Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Fantastic Four: First StepsFantastic Four: First Steps features a collection of truly great and exciting moments. Set in an alternate reality apart from the main MCU timeline, The Fantastic Four debuts as a dynamic family of superheroes faced with a seemingly impossible challenge. Throughout the movie, First Steps is refreshingly full of great moments, full of peak action, humor, and solid character depth.
In Fantastic Four: First Steps, the birth of Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s son coincides with Galactus’ imminent arrival. Subsequently, the cosmic World Devourer intends to destroy the entire world if he isn’t given the child and his incredible power. With that in mind, here are our top 10 favorite moments from Fantastic Four: First Steps as the First Family face their greatest threat.
10
HERBIE Baby-Proofing The Baxter Building
A Perfect Debut For The Loyal MCU Robot
As soon as Sue’s pregnancy is revealed to the whole family, we get a hilarious montage where Reed starts making preparations for Baby Franklin’s arrival.
However, Richards delegates several tasks to the family’s loyal robot HERBIE. Voiced by Mattew Wood, HERBIE is immediately charming as he rolls around the Baxter Building, covering outlets, locking cabinets, and putting up baby gates for Ben Grimm’s Thing to trip over. It’s a very funny sequence overall, while also being the perfect debut for HERBIE in the MCU.
9
Mole Man Saving The Day
Paul Walter Hauser Is Peak MCU Casting
Briefly appearing at the beginning of Fantastic Four: First Steps as the leader of Subterranea, Paul Walter Hauser’s Mole Man is a perfect addition to the movie’s cast.
Real-name Harvey Rupert Elder, Mole Man and his underground subjects brought down the Pan Am Building before Sue Storm managed to open peace talks between the surface and the world below with the Future Foundation. As such, the ending of Fantastic Four: First Steps sees Sue requesting Elder’s help to evacuate New York ahead of Galactus’ arrival, harboring countless civilians beneath the city.
While he does agree to help, Elder still takes the time to gloat, a hilarious moment where Hauser’s Mole Man shines, proving how perfect he was to play The Fantastic Four’s first-ever foe from the comics.
8
Struggling With Franklin’s Car Seat
A Hilariously Relatable Moment for the First Family
Following the movie’s final battle with Galactus, The Fantastic Four are shown racing from the Ted Gilbert Show after being alerted to some kind of new threat. However, they end up stuck on the street while Reed, Ben, and Johnny collectively struggle to get Franklin’s car seat locked into the Fantasticar as an entire crowd awkwardly watches.
A perfect way to end the new MCU movie, the car seat struggle is one of the most relatable family moments in the entire movie (made even funnier when you remember that Reed designed both the car and carrier).
7
Exploring The Dark Side Of Reed Richards’ Genius
Logic vs Emotion
Unlike past Fantastic Four movies, a major highlight of First Steps is getting to see the true flaws of Reed Richards and his incredible genius. Despite being the “Smartest Man Alive”, Reed’s intellect can often be detrimental to those closest to him.
This is largely due to his borderline obsessive focus on logic, and there’s a tense moment where Reed says handing over Franklin to Galactus is objectively the most logical and ethical option based on math. Of course, this leads to a clash with Sue, who confirms that sometimes Reed operating the way he does can hurt her and those he cares about.
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Admitting to this fact and how he often “invites the most terrible outcomes into his mind”, it’s fascinating to see Richards trying to reconcile with this flaw while grappling with being a new father, resulting in one of the movie’s best lines:
“I don’t want you to be like me. There’s something wrong with me, always has been. The more I look at you, the less I know. And the less I know, the more scared I am.”
6
The Dark Debut of Doctor Doom
Setting Up Avengers: Doomsday
Fantastic Four: First Steps’ primary post-credits scene is one of the best we’ve had in some time. Set four years later, Sue returns to the living room with a new book to read to Franklin when she sees Doctor Doom kneeling before the boy.
Wearing an expected green hood while holding his iconic metal mask by his side, Doom is positioned away from the camera as Franklin touches his face. As such, the implication is that Doom has plans for Franklin and his reality-warping powers over creation, plans that will undoubtedly be revealed in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday.
5
Shalla-Bal’s Silver Surfer Heralding Galactus
“I Herald His Beginning…I Herald Your End…”
Appearing before the entire world in Times Square, Julia Garner’s MCU debut as the Silver Surfer Shalla-Bal is as impressive as it is haunting.
Confirming that Galactus is coming to consume the Earth and that their planet has been “marked for death”, Johnny Storm catching up to Shalla-Bal’s Silver Surfer and seeing his own face reflected in hers is a beautiful shot as she gives The Human Torch a blessing in her language: “Die With Yours“.
4
Galactus’ Massive MCU Debut
(Redeeming The Space Cloud)
Appearing before Galactus, the World Devourer’s towering debut over the First Family is one of the movie’s best scenes, completely making up for the “space cloud” version of Galactus seen in Fox’s Fantastic Four movies from the mid-2000s. Likewise, Ralph Ineson as the voice of Galactus is perfectly bone-chilling as he confirms his never-ending cosmic hunger and desire to claim Franklin Richards as the successor to his “cursed throne.”
3
Ted Gilbert’s Fantastic Four Retrospective
Four Years of the First Family
Fantastic Four: First Steps has one of the best opening scenes ever for an MCU movie. Framed as an ABC special retrospective on The Fantastic Four and the four years they’ve been heroes, The Ted Gilbert Show covers the team’s exploits in a very fun and exciting montage.
Recreating the cover of Fantastic Four #1 with Giganto and featuring classic foes like Mole Man, The Mad Thinker, Red Ghost, and more, the Ted Gilbert Show the perfect way to make these new MCU heroes feel established in a fleshed-out world, covering their history as astronauts, heroes, and celebrities before facing their biggest threat yet with Silver Sufer and Galactus.
2
The Fantastic Four vs Galactus
An Epic Comic-Book Battle in Times Square
Their attempt at moving the Earth having failed, The Fantastic Four decides to try and teleport Galactus to the far reaches of space instead, effectively stranding him there without his ship.
The First Family’s combined efforts to stop the World Devourer and keep Franklin safe are incredibly epic, especially Sue who pushes Galactus multiple blocks to Times Square and their last teleporter. There’s also the great moment with Johnny carrying Ben back from the stratosphere (all while demanding Ben to finally say his iconic line), not to mention Silver Surfer’s sacrifice.
1
Silver Surfer Pursuing Excelsior-One/Franklin’s Birth
A Cosmically Captivating Action Sequence
As cool as the final battle with Galactus is, the best sequence in Fantastic Four: First Steps is by far the Silver Surfer pursuing Excelsior-One. Escaping Galactus’ ship as Sue gives birth in zero-gravity near a collapsing neutron star, Shalla-Bal’s pursuit and getting trapped in the black hole is visually stunning across the board.
Without question, it’s the best scene in Fantastic Four: First Steps, and easily one of the best visual effects sequences in the MCU overall.
Fantastic Four: First Steps is now playing in theaters from Marvel Studios.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
7/10
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
- Runtime
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115 minutes
- Director
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Matt Shakman
- Writers
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Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson
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Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
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Vanessa Kirby
Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman
