The Fantastic Four isn’t exactly Marvel’s Mightiest Heroes… ah yes, that title goes literally to the Avengers. The Fantastic Four has now had three movie franchises. The first one was… okay. The second one was so awful that it ruined itself and any chance at a sequel. But with the Marvel Cinematic Universe getting close to two decades in the making, they’re running out of AAA material. The Fantastic Four MCU project had been stuck in creative limbo for a long time. But it finally came out, and while I did enjoy the movie, it’s not perfect. I can see why it hasn’t raked in money like Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor have done in the past, either separately or as a team.

This one is ironically not even in the MCU—it’s in an alternate universe. Which makes sense because the Fantastic Four should have been in the “sacred timeline” by now, yet they were obviously absent. This universe looks like 1960s-era America but with a lot of futuristic tech. Which is kind of funny—they’ve got flying cars, but not even dial-up internet. I’m sure the world’s smartest man could have invented the world wide web by now.

One day, a female variant of the Silver Surfer comes down to Earth. And she’s like, “Well, you’re all doomed, but for some reason I’m giving you a reasonable amount of time to be depressed and terrified instead of making this quick and painless.” Then she disappears back into space, leaving it up to a super-stretchy guy, a woman who can turn invisible, a pyro hotshot, and a rocky man to save the world from her boss—Galactus—who seems to be way more of a god than even Odin was.

And their first mission to save Earth ends up a failure. But strangely enough, they’re offered a bargain by the planet-eating giant. He senses that Susan Storm is pregnant with a baby, and since the infant’s parents are superheroes with mutated DNA, the child possesses the potential to become the next Galactus. The actual Galactus wants to retire and have the little fetus take his place. Obviously, his parents refuse, and the “world’s smartest man” tells the planet what happened. Naturally, the world is furious. So the team has to find a way to keep Earth safe from Galactus and his silvery herald without everyone being annihilated.

Now let’s talk about the cast. Pedro Pascal was absolutely amazing as Oberyn Martell on the television series Game of Thrones. He wowed everyone again as Mando on Disney+’s The Mandalorian. But he just doesn’t feel right as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. He obviously says yes to every paycheck, but I really wish fans hadn’t bullied John Krasinski into quitting the role after his cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Also, this Reed Richards almost never uses his superpowers in the movie—just his brain.

The best casting, in my opinion, was Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm. Jessica Alba was cast a long time ago mainly as eye candy for male audiences, and she wasn’t a perfect fit for Sue Storm, though they definitely used her looks to bring in viewers. Kate Mara was fantastic on House of Cards, but she was NOT a good Sue Storm. Vanessa Kirby, however, has the look—classy, pretty, and talented. I will say, I was hoping for Emily Blunt to be Sue Storm if her husband John Krasinski stayed as Reed Richards, but I have no complaints about Vanessa Kirby.

Joseph Quinn plays the new Johnny Storm, and you may not have seen him much outside of his role as Eddie Munson in Netflix’s Stranger Things. That role was fantastic, even though his character only lasted a single season. Here, his role as the Human Torch is… okay. They didn’t give him many chances to shine (or glow, literally). The most memorable part is him getting a little too thirsty for the shiny silver woman.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach takes on the role of The Thing (Ben Grimm), and he does a solid job. Unfortunately, we don’t get much time to see his human form in the film. His better moments are when he tries to live a normal life in this strange little world rather than when it’s “clobberin’ time.” But sadly, the film doesn’t have much time to explore that with everything else going on.

Fantastic Four: First Steps is a good movie, but honestly, while I saw it in theaters, I could have waited for it to arrive on Disney+. I had already seen Superman (a much better film), and my wife wanted to do something for my birthday on August 10th, so this was the next best choice. I know Kevin Feige is probably getting kinda nervous about being fired from Disney, and while this movie doesn’t hurt his job security, it doesn’t strengthen it either. It seems that Avengers: Doomsday may be what ultimately decides the future—or the end—of the MCU.