up with Loki and Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness MCU veteran Michael Waldron.
Doomsday’s release is 1st May 2026.
No spoilers, but we will save you sitting in the cinema longer than you want, or feel you need to… Marvel fans are used to sitting for the complete credits to pass by to give us a teaser for whats to come, well the teaser comes a little earlier than normal, however, if you are happy to sit through the complete credits, you will get a little cartoon homage to the First Family of Marvel and to their creator Jack Kirby.
The Fantastic Four movie teaser at the end of The Fantastic Four – First Steps, sets up the franchise for something very special!
Check out The Fantastic Four – First Steps at Vue Cinema on IMAX in both 2D & 3D, click HERE for details and to book your tickets at Swindon’s premier cinema experience in Ultra Lux comfort!
Entertainment Swindon 
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