In no time at all, the Fantastic Four will finally join the Marvel Cinematic Universe with their own film, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” Naturally, Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) will join the rest of her family in establishing the super team’s importance to the Marvel world at large. If you don’t know anything about Sue but want a refresher course on what makes her so special, watch our video above — it’ll teach you everything you ever might need to know about the Invisible Woman before the movie arrives. 

“First Steps” definitely has something to prove both as a Marvel Studios film and as a part of the big screen “Fantastic Four” world, with analysts predicting an opening weekend in the $100-110 million range. “Fantastic Four” films have usually bombed at the box office, which is what the 2015 reboot of the franchise did outright. 20th Century Fox’s duology had slightly more success, lasting for two movies before being discontinued. 

So Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and his science-minded brethren have big boots to fill. But Sue’s always been a character born to break any barriers forged against her, even if turning invisible and erecting protective force fields between herself and the rest of the world are her biggest skills as a superheroine.

In “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” Sue Storm, her husband Reed Richards, her brother Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and friend Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) are world-famous superheroes on Earth 828 — in an alternate universe — years after being exposed to cosmic rays on a space mission that mutated all four of them. Sue also finds out that she’s pregnant, eventually giving birth to her and Reed’s son, Franklin Richards. But the fate of their child and their Earth hangs in the balance as the Devourer of Worlds, Galactus (Ralph Ineson), emerges from deep space to consume the planet.

While official reviews were still embargoed at press time, social reactions to the film so far have been almost uniformly positive. Film journalist Simon Thompson posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “First Steps” is “a really good time — and it looks amazing!” while critic Jeff Ewing called the film “a major winner” and The Direct co-founder Jack McBryan labeled it “the most visually stunning and tonally distinct MCU movie yet.”

Several early responses cited Vanessa Kirby’s performance as one of the movie’s strongest aspects, so if you’re dying to know more about how Sue Storm became the woman she is today, check out the video embedded at the top of this article for a fantastic and in-depth explainer. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” will hit theaters everywhere on July 25.