The Fantastic Four: First Steps represents a comeback of sorts for the Marvel Cinematic Universe — in the minds of fans and critics, if not at the box office. At the very least, a lot of fans seem to think it’s the best live-action Fantastic Four movie, but not every member of the Four got to showcase their “Fantastic” abilities equally. For all of the Human Torch’s flaming on, the Thing’s clobbering, and the Invisible Woman’s, well, invisibility, there was a distinct lack of elongation on Mr. Fantastic’s part — but that was most likely the point.
The decision to keep Reed Richards’ (Pedro Pascal) stretching to a minimum reads — to me at least — as a conscious decision on the part of director Matt Shakman rather than an oversight. With computer-generated imagery capable of producing anything a filmmaker can dream up at this point, coupled with Disney’s seemingly limitless bankroll, we can safely say that Reed’s reluctance to extend his limbs wasn’t born of technical or budgetary concerns alone. That just leaves story reasons, which, when you think about it, are all pretty logical.
Reed Richards is all About Brains Over Brawn
Let’s start with the obvious: Reed Richards is a thinker, not a fighter. We don’t doubt that it’s possible to cherry-pick several instances from the Fantastic Four’s 64-year comic book history of Mr. Fantastic going H.A.M. on a foe, but even the staunchest FF fans would agree that, overall, he prefers to use brains to solve a problem instead of brute force. With that in mind, it’s easy to see why Pedro Pascal’s Reed spends more time in front of a chalkboard than on the battlefield.
But comic book accuracy aside, there’s an even better reason why the First Steps iteration of Richards specifically refrains from using his powers for most of the film. If you haven’t yet seen The Fantastic Four: First Steps, consider this your warning that we’re about to head into SPOILERS territory.
Late in First Steps, Galactus the Devourer of Worlds arrives on Earth to personally capture Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and Reed Richards’ baby Franklin. With Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) elsewhere and running out of options, Reed is forced to climb Galactus, Shadow of the Colossus-style, in an attempt to stall him. Reed only succeeds in angering the planet-eater, who grabs Mr. Fantastic and proceeds to turn him into his own personal Stretch Armstrong toy.
As Galactus pulls Richards apart like a piece of taffy, we, as an audience, can fear for his safety because we have no idea what Reed’s limits are. Had we been exposed over and over again to Mr. Fantastic extending his limbs to ridiculous lengths, the Galactus scene would have less of an impact. Not that the scene is a tense nail-biter — it’s still a fun Marvel movie after all — but Reed’s pain is very believable thanks to the movie never showing the extent of his stretching abilities.
The Less Mr. Fantastic Uses His Stretching Powers in Fantastic Four: First Steps, The More He Can Show Them Off Later
Limiting Reed’s elasticity also gives him room to grow as a character. It’s no stretch — pun intended — to imagine a scenario where Reed decides in a future Marvel film to test his limits should a Galactus-like situation come up again. This hypothetical scenario could potentially lead to a Captain America wielding Thor’s hammer-type scene in Avengers: Doomsday, where someone attempts to stretch Mr. Fantastic past his limits, ala Galactus, only for Reed to elongate his neck enough to wrap it around his adversary and force them to let go.
Marvel sequels often “up the ante,” so to speak, when it comes to established characters — Iron Man and Spider-Man get new costumes, Hulk gets a new persona, etc. — and by downplaying Reed’s powers in the first MCU Fantastic Four movie, it gives him the opportunity to bust out some new moves the next time Marvel takes the character for a spin. After all, Reed will presumably need all of his brains and brawn (powers) to face Doctor Doom.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps adopted a “less is more” approach to Reed Richards, which may have frustrated Mr. Fantastic fans hoping for something more akin to Elastigirl from The Incredibles, but ultimately worked out better for the film as well as the character’s larger presence in the MCU. After all, if barely showing the shark worked for Jaws, why can’t it work for Reed Richards’ stretchiness?
Do you agree that Marvel had a good reason for keeping the best parts of Reed Richards’ abilities hidden in First Steps? Let us know in the comments.
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