The timing of the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, only two weekends after James Gunn’s Superman opened in theaters to warm critical acclaim and, by 2025 standards, boffo box office, will probably work out in the former’s favor. This third attempt to reboot the 1960s comic-book franchise seems likely to draft off the energy, and the renewed interest in superheroic exploits, generated by DC’s fresh take on its most storied cape-wearer. Unlike the wan pair of Fantastic Four films made in 2005 and 2007 (starring a pre–Captain America Chris Evans as the incendiary Johnny Storm), or the truly dire 2015 reboot that stranded a lost-looking Michael B. Jordan on the appropriately named Planet Zero, this latest iteration of the super-quartet might actually stick around long

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