The Fantastic Four first caught the world’s imagination in 1961. They were the premiere characters of what we now call the Silver Age of comics, when creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby ushered us in to a new world of deeper storytelling and more fully-realized characters, as well as more intricate and engaging plotlines that not only carried on for multiple issues but often involved interactions with characters from other series.

In the 1960s and ’70s, fans were all too aware that the technology did not exist to produce a credible live-action depiction of the Fantastic Four: the stretchy, Plastic Man-inspired Mr. Fantastic; the hot-headed kid brother, the Human Torch; the walking rockpile known as the Thing; and the Invisible Girl. Over the last 30 years there have been four theatrical features, from a Roger Corman production that was so bad it never was released to the 2015 Josh Trank box office bomb that was so dismal it never should have been released. In between, there were two additional features directed by Tim Story that weren’t particularly bad or good but just seemed to be aimed at a juvenile audience.

Directed by Matt Shakman, the new “Fantastic Four: First Steps” was well worth waiting for. It’s set in a retro-1960s version of America, similar to the revised Tomorrowland at Disneyland, complete with ingeniously designed gadgets and flying vehicles that look like vintage Chevys and Edsels. It’s as different from other films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as, say, the Afro-centric “Black Panther” is from the crime caper setting of the “Ant Man” series.

Like the best of the 36 MCU films before it, “First Steps” features an intelligent screenplay, based on the “Galactus Trilogy” of 1966, a milestone in the series that proved that comic book writing could approach the high-end, philosophically driven science fiction of Robert Heinlein or Isaac Asimov.

The film is two hours of amazing visuals, driven by a script that holds your attention and makes sense of it all. As with the new “Superman,” the writers have wisely chosen not to begin with an origin story; rather, the tale takes flight in media res with the characters already powered-up as fully-fledged superheroes. 

“First Steps” also features the high-end acting that we’ve come to expect, starting with Pedro Pascal. Joseph Quinn is a scruffy and relatable Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays the Thing, who for once isn’t tortured by his thing-ness and is surprisingly comfortable in his rocky exterior.

Part of the retrofitting of 21st century attitudes toward the 1960s characters and setting is giving much more aggression to Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) than we saw decades ago. Kirby and Lee were progressive for their time in giving us female characters such as Jean Grey in the X-Men, but their powers were mostly mental, meaning they didn’t have to do anything as unladylike as actually fight hand to hand with a bad guy.  

In the more recent incarnations, the Invisible Girl and Marvel Girl are now the most powerful players on their respective teams. Sue is a lot more of a factor in the battle against Galactus and the Silver Surfer than she was 60 years ago.

Screenwriters Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer have also changed the Surfer’s gender to female — something we of the longtime faithful can live with — and Julia Garner remains just about the coolest visual of all, flying through space on a surfboard. 

One aspect that might have been handled differently is the score. We have a magnificent, semi-classical suite of background music by Michael Giacchino, and while that’s nothing to complain about, it would have been more consistent with the period visuals to have a jazz-centric score, in the manner of Quincy Jones, Henry Mancini, or Neal Hefti.

While many commentators have complained about “superhero fatigue” — this critic is actually a lot more fatigued by overly violent and gory action movies and the overwhelming abundance of horror films — the genre has been surprisingly and significantly revived with the new “Superman” and now “Fantastic Four: First Steps.” At the end, a mid-credit title card informs us the group will next appear in “The Avengers: Doomsday” next year. After waiting 60 years to actually get a good Fantastic Four movie, it now seems like a long time to wait till 2026.