How Is The Fantastic Four: First Steps Different From the Comics?

Entropy is the one universal constant, and everything changes eventually. This is true even in the world of fiction, where the fine details change as a story is told and retold. Given that, it is not surprising that The Fantastic Four: First Steps made some changes from the comics that inspired it.

It should be noted that The Fantastic Four: First Steps is largely faithful to the source material. Indeed, no animated or cinematic adaptation before it captured the characters quite so well. However, there were still some notable changes made from the comics of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

What’s changed between Fantastic Four: First Steps and the comics?

What few changes were made in The Fantastic Four: First Steps largely involved the realities of adapting a medium like comics into a big-budget blockbuster. Some changes were meant to streamline the stories from the source material into a single narrative. Others were purely aesthetic choices that had no real relevance to the plot.

Silver Surfer is a woman named Shalla-Bal

Perhaps the most controversial change in The Fantastic Four: First Steps concerned the film’s version of Silver Surfer. Played by Julia Garner, the Herald of Galactus came to Earth to warn its people of their impending doom. She was later revealed as an alien scientist named Shalla-Bal, who offered herself to Galactus to save her world. In the comics, the Silver Surfer was originally an alien man named Norrin Radd and Shalla-Bal was his lover.

Johnny Storm convinces Silver Surfer to help Earth

When Johnny Storm first sees the Silver Surfer, he gets hot under the collar. His efforts to learn her alien language ultimately allow him to translate a series of messages he determines are from her homeworld. This, in turn, leads her to help the Fantastic Four in fighting Galactus.

In the first Galactus storyline, it was Alicia Masters who convinced the Silver Surfer to save the Earth. She did this simply by reintroducing him to the forgotten concept of beauty and showing the value of humanity. The movie went with a less hokey option, with Human Torch reminding the Silver Surfer of her home and the pain that awaited Earth if she did nothing.

The fight against Galactus

In Fantastic Four #50, the team ultimately drove Galactus away with the threat of a weapon called the Ultimate Nullifier. The Watcher, though sworn not to interfere in the affairs of the cosmos, helped guide Human Torch to the weapon. Things play out differently in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Apart from there being no Watcher, the team executes an entirely different plan that involves teleporting Galactus far away from Earth.

Franklin Richards wasn’t part of the first Galactus fight

Galactus ultimately comes to Earth in search of Franklin Richards. The Devourer of Worlds believes the infant is a cosmic conduit who can take his place and end his long and loathsome existence. While this idea has been played with in various comics, Franklin Richards’ first appearance came two years after the first battle with Galactus.

The Thing and Mister Fantastic have facial hair

One of the more noticeable changes from the trailer was The Thing sporting a beard. For obvious reasons, The Thing is known not to have any body hair. However, the movie version of Ben Grimm uses a device like a rock grinder to prevent a rocky growth from covering his face. He later grows a beard as the world is conserving energy for the fight against Galactus.

Ben Grimm only ever had a beard in the comics once. This came in 2012’s Fantastic Four #605, in an alternate future where he acquired the power to become human for one week every year. He grew out his beard during this time, and it changed along with him.

Generally, Reed Richards is depicted as clean-shaven in the comics. However, he did sport a full beard for a few years in the 2010s. He was also sometimes depicted with a thin beard when overworking himself. Conversely, actor Pedro Pascal is famed for his trademark mustache.

Pascal has refused to shave completely since playing Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984. As Pascal told THR, “I was so appalled by the way that I looked that I never have gone back unless it were completely necessary.” This is why he sports a mustache or a thin beard throughout The Fantastic Four: First Steps.