' THE FANTASTIC FOUR : FIRST STEPS ' : FILM REVIEW

MARVEL'S The Fantastic Four : First Steps is - brace yourself for the pun that writes itself - fantastic.

Dodging the obligatory trudge through yet another origin story [ the space mission, cosmic rays and, boom, superpowers], First Steps blasts off with the confidence of a franchise that trusts its audience.

It's the second time in a month that this happened, knock on wood.

Much like James Gunn's Superman, it doesn't waste time on what we already know; instead lacing in just enough winks and nods to keep the comic book loyalists happy.

The titular Four - Reed Richards and wife Sue, best pal Ben Grimm and hot-headed brother-in-law Johnny Storm [ played with remarkable cohesion by Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn] are already seasoned supers on Earth 828, a peculiar alternate reality planet stuck in a love affair with a retrofuturist 1960s aesthetic.

No Avengers, no Spider-Man, no noisy hero clutter. This particular Earth has one super family, holding down the fort with low-key optimism.

Marvel's '' First Family '' [ they're called that in the comic ] slots neatly into the vibe of this winsome,  off-beat world, where universe threatening villains haven't snapped the cosmos into chaos.

Even their big adversary, the once-menacing Mole Man [ Paul Walter Hauser ] has turned in his villain card, though the suspicious absence of Latveria's most famous dictator at UN meeting suggests that Doctor Doom's RSVP is still pending.

For once, all is quiet on the multiversal front.

That is, until the sky opens up like the world's most dramatic light show, and enters Shalla-Bal - the silver-skinned [ and haired ], surf-board riding herald of doom [ voiced with a tinge of detached melancholy by Julia Garner ].

This female iteration of the Silver Surfer glides in to deliver a chillingly cheery message of rejoicing to the people of Earth 828.

Galactus  [ voiced by Ralph Ineson ], she says is coming to dinner, and Earth is the main course.

While the world has confidence in the Fantastic Four, Reed and his family know that they are  outmatched by a factor of a million.

To ratchet up the stakes, they learn that Sue is with child, so their desperation to save Earth also hits a factor of a million.

The World Students Society thanks Mohammad Kamran Jawaid.