This iteration of the Fantastic Four has a standalone adventure without all the burden of the MCU's history and cast of characters.

That weight is hard to ignore when watching First Steps, with the urgency of the moment bleeding through for better and for worse. Though it succeeds in giving viewers a retro futuristic superhero tale unlike anything they’ve seen before,

No, silly, superhero movies aren’t dead. The second comic-book movie in the last two weeks, Disney/ Marvel Studios ‘ The Fantastic Four: First Steps is conquering around $23M in previews tonight that began at 2PM. Domestic outlook was $100M-$110M, but the Matt Shakman directed movie is bound to shoot higher.

First Steps is off to a strong start at the North American box office, with an estimated $23 million Thursday that means the latest Marvel Studios movie is pacing ahead of Superman.

I t might be off-putting to mention Stan Lee when The Fantastic Four: First Steps wears its affections for Jack Kirby on its knit sleeves. But Lee used to say that Marvel's stories reflected the world outside our window.

First Steps is overall a one-time watch movie from Marvel and does not really stand tall on all the expectations fans had from this project. However, the cast has put out a phenomenal performance and to witness that alone,

Marvel Studios and director Matt Shakman paid tribute to three legends at the end of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

After critics gave their take, with the movie clocking an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, audience scores have been rolling in for Fantastic Four, and it’s managed to snag one of the top audience scores in MCU history. That’s even more impressive, given that we seem to be past the “peak” of superhero movies, which climaxed in the Endgame era.