Snowflakes and A Small Truth
Sponsored
Catholic365 is sponsored by
Road to Purity
Fantastic Four: First Steps is the latest MCU installment. This makes it Marvel’s...what are they on...167th movie at this point? Maybe not quite that many, but you get the picture. I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the reality of superhero fatigue. I had no prior knowledge of the Fantastic Four going into this movie other than a vague knowledge of the three early 2000s Fantastic Four movies preceding this one, all of which had varying degrees of negative reviews. The charming 1960s world of Earth 828 drew me in immediately promising a superhero story that could stand on it’s own without getting tangled up in the messy story lines and excessive cameos that make up of the rest of the MCU.
I was pleasantly surprised with not only an enjoyable superhero movie but one that had, at it’s core, a theme focused on the importance of family. One of the movie’s opening scenes shows Sue examining a positive pregnancy test before excitedly sharing it with her husband, Reid. This news is also met with joy by the rest of the Fanstastic Four: Reid’s best friend Ben and Sue’s brother Johnny. Immediately, the stage is set. We see a family excited to welcome a new life to their home and how they are ready to protect and preserve the earth out of love for this new child. It’s a refreshing divergance from typical superheroes who come from broken families or are orphans.
During Sue's pregnancy, we are shown her and Reid preparing in their own, sometimes anxious ways. Reid’s way of coping with becoming a new father is to frantically run tests on Sue and the baby before she gives birth to try and prepare for complications. To calm his anxieties, Sue uses her powers to show Reid the baby inside her, sort of like a super, high-definition ultrasound. I couldn’t help but smile along with the superhero parents as they said hi to their baby. What an unusual, heartwarming, and, dare I say, pro-life outlook on a baby in the womb.
Along with doing a great job of developing each of the Fantastic Four as their own characters with their own struggles the movie presents a formidable villain, Galactus. A core piece of conflict comes at the movie’s midway point when the heroes confront Galactus. He promises to spare the earth if they will hand over Sue’s son. The people of Earth learn about this deal and are immediately divided. Many conclude that giving up the life of one to save the lives of many is the best choice. Even Reid is tempted by this idea before quickly rejecting it to find another way. Eventually Sue confronts the angry crowds with her new son, Franklin, and expresses the importance of family: “It’s about fighting for something bigger than yourself. It’s about connecting to something bigger than yourself.” What that “something” is is a bit unclear, but even so, the importance of family is present.
God’s design for the family, for a loving mother and father to bring forth children to love, protect, and nurture, is on display here. Most superhero movies are about people from broken families: Peter Parker living with his aunt, Superman as an orphan, Batman as an orphan, Iron Man with dead parents. Lots and lots of superheroes with deceased parents and barely any married with children of their own. The closest thing we’ve gotten to a complete and loving family in the MCU is Hawkeye and his wife and kids, though none of them had a huge role to play in the movies.
While Fantastic Four: First Steps isn’t a perfect film (sometimes the CGI baby was hard to take seriously) it was certainly a refreshing installment to Marvel’s litany of films. Centering the story on a loving family was heartwarming and a “bold” approach in today’s society filled with found-families, unconventional families, and kids with two dads or two moms. It looks back at our roots, the groundwork for any flourishing society: the nuclear family. In a world that often pushes family aside because it gets in the way of living a purely selfish life, the importance of showing a healthy family in mainstream media cannot be understated.
Whether this was all by design or merely a “fluke” of a good screenplay, Fantastic Four was certainly a step in the right direction.
With a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Mary, Sara is always looking for ways to utilize her passion for writing. She enjoys blending her love of films and pop culture with her Catholic faith and explores how to view such topics through a uniquely Catholic lens.
Happy reading! *Jesus, I trust in you*
