After First Steps, The Fantastic Four Face First Foes!

Main cover art for First Foes #1 by Phil Noto

With Avengers: Doomsday crashing into cinemas at the end of this year, Marvel is producing a series of quarterly one-shots helping to cement the Fantastic Four into the MCU.

These kick-off in March with First Foes, by Dan Slott and Mark Buckingham, profiling the classic FF comic book villain, The Mad Thinker.

Return to the world of Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the first of a series of quarterly one-shot specials throughout 2026 expanding on different characters and moments from the film!

On Earth-828, a cosmic mishap has transformed four brave astronauts into the world’s champions and protectors.

They are the Fantastic Four — but one person isn’t happy about things. He’s known as the Mad Thinker, and he’s determined to get his proper due by turning the city of tomorrow against its heroic patrons!

In addition to the main story, Fantastic Four: First Foes #1 will also include a two page Fantastic Science feature inspired by Reed Richards’ educational programming in the world of the film.

Written by Ryan North, the current mastermind behind Marvel’s ongoing FANTASTIC FOUR comic book series, this short story is one fans of all ages won’t want to miss!

Variant cover art by Kaare Andrews

Variant cover art by Phil Noto

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)

I've been reading the Fantastic Four for over 50 years and have seen all the previous movies (even the unreleased Roger Corman version), but the latest offering from the official Marvel Cinematic Universe is - beyond a shadow of a doubt - the most comic book accurate to date.

Taking place on an alternate Earth to the main Earth-616 of the MCU, Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces us to the planet's heroes - Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic (The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal), his wife Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman (Napoleon's Vanessa Kirby), Sue's brother Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Stranger Things' Joseph Quinn), and family friend Ben Grimm/The Thing (The Bear's Ebon Moss-Bachrach).

In fast order, a chat show - hosted by Mark Gatiss - summarises the team's origin story and gives us a good look at the retro-futuristic 1960's world the team inhabit.

Soon after Sue reveals to the team that she's pregnant, Earth-828 is visited by the alien herald known as the Silver Surfer (Ozark's Julia Garner) to tell everyone that the planet has been selected as the next meal for the ever-hungry extraterrestrial "god" known as Galactus (The Witch's Ralph Ineson).

Naturally, Reed and co. want to prevent this and travel back out into space to try and negotiate with Galactus. 

The incomprehensible space kaiju, seated in his cyclopean planet-devouring spaceship, offers them a trade: it will spare the Earth if Reed and Sue give him their child, who Galactus says is a powerful cosmic being and the only creature that can take his place.

Of course, the Fantastic Four refuse this deal and head back to Earth, with the Silver Surfer and Galactus in pursuit across the vast expanse of space.

Once home, the people of Earth are initially angry at our heroes for turning down the offer that would have saved them all, but nevertheless the Fantastic Four knuckle down and try to come up with a scheme to dispose of Galactus and save the world.

With influences from classic science fiction films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and numerous period B-movies, Fantastic Four: First Steps has more of a pure pulpy sci-fi feel than any previous MCU offering and, to my tastes, is all the better for it.

Kudos to director Matt Shakman (of WandaVision fame) and scriptwriters Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, for channelling the spirit of the original Fantastic Four comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (there's a lovely explanation at the end of the credits tying Kirby to the choice of Earth designation).

I might have tweaked the look of a couple of the supporting members of the cast, but that's trivial compared to how much of First Steps is just so right in the eyes of this life-long Fantastic Four fan.

I cannot stress enough how "comic book" this film is. I nearly cried a number of times because it was so perfect, and the rest of the time I was either grinning from ear-to-ear or my jaw was on the floor from the sheer awesomeness and grandeur unfolding before me. 

For my money - although I'm obviously biased - Fantastic Four: First Steps is the best Marvel movie yet, perfectly encapsulating why I've always loved this team of characters as well as dropping multiple breadcrumbs and potential plot hooks for future movies.

We're going to have to wait until the end of next year and the release of Avengers: Doomsday though before we see the team again.

Although I can't wait for the home video release and the film's appearance on Disney Plus to watch it again... and again... and again.

I'd booked cinema tickets for Rachel and I to see Fantastic Four: First Steps weeks ago, prior to the whole "losing the power to walk" nonsense, but a kind attendant in the foyer of The Odeon (Tunbridge Wells) today swapped them for two spots in the third row. One was a place for me to park my chair, the other was an adjacent sofa seat for Rachel.

Naturally, she turned it into a comfortable bed and slept through about an hour in the middle of the movie - as is her wont. 

Rachel on her comfy sofa, next to me in my wheelchair slot

Having spied some Fantastic Four-themed merch on the way in, after the movie I was directed to the food counter where I was able to order an empty drink container and popcorn bucket (not that I eat popcorn).

Rachel had agreed to pay for these treats, but we both realised my "schoolboy error" in ordering them without asking the price. Both items were way more expensive than we'd naively imagined, but Rachel kindly got them for me anyway.

Back home, showing off my unexpectedly expensive Fantastic Four merch

Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (2023)

I hope Helen Mirren got paid a lot of money for this because Shazam! Fury of The Gods is a right mess.

