Hiya!

Should we call this month a super or a fantastic time to be a superhero movie fan? It’s been a while since geeks and, in all honesty, the regular moviegoing crowd has been excited for a superhero movie, let alone 2 of them! In short succession, we got Superman (2025) a soft reboot of DC‘s live-action movie universe and Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel‘s latest attempt to try to win back fans to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Against all odds, both superhero movies are doing extremely well critically and commercially. I can’t be happier to say that because no one likes bad movies and having 2 great superhero movies is only good for geeks like us.

Having 2 great superhero movies coming out at virtually the same time does spark a lot of hot takes regarding which is better, though. It can be tough to kind of think for yourself and cut through the noise of people bombarding you with their opinions. So, I’d like to cut through all of that and do a more strategic approach to which is better: Superman (2025) or Fantastic Four: First Steps? I’m going to break the movies down to their 5 base components (or something akin to that) and judge each film on those categories. In the end, I should come to a conclusion. Here goes nothing!

Category #1: Heroes and Protagonists

This category is all about which movie has the better main characters, not how many they have. So, obviously, Fantastic Four: First Steps has 4 protagonists: Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch and the Thing. You would think Superman (2025) only has its titular hero in this category but I would say you’re incorrect as I’m including Lois Lane here. I kind of have to as she doesn’t just sit on the sidelines.

Now, both the Fantastic Four and Superman and Lois Lane are all great characters in their own right, I have to go with DC and Superman (2025) here. While I do love the family dynamic between Marvel’s First Family, I was just more drawn to Superman and Lois Lane’s more dynamic relationship, with Lois Lane being more cynical to Superman’s more naive way of looking at the world. This difference in viewpoints makes their relationship feel a little more earned and how they still have a relationship despite how different they are inside.

Winner: Superman (2025)

Score: DC: 1 vs Marvel: 0

Category #2: Villains and Antagonists

This category judges the quality of the villains the heroes have to face. In Marvel’s corner, you have the Silver Surfer and Galactus, a couple of overpowered cosmic beings and a duo the Fantastic Four should have no way of defeating in theory. In DC’s corner, we actually have a plethora of villains. There’s Lex Luthor, the Engineer and Ultraman. While difficult, it’s entirely possible for Superman to beat them eventually.

If I were solely picking the winner here based on power levels, I would give the win to Marvel easily. However, we are talking about movies here so the villains have to also have a level of charisma. This is where Superman (2025) mops the floor with Fantastic Four: First Steps. That’s all because of one person: Lex Luthor.

Although he’s just a regular human, Lex Luthor can still feel untouchable in Superman (2025). He manages to hide his more despicable side underneath the facade of niceness he shows the general public. He might not have the power to destroy a planet (yet) but he’s much more diabolical than the Silver Surfer and Galactus combined. So, DC gets the early lead with 2 points all thanks to this bald-headed evil businessman.

Winner: Superman (2025)

Score: DC: 2 vs Marvel: 0

Category #3: Plot and Story

This category takes a look at each film’s story and how satisfying they are as a whole. Fantastic Four: First Steps is a fairly simplistic story if you think about it. Giant cosmic being threatens to destroy the world. Heroes try to stop the giant cosmic being. Sure, there are other plot points, like how humanity can accomplish anything if we all work together. Big battle ensues. Heroes beat the giant cosmic being against all odds. Roll the credits!

Superman (2025) has some good underlying messages, like how you control your own destiny, not your parents, and being good may seem rather alien in today’s times but it’s still the way to go. Unfortunately, the plot is messy and convoluted. There’s just a lot of stuff going on in Superman (2025) and, while I do appreciate the complexity at times, I just think they overdid it. With that being said, I have to give the win to Marvel here because, in this case, simple is better.

Winner: Fantastic Four: First Steps

Score: DC: 2 vs Marvel: 1

Category #4: Aesthetics and design and tone

This category focuses on the overall look and feel of each movie. It encapsulates a lot of components. From set designs, costumes, scale and the special effects and how they all work to give each film a unified voice. Both movies do have really good ideas on how they should look, with Superman (2025) going for a more colorful and brighter tone, making it feel more hopeful, which is what a movie featuring the Man of Steel should be. The film also has some intentionally goofy design choices, like the kaiju Superman has to fight and things like Guy Gardner‘s bowl haircut. This does give Superman (2025) a rather lighthearted tone.

With all that being said, the clear winner here has to be Fantastic Four: First Steps. Although there are times when it deviates from how comic accurate it looks, as Mister Fantastic has a mustache here and they made Silver Surfer a girl, the retro-futuristic look of the world more than makes up for that. Seeing how everything is different from what we’re used to today makes you buy in this is a totally different world so these changes are okay. It just makes the world here much more interesting and this is precisely why Marvel gets the point for this category.

Winner: Fantastic Four: First Steps

Score: DC: 2 vs Marvel: 2

Category #5: Side and Secondary Characters

With the scores tied, it all comes down to this final category. This category takes into account the secondary characters each film has and how they work to add more flavor to their respective films. For Superman (2025), we’ve got a lot here. There are, of course, the rather lame ones like Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Steve Lombard and Cat Grant. They’re there in the movie but they really don’t do much. Then again, Superman (2025) have some heavy hitter side characters, like Krypto, Guy Gardner and, of course, Mister Terrific. I guess Hawkgirl is there as well but I honestly forgot she was here. Maybe I should have added her to the lame side characters section.

In Fantastic Four: First Steps, it’s slim pickings. The only one who sticks out in my mind is HERBIE, the Fantastic Four’s robot assistant. I guess we can also count Franklin Richards here. After that, there’s… hmmmm. Oh, there’s Mole Man who shows up in a couple of scenes! There’s also the Fantastic Four’s assistant/secretary whatshername and the schoolteacher The Thing has a thing for. The mere face I had to break my brain to come up with those last couple of entries simply proves Fantastic Four: First Steps doesn’t really have a notable secondary list of characters. So, Superman (2025) wins this category easily.

Winner: Superman (2025)

Score: DC: 3 (WINNER) vs Marvel: 2

In the end, Superman (2025) just edges out Fantastic Four: First Steps. I will say, however, I was being kind of biased as I was looking forward to Superman (2025) more than Fantastic Four: First Steps. That skewed my scoring a bit here. That’s not to say I didn’t like Fantastic Four: First Steps as I thought it was a genuinely good movie and it actually exceeded my expectations. At the end of the day, however, I was highly anticipating Superman (2025) and that also went far and beyond what I wanted. So, if you can, go watch both. While this does have Superman (2025) winning over Fantastic Four: First Steps, you’ll probably feel like a winner if you see any of them as they’re both great superhero movies.

Byee!

Which do you think is a better movie: Superman (2025) or Fantastic Four: First Steps? Let me know in the comments section below!