Superhero movies appear to be back. After Superman opened to a storming box office a couple of weeks back, Fantastic Four: First Steps, by a whisker, has done even better. But damn, it was close.

First Steps is coming in lighter than projections in its first box office weekend with $117.6 million. Still records were broken.

For the past two weeks now, I’ve gone to the movies. That’s probably the first time in a half decade or so that I’ve actually chosen to buy tickets, make the drive out to the Lawrence multiplex, and watch two films on two successive Sundays.

Summer's two biggest superhero films pick up long after their central figures have already taken up their respective mantles. They (and the genre) are better for it.

That might sound like no big deal, but after 2023’s “The Marvels,” this spring’s fourth “Captain America” movie and “Thunderbolts*” all underperformed by Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) standards, the new “Fantastic Four” may offer broader audience appeal by not pulling from other franchises.

This success is no small feat, as previous iterations of the Fantastic Four never caught fire with fans or critics. The 2005 and 2007 Fox films were financially adequate but critically derided, and the 2015 reboot was widely panned,

First Steps" sees a new incarnation of Marvel's First Family making their big debut, and the MCU's final movie of 2025 seems to be another strong outing (after "Thunderbolts"). "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" takes us back in time to a retro-futuristic world,