There are bits that are great, but also a lot where director David F. Sandberg's inconsistent tone doesn't seem to know if this is a "DC dark" film or a slapstick comedy.

For instance reasonably early on a seemingly decent person is brutally murdered in front of one of the heroes (who, admittedly, is horrified), but this is never mentioned again, even though this was clearly someone that Billy Batson (Asher Angel) would have known.

It turns out that when Captain Marvel (yes, I'm calling him that because that's his name; why would a superhero have a name that he can't say without transforming back into a kid?) broke the staff at the end of the last movie he also rent the barrier between worlds (or something).

This allowed the Daughters of Atlas - Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler) - through to retrieve the two halves of the staff, and stick it back together.

Their plan is then to retrieve a seed from the Tree of Life and restore their godly realm to its former glory. 

However, human-hating Kalypso goes full Khaleesi, riding a massive CGI dragon, and plants the seed in the middle of Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia (home of the Philadelphia Phillies).

Because it's not in divine soil, the tree becomes corrupted and starts sprouting monsters from Greek mythology (manticore, cyclops, harpies etc).

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel's extended family of fellow superheroes keep getting stripped of their powers by Kalypso and the magic staff, and it's left to our main man (Zachary Levi) to face the Big Bad.

After the conflict is set-up in the first act the bulk of this overly long 130-minute movie is a massive superhero slugfest, which only comes into its own sporadically.

While Mary Marvel (Grace Caroline Currey) and Freddy Freeman (Jack Dylan Grazer) have a fair share of the plot and the action, the other member's of Billy's family are largely reduced to space-filling background characters, although young Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman) does step up at one point.

This sequence - which elicited the biggest laugh from me - must have been paid for by the Wrigley Company because the Skittles product placement was off the chart!

I'm not a fan of superheroes having their powers removed or nerfed, even if the reasoning here made more sense than the treatment the Hulk got in the later Avengers movies.

It just feels like a cop-out by the writers, having been given a scenario where there's a team of heroes, why not find a clever way to use them?

For me, one of the unique aspects of the Captain Marvel comics of my childhood was the fact that he had a family of similarly powered heroes, a ready-built team, to call upon.

If you introduce that then take it away, that's an unnecessarily cruel bait-and-switch in my book.

And I realise that Dame Helen Mirren has done big budget action movies before, but I can't help feeling that she turned up, delivered her lines impeccably, took the cheque and flew off of to wherever she likes to hang out and chill.

As awesome as she is in this role, there was no need for a global icon of her stature to play the part of Hespera. 

That said there are standout moments of wit and humour in Shazam! Fury of The Gods, from the youngsters having turned the Rock of Eternity into a proper kids' hangout to the genuinely surprising cameo (see, it pays to avoid spoilers, even this long after a film has hit cinemas) during the film's denouement, and a couple of solid "mid/post-credits" scenes (any appearance by Mr Mind is worth the price of admission... and this was especially amusing).

And matters certainly improve in the protracted beat-'em-up once the Daughters of Atlas start feuding among themselves, and the climactic punch-up between Captain Marvel and the dragon is visually impressive.

Ultimately quite mediocre and not up the potential suggested by the original movie, Shazam! Fury of The Gods suffers from a paucity of story and surfeit of characters, meaning many of the protagonists don't really contribute that much.

TOP OF THE PILE: Marvel Mutts #1

My fortnightly pull-list is usually planned out weeks, if not months, in advance as I try to stay abreast of forthcoming releases from The Big Two and my favourite indies of the moment.

However, every so often something slips through the net and I don't spot it until Andy (from Paradox Comics) sends out his weekly list of what's due in that Wednesday.

Marvel Mutts #1 was one such title that had totally escaped my notice, but a quick Google suggested it would be something I might enjoy... and my initial feelings were proved 100 per cent correct once I got the comic in hand.

A print collation of several online Infinity Comics, this gorgeous - and near dialogue-free - anthology of short stories opens with Ms Marvel's adoption of a young cockapoo called Mittens from the Best Buds Shelter in New York City (after she crashes into it during a fight with Kraven the Hunter). 

The subsequent short tales are Mittens' "adventures" with a pack of other Avenger-adjacent dogs that hang out at the Avengers' Mansion, including Lockjaw (of The Inhumans), Lucky The Pizza Dog (Hawkeye's friend), Cosmo (from The Guardians of The Galaxy), and Bats (Dr Strange's ghost dog).

To anyone who is a dog owner there are so many relatable moments in this comic, even if exaggerated through the lens of superheroes, from dogs being afraid of the sound of fireworks to canine expressions of loyalty and love. Even something as simple as playing fetch becomes a global odyssey with the involvement of America Chavez and her portal travel. 

Beautifully written by Mackenzie Cadenhead, with gorgeous art by Takeshi Miyazawa (coloured by Raúl Angulo), Marvel Mutts #1 gets you in the feels with every story, always delivering an upbeat ending perfectly capturing the joy of having a dog in your life.

An uplifting one-shot that contrasts with the general association of violence with the superhero genre, this book is the perfect all-ages title for those wishing to experience the majesty of the medium, grounding the weird science and way-out magic of the superhero genre with the relatability - and responsibility - of pet ownership.