First Steps is coming in lighter than projections in its first box office weekend with $117.6 million. Still records were broken.

Similar to how Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm went through a massive physical transformation after being subjected to cosmic rays during a space mission, Sue's giving birth to Franklin radically changed the mental and emotional structure of the core characters’ brains.

Through news headlines, mug shots, and reels, we see flashes of classic Fantastic Four comic book villains like Red Ghost (John Malkovich) and his team of Super-Apes (who once played a larger role in the film before being cut for time), Mad Thinker, and Puppet Master.

That might sound like no big deal, but after 2023’s “The Marvels,” this spring’s fourth “Captain America” movie and “Thunderbolts*” all underperformed by Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) standards, the new “Fantastic Four” may offer broader audience appeal by not pulling from other franchises.

The movie is the latest from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and marks the third “Fantastic Four” film adaptation since 2005.

First Steps” is the third Marvel movie to hit theaters this year, but it packs way more hidden references and nods than “Captain America: Brave New World” or “Thunderbolts.” It’s not on the same level of Easter eggs as last year’s “Deadpool and Wolverine,

This week on “See It or Skip It,” Tomatometer Approved film critic Patrick Beatty is joined by UFCA critics Rebecca Frost, Kent Dunn, and special guest Cedric Haynes, as they dive into a fantastic mix of movies on the big and small screen.

In their MCU debut, the Fantastic Four become a Fantastic Five with the arrival of Reed and Sue's son, Franklin Richards. Worries that he might not be "normal" are confirmed in Fantastic Four: First Steps when Galactus recognises that the boy can wield an unlimited energy known as the Power Cosmic (presumably because of the "cosmically compromised DNA" shared by both of his parents).