As Reed, Pascal is convincing as the world’s smartest man who is nevertheless overwhelmed by the irrational flood of thoughts and emotions that accompany fatherhood. As written, Sue is a somewhat thankless character, but Kirby manages to add depth to the Invisible Woman with subtle performance choices.

This iteration of the Fantastic Four has a standalone adventure without all the burden of the MCU's history and cast of characters.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the latest entry in the 2025 movie schedule to dominate the box office, and for many, including me, it’s a great soft reset of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the things I most liked about it was that it wasn’t heavy on the MCU-cameos like so many others have been.