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Fantastic Four
Movie

Fantastic Four

2015 • Unknown

Woke Score
3
out of 10

Plot

Four young outsiders teleport to a dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

Overall Series Review

The 2015 iteration of Fantastic Four reboots the origin story with a hard science-fiction and body horror tone, focusing on four young scientists who gain powers from a transdimensional experiment. The film is largely a grounded, character-driven setup that collapses into a rushed, poorly-developed finale against an incoherent villain. The controversy surrounding the movie centered primarily on casting choices and a cynical depiction of institutions. The overall plot does not dedicate itself to ideological lecturing; rather, the detected themes are present through casting and the narrative's framing of authority.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics7/10

The film features a significant race-swap for the character Johnny Storm, who is historically white, with the actor and director publicly justifying the change as an effort to bring the team in line with 'real-world demographics.' To account for this, his sister, Sue Storm, is retconned into an adopted, white, Eastern European refugee, relying on mutable and immutable characteristics to reframe the core family unit.

Oikophobia4/10

The US government, represented by the Baxter Institute's military overseers, immediately exploits the heroes after their transformation, attempting to contain and weaponize The Thing for black ops missions. The lead protagonist, Reed Richards, escapes and spends a year on the run from his own government. Institutions are framed as inherently untrustworthy, bureaucratic, and interested only in weaponization, though the film's primary focus remains on the personal tragedy and the villain's megalomania.

Feminism2/10

Sue Storm is introduced as a highly capable and intelligent scientist at the Baxter Institute, but the narrative does not center around a 'Girl Boss' trope. Her character arc is underdeveloped and often overshadowed by the male leads. She is an equal member of the scientific team without any explicit messaging of male emasculation or anti-natalism being a driving force of the plot. The focus is on the burden of their powers, not a gender dynamic lecture.

LGBTQ+1/10

The movie contains no overt LGBTQ+ characters or storylines. The narrative maintains a traditional structure of male-female pairings and focuses on the dynamic between the four main characters as a scientific, adopted 'family' unit without exploring or deconstructing alternative sexualities or gender ideology.

Anti-Theism1/10

The film’s central conflict is rooted purely in science-fiction and the technology of transdimensional travel. The themes are strictly secular, focusing on scientific hubris and government control. There is no explicit commentary, positive or negative, regarding religion, faith, or a higher moral law, placing the narrative firmly in the realm of moral relativism by omission.