By the logic of power fantasies, shouldn’t all superheroes be celebrities? Unless they’re rigidly committed to keeping their secret identity intact, you’d think a hero would want to use their newfound social clout to expand how far their impact can go. However, fame is rarely used as an intentionally utilized influence on the story of many superhero films, even if said fame is baseline recognized as background noise. This sidestepping of real-world logic is incredibly prevalent throughout the MCU, where even the characters who actively court fame barely ever funnel that into their superhero ventures. But The Fantastic Four: First Steps could change things by bringing that element to the forefront, fully tackling a topic I’ve long wanted the MCU to truly commit to.
The MCU Tends To Forget Its Characters Are Famous
Throughout its evolution, the MCU has often been skittish and oddly forgetful of how famous its characters are in their universe. With the notable exception of renowned narcissist Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), who religiously built his whole persona around being Iron Man, fame is more of a source of punchlines than actual material consequence. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) was used by the government to propagandize the war effort in Captain America: The First Avenger, but he did so unwillingly and abandoned doing that ever again. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) wrote his own memoir, but that proved to not have any dramatic weight whatsoever in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, merely a bookend to the actual plot. In Thor: Ragnarok, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) gets stopped on the street for selfies by two young women, which is somehow the first time we’ve ever seen this happen to Thor, and Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is completely ignored by them. I mean, wouldn’t you at least recognize an attempted genocider of Earth if they were walking down the street? In Marvel’s world, fame tends to be a frivolous distraction, like a menial job that you can quiet quit your way out of doing. This is where Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) comes in, who could be the only other Marvel hero to proactively use his fame for the greater good.
Reed Richards Uses Fame To Help Others
The trailers for First Steps have confirmed that, in their universe, the Fantastic Four regularly court fame by appearing on talk shows, giving interviews at their home, and responding to the adulation of fans on the street. Should this film prove to be faithful to the comics, then it’s most likely that the Fantastic Four embrace these kinds of stunts under the guidance and recommendation of Reed Richards. Richards tends to be portrayed as someone who’s motivated to be a superhero mainly due to the immense guilt he feels, seeing himself as solely responsible for what’s happened to him and his family. None more so than his non-blood brother, Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who keeps desperately trying to find a cure for Ben’s rock condition. Richards feels like he stole the chance of a normal life away from them, so he must make up for it the way he’s best equipped to. This is why casting Pedro Pascal as Reed is a smart choice, since it’s well-established how easily charismatic and photogenic he is in the public eye and how swiftly people gravitate towards him.
In Reed’s mind, by making him and his family very famous and publicly praised, they would be protected from the hatred and disgust that the world would otherwise throw their way. While the real world has repeatedly proven that fame can just as easily invite more hatred and vile onto people, this tactic usually works out in the Richards family’s favor, keeping in line with the progressive optimism the franchise has long been built on. Plus, it speaks to how Reed isn’t just intellectually intelligent, but emotionally and socially, as he’s more willing to think of how far-reaching (hehe) his influence can be, in ways that go beyond his powers. Most Marvel protagonists simply don’t capitalize on how they can make change besides violence, unless you’re Tony Stark, in which case, all your ideas are borderline fascistic and make the world even less safe. Should First Steps commit to this aspect of Reed, it could be one way to respond to one of the most loaded criticisms of the MCU as a whole.
‘First Steps’ Could Work To Fix a Common Criticism
A particular narrative hurdle that Marvel’s films have fallen for throughout their tenure is the notion that the heroes never try to change anything about their world, but merely protect the status quo. The villains are the ones who try to actually change things, which is why you might find yourself agreeing with more than a handful of their philosophies, if not their methods. The Avengers and their ilk tend to spend way more time cleaning up their own messes or the messes of the government than pursuing progressive actions that actively make the society they live in a better one. They barely even bother to help with casualties or the destruction they leave in their wake after a battle is over. In the days of comics, it was easy to shrug that off as just the need to keep stories going for the next issue, but when put in the context of films that seek to touch on sociopolitical realities, it feels too much like lackadaisical quota-filling.
It feels like Marvel has actively left too much on the table regarding playing with how celebrity can be a tangible force of change in the world. In a world with magic elves and talking raccoons and a planet that gives birth to children, it’s somehow more unbelievable to think that not a single Avenger would use their heroic status only for capitalist gain. Why couldn’t Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) try and open a new flight academy for young students? Why couldn’t Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) use his smarts to cure a major disease? Why couldn’t Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) use his magical skills to do near-impossible surgeries? These are major blind spots that speak to a limitation of the MCU’s imagination, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps could indeed be a step in the right direction in leading by example. Reed Richards could show the rest of the universe how to think larger and be a little more flexible.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
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July 25, 2025
- Director
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Matt Shakman
- Writers
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Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee
- Producers
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Jamie Christopher, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Tim Lewis
- Franchise(s)
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Marvel Cinematic Universe
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Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
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Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman
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Joseph Quinn
Johnny Storm / Human Torch
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Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Ben Grimm / The Thing
#Steps #Finally #Addressing #Wondered #MCU #Wait
