Marvel needed a win, and they mostly got one.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the best MCU film in years, which admittedly is a low bar after the studio's rough stretch from 2022 to 2024. But credit where it is due: this movie remembers what made the Marvel formula work. It has characters you care about, stakes that matter, and an emotional core that does not depend on 37 films of continuity to land.

The setup is clever. Rather than retelling the origin story for the third time, the film drops us into Earth-828 in 1964, where the Fantastic Four have been heroes for four years. Reed Richards has used his genius to advance technology decades ahead of schedule. Sue Storm has founded the Future Foundation, a diplomatic organization that has achieved global demilitarization. Johnny Storm is the team's cocky flyboy. Ben Grimm is the rock-skinned heart of the group. They are celebrities. They are beloved. And then Sue reveals she is pregnant, and the entire world starts asking whether the baby will have powers.

This retro-futuristic 1960s setting is the film's secret weapon. The production design evokes a world where Kennedy-era optimism never died, where science is heroic and progress is celebrated. It is the kind of America that conservatives remember fondly, even if it never quite existed that way.

Pedro Pascal is perfectly cast as Reed. He plays the character as brilliant but warm, a genius who has never let his intellect distance him from his family. The relationship between Reed and Sue is the film's emotional anchor, and it works because both actors sell the partnership. These two love each other. They argue about Galactus with the same energy they argue about baby names. It is a marriage, not a romance, and that distinction matters.

When Galactus arrives and offers to spare Earth in exchange for their unborn child, the team's refusal is absolute and immediate. No deliberation. No utilitarian calculus. The child is not for sale. The world turns against them for this decision, crowds literally protest demanding they sacrifice Franklin, and the film treats the public's utilitarianism as wrong. A child's life is not a bargaining chip. That is an extraordinarily conservative moral stance for a Disney film in 2025, and it is the film's best moment.

Now for the woke elements, because they are real.

The Silver Surfer. In the comics, the most famous Silver Surfer is Norrin Radd, a man. This film uses Shalla-Bal, a female Silver Surfer from a separate comics run. Julia Garner plays her as stoic, remorseful, and ultimately heroic. The performance is actually quite good. But the decision to use the female version feels calculated. Marvel has been doing this for years, gender-swapping characters or sidelining male legacy characters in favor of female versions. The Shalla-Bal character exists in the comics, so this is not fabrication. But the choice of which version to adapt is the editorial act.

Sue Storm's Future Foundation has achieved global demilitarization and peace. In the film's retro-futuristic 1960s, this is presented as an unambiguous good. A world without armies, united under a shared diplomatic framework, where one woman's emotional intelligence accomplished what politics and war could not. It is a globalist fantasy wrapped in a bow. When the world needs saving, Sue's organization coordinates all nations to build teleportation bridges simultaneously. The entire planet cooperates as one. It is beautiful filmmaking and blatant utopian globalism.

For conservative audiences, this film offers a genuine family adventure with strong moral bones. A married couple protecting their child against a universe that wants to consume him is a deeply conservative premise. The film occasionally dresses that premise in progressive clothing, but the traditional heart beats strongly enough to recommend with noted reservations.

Formula: Weighted Score = Severity × Authenticity Multiplier × Centrality Multiplier

🔴 Woke Tropes

Trope	Severity	Authenticity	Centrality	Score
Gender-Swapped Legacy Character (Silver Surfer)	3	Moderate	Moderate	3
Globalist Utopia as Salvation	3	Low	High	3.78
Girl Boss (Sue as De Facto Leader)	2	Moderate	Moderate	1.4
Female Sacrifice and Resurrection	1	High	Low	0.35
Diverse Supporting Cast	1	High	Low	0.35
TOTAL WOKE				8.9

🟢 Traditional Tropes

Trope	Severity	Authenticity	Centrality	Score
Family as Foundation	5	High	High	6.3
Defense of the Unborn Child	5	High	High	6.3
Traditional Marriage Celebrated	3	High	High	3.78
Self-Sacrificing Heroes	3	High	Moderate	2.1
Industry and Scientific Ingenuity	2	High	Moderate	1.4
Team Loyalty Through Crisis	3	High	Moderate	2.1
Faith and Hope in Adversity	2	High	Moderate	1.4
Restored Family and Home	2	High	Low	0.7
TOTAL TRADITIONAL				24.1

Score Margin: +3 TRAD