Does Fantastic 4 outdo Superman?

The newest Marvel project and MCU refresh, The Fantastic 4: First Steps (Fantastic 4) released just a few short weeks after the rival comic studio, DC released their newest and DCU refresh, Superman. The two films are natural competitors and have so much in common that they are easily comparable. They both opted for a new colorful visual style, they both explore the same science-fiction, and they are both meant to revive dying movie franchises. 

The Conservative Critic reviewed Superman at its release a few weeks ago. 

So who wins? The Conservative Critic asks: Is it entertaining? Does it have intellectual/artistic value? And is it liberal propaganda? 

The Conservative Critic Meter Check: The Fantastic 4: First Steps 

Overall rating: Fantastic 

Fantastic 4 is as promised: fantastic. It should shock and delight most viewers that the movie was so good considering that no one has yet been able to make a credible Fantastic 4 film Stretchy man and rock guy just does not translate to a movie well, that is, until now. Like Superman, Fantastic 4 is not an origins story. It drops the viewer into an already established super hero crew facing a new challenge. 

To begin with, the movie is beautiful. Again, like Superman the Fantastic 4 opted for a colorful movie greatly departing from the superhero movies of the last decade which opt for darker more serious looking imagery. The retro-futuristic styling wasn’t distracting or annoying, it was fun and cool and pleasant. Fantastic 4 has an advantage over Superman in this way and in its use of the beautiful color coordination with the signature Disney periwinkle blue and white. In fact, Fantastic 4 was the most “Disney” looking MCU movie to date – in a good way. The whole thing evoked the popular Disneyland/Magic Kingdom area, Tomorrow Land in the cleanest and freshest way possible. It will make viewers want park popcorn and a ride on the Carousel of Progress. 

But additionally, exploring really similar plot points and themes including the science being used by the characters, Fantastic 4, unlike Superman, had a cohesive story that built tension and made viewers really care about these often easily dismissable characters. Keeping its runtime under 2 hours, Fantastic 4, is resetting the formula and bringing true, unforced heart back to superhero storytelling. 

Finally, the movie was very conservative coded but without being overtly political. Unlike Superman, Fantastic 4 didn’t feel the need to bore and abuse viewers with on-the-nose political references but instead celebrated themes that are commonly celebrated on the right but can be enjoyed by everyone including life, family and faith. 

By a mile, Fantastic 4 is better than Superman and is a really refreshing reset for the MCU that will hopefully guide its direction in the coming years. Its a summer must-see movie. 

Is it entertaining? 

Rating: A high tension reset

Unlike the other recent MCU installments like Thunderbolts which used elaborate metaphors and clunky over explanatory dialogue to drive the story and then tried to cover up how boring that is with big action sequences, The Fantastic 4 spends more time building the world of the characters we need to care about. In that way, it should remind viewers of Spider-Man (2002). There are action sequences and they’re good and show off the characters super powers, but viewers are given plenty of time to understand the characters, their relationship to each other and why we or anyone would care about their wellbeing. This is much like the development of Peter Parker in the early iterations of Spider-Man. Not only does Fantastic 4 create an urgent situation that allows this development to transpire in a way that is interesting and gripping, it has a major payoff during the climax that makes for a much more tense and emotional watch. Something movies like Thor: Love and Thunder did not come close to achieving. 

By contrast, Superman was entertaining but achieved it by having so many different storylines going that it was simply impossible to be bored. No characters were given much attention at all outside of Superman himself and therefore its climax lacked payoff and the whole story really fell apart in the chaos. 

Does it have intellectual/artistic value? 

Rating: Beautiful visuals, solid characters

The movie is so pretty. The periwinkle is crisp and soft and nice to look at. The CGI is actually really good finally (except sometimes the baby’s face is CGI and its creepy). The fire on Johnny Storm looks legit neat, the Silver Surfer is so well done it’s impossible to tell if actor Julia Garner is painted or the effect is CGI only. Sue Storm’s energy fields are glorious opalescent rainbows. Reed Richard’s stretchness is only showcased occasionally which is really important because its such a lame superpower. 

Additionally, the story actually works. It’s funny because some of the same cheap tricks are used to evoke emotional responses from the audience as were used in Superman such as the vulnerability of a baby. But unlike Superman, Fantastic 4 built a cohesive story around those tools so that instead of playing as cheap, they play as deeply thematic. 

Vanessa Kirby’s performance as Sue Storm is by far the shining star of the core 4 performances but Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) as Ben Grimm “The Thing” is able to perform through the heavy rock CGI in a pretty effective and relatable way. Julia Garner as Shalla Bal “The Silver Surfer” is exceptional, also pushing through heavy CGI to deliver a grounded performance. Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm is the only performer to give effective comedy of any kind and does a fine job in his part, though less memorable than the prior three. Pedro Pascal gave the weakest performance of the group and while it was serviceable – he could have been easily replaced by any distinguished looking man who can act a little bit. 

The only real issue with Fantastic 4 in quality is that it’s not funny but it does try to be (for no reason). Perhaps because the MCU is so used to delivering a certain style of ‘obvious-guy’ humor ever since the days of Guardians of the Galaxy and they knew the former Guardians of the Galaxy director was doing Superman (James Gunn) they felt like the movie really needed some lame humor. It really didn’t. A movie can be fun without being funny. This movie is extremely fun without being funny. And the Fantastic 4 only made only half hearted attempts at jokes, none of which landed and the movie would be even better than it is if they’d left those loser attempts out and kept the Gunn universe completely behind them. 

Is it liberal propaganda? 

Rating: Pro-life, pro-family, pro-faith

Without giving spoilers, Fantastic 4 is conservative coded by celebrating life and family and recognizing faith directly as well as referencing Christianity indirectly. More on this below the spoiler warning at the end of this article. 

Conclusion: 

Fantastic 4 is much better than Superman and is a summer must watch for families who love Superhero movies and each other. 

SPOILERS AHEAD DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU DON’T WANT THEM

The main plot of Fantastic 4 is that Sue Storm is having a baby and the big bad guy Galactus wants that baby because it has special powers and he wants it to save him from his apparent torment destroying worlds. 

Reed and Sue are very nervous that the baby they’ve conceived will be some kind of super freak (because of their super DNA) and run a bunch of tests to prepare for that inevitability but they at no time conceive of the idea of killing the baby before its born even though it might have problems and it might have a hard life. 

Once they have the baby, Galactus says that if they sacrifice the baby and give him over, he will not destroy earth as he previously planned. Sue and Reed refuse to sacrifice their son to save the earth and hanging there in the air is an indirect reference to Christianity. Because the question is: who would sacrifice their son to save everyone else? The movie doesn’t answer the question but it certainly asks it. 

I won’t give away the end even in the spoiler section but the power of family and parents is highly respected in this movie.

In addition to the Christian references, at one point one of the characters visits a temple where people are praying as a very bad thing is about to happen. This directly references faith in a positive light. 

Also, the movie is frequently just more optimistic about Americans and more patriotic overall. People are able to rally around saving a baby and each other in mass whereas in Superman it was a rare few who stood up for what was right and they were highlighted as particularly special.