“Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel’s 2019 conclusion to over a decade of storytelling, earned over $2.7 billion at the global box office. It was a worldwide sensation. Recently, however, Disney’s superhero brand has had trouble at the multiplex.

You know that feeling when you stay too long at a party? And you realize, “Wait, I’m not supposed to be here anymore!” That’s how I experienced most of Marvel’s most recent films.

“Fantastic Four: First Steps” is a well-appreciated reprieve from that theater experience. And it might bring the revival Marvel desperately needs. Partly because it is indeed a break from the decades-long Marvel story that is almost impossible for normal people to keep up with.

Unlike recent entries, “Fantastic Four: First Steps” requires no previous knowledge of these characters, and thankfully it doesn’t go down overly familiar paths with yet another origin story. Instead, we show up four years into the Fantastic Four’s tenure as earth’s protectors in a universe that feels like the 1960s and Walt Disney World’s Tomorrowland. The CGI, costumes, and sets – it’s all fantastically drawn from that mid-century modern futuristic style.

But there’s a whole lot more to enjoy and admire in “First Steps” than its aesthetic. This is assuredly the best on-screen take on the original superhero family. The actors – though well known – fade into their characters. The story is engaging and appropriately tense. And even though the end of the world is at stake in classic superhero-story nature, the magnitude and approach to this threat presents a novelty that replaces what might otherwise be a tired plotline.

Additionally, the film promotes a remarkably positive view of the family and the gift of children. Early on, Mr. and Mrs. Fantastic find out they are pregnant after years of trying. When the rest of the team hears the news, there is nothing but positivity thrown their way. Mr. Fantastic, also known as Reed Richards, frets over how he can protect their unborn child. And when baby Franklin is eventually born, the music soars as the new parents beam with pride and excitement. Without spoiling it too much, the newborn becomes the central character of the film who the family, and eventually the whole world, vows to defend.

If you know anything about Reed Richards, you might correctly guess that this movie also has an especially high view of science. Richards, who is reportedly the smartest man in the world, has a solution to (almost) every problem. He has an answer to every reporter’s question. As shown multiple times, he can effectively harness science for any purpose.

And it is here where the message of the film becomes a bit questionable. These two themes, the importance of family and the power of science, dominate the movie. Though not explicit, the suggestion in “First Steps” is that family + science/technology = the good life. With advanced science, with man’s wisdom and people who love us, anything is possible. There’s nothing else we need in life.

This idea comes to a head when the movie’s existential threat becomes imminent. As the Fantastic Four gear up to stop the alien Galactus from annihilating earth – a seemingly impossible task – a television host reminds them that small groups of people can change the world. In fact, “it’s the only thing that ever has,” he says.

People, this film suggests, are our only hope. As always, we must save ourselves.

In the film’s conclusion, that is just what happens. With the support of each member of the family (a word which here eventually becomes synonymous with the entire human race) and the scientific and technological genius of Mr. Fantastic, paired with their superpowers, they fend off the bad guy.

What “Fantastic Four: First Steps” presents is an incomplete account of the true story. Yes, it is full of positive and helpful reminders about the value of children and the importance of family. It is a well-crafted film – it doesn’t drag and is a Marvel return-to-form that is genuinely worth the price of admission. It does, however, leave us with the impression that the ultimate solution to our problems lies in ourselves, in the people around us, or in science and technology.

And that humanistic, modernist message? That’s one that will leave us, as a culture, disappointed over and over again.

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The republication of this article is made possible by The Fred & Rheta Skelton Center for Cultural Renewal. 

Image Credit: Marvel Entertainment/YouTube