At the dawn of what would later become the Marvel Cinematic Universe, marquee characters like Spider-Man and The X-Men still had their movie rights held up by Sony and Fox respectively. It led to a media empire centered around Iron Man, a hero who was never as much of an icon as Robert Downey Jr. would personally make him. Fans struggled with the frustration of Marvel building a world where some of its most beloved figures were siloed off to other corporations’ universes, unable to interact with the characters they regularly crossed paths with on the page.

But where Sony had Sam Raimi’s first “Spider-Man” film and Fox had Bryan Singer’s first “X-Men” film, fans never got to experience a Fantastic Four film that scratched the same itch. Fox’s first two efforts, to say nothing of the considerably worse third attempt, had merits, but never quite stuck the landing. (The less said about the never-released 1994 version the better.)

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” (clunky title aside) changes that. It captures the vibe and feeling of the comics in a very specifically MCU way, by being equally worthwhile to the diehard fans who will mentally catalogue every change from print canon and the people who only vaguely know the property from clips of Chris Evans bursting into flames or faded memories of old cartoon adaptations. 

The film is not exactly exemplary or paradigm shifting, but it is entertaining, heartfelt, earnest, and largely unashamed of its comic book origins. Did Kevin Feige predetermine James Gunn’s “Superman” playbook?

While cape haters have been prognosticating the end of the superhero movie genre, we now have a summer where the first DC hero, Superman, and the first Marvel heroes, the Fantastic Four, have collectively beat back the backlash with remarkably similar attempts at tinkering with the tired formulas. James Gunn’s “Superman” has been no stranger to griping and nitpicking about some of his creative decisions related to the new DCU’s deeper lore, but the film’s overall tone and pitch-perfect characterization overpower those criticisms. “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” features a lot of overlap with that project.

With the stylistic shorthand of “Kirby meets Kubrick” as his guide post, “Wandavision” director Matt Shakman and his cinematographer Jess Hall shot much of the film in a 1.85 aspect ratio so it can be presented in 1.90 for IMAX, as Gunn and DP Henry Braham did for Big Blue. The result is a set of big and bold images that feel more like comic panels than many of these releases have for the last several years. The action here is not quite as experimental or singular, but it is thrilling and smartly staged. (The audio matches the visuals as well, with an amazing score from Michael Giacchino.)

Even though the Fantastic Four exist within the larger MCU multiverse, they reside on Earth 828 (named after Jack Kirby’s birthday) in a 1960s inspired retro-futurist alternate history that feels fleshed out, lived in, and confidently presented. Computers have analog, tape-deck-aesthetics and space ships feel like early NASA rockets if they had flown off the covers of paperback sci-fi novels. It has the same in-media res energy that Gunn brought to “Superman,” although it doesn’t eschew the origin as he did. Instead, the team’s beginnings — how Reed (Pedro Pascal), Sue (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny (Joseph Quinn), and Ben (Ebon Moss-Bacharach) transform from astronauts to superpowered adventurers — are sped through, utilizing an in-universe television documentary for expedience. At a flat two hours (1:45 minus credits and post-credits), the film is svelte and sharply paced, despite the distinct sense that a ton has been shaved off through test screenings. Just. Like. “Superman.”

The narrative bones of the story — the heroes being a few years into their career, undefeated and beloved by the world until a new force tests their limits and the court of public opinion — also share some kinship with the Man of Steel. Only the opposing force for the Fantastic Four is the oncoming storm of Galactus, played by an actual person (Ralph Ineson) rather than a cloud of nanobots or whatever the hell he was supposed to be in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” The “first steps” of the title seem to reference his enormous purple boots setting foot on New York City soil just as much as the impending birth of Reed and Sue’s first child Franklin, a human MacGuffin the planet eating homunculus wants more than Earth itself. But it’s the core cast that proves the film’s biggest strength.

The same way David Corenswet is Superman for this new generation, the ensemble tasked with bringing the Fantastic Four to life embodies their respective roles so perfectly, possessing fantastic chemistry between each of the foursome. 

Pedro Pascal’s Reed is slightly more charming than his counterpart on the page, because no amount of performing acumen can fully mask the actor’s swagger. But he otherwise captures the most important parts of Reed — his brilliance that isolates him from the ones he loves, the guilt he feels at transforming them into freaks, and the dedication that overpowers it all. (Not to mention he got ripped for the movie.) Viewers of “The Bear” who suspected Ebon Moss-Bacharach might just turn Ben into a rock-covered Cousin Richie weren’t exactly wrong, but seeing it in action, as a part of the larger whole, that performance is exactly what the film needs. His Ben is warm, funny, and the glue that holds the family together. 

Joseph Quinn always seemed like the odd man out from the announced cast, but his performance as Johnny is a pleasant surprise. He doesn’t feel as effortless as Chris Evans did with the role, or as inspired as Michael B. Jordan, but there’s a vulnerability to his Johnny that is hard not to love. Yet it’s Vanessa Kirby who steals the show as Sue, distilling more of the texture, grit, and versatility of the Fantastic Four’s real powerhouse than one would think possible in a screen adaptation. 

Any two of the pairings all ring true as well. Reed and Ben’s friendship, Ben and Johnny’s playful rivalry, Reed and Sue’s relationship, Sue and Johnny as brother and sister; it all plays so well. Truly, if this film had a failing, it’s that the greatest character in the Fantastic Four mythos is off the board. Robert Downey Jr.’s casting as Doctor Doom means Reed’s true nemesis is a piece of Hail Mary stunt casting designed to leapfrog the villain into an event movie big bad rather than a core piece of the Fantastic Four ensemble. 

These characters will all tussle in “Avengers: Doomsday,” but seeing as how that has been filming for a month and doesn’t even have a finished script, it’s unlikely to be a film half as well made as this one. Savor “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” now before they’re folded into that star-studded mess, and pray they’ll get a good sequel after the alleged timeline reset post-“Avengers: Secret Wars.”

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” hits theaters on July 25.