ampullae of Lorenzini

<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Christina Orlando</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/book-review-an-unlikely-coven-by-am-kvita/">https://reactormag.com/book-review-an-unlikely-coven-by-am-kvita/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=836604">https://reactormag.com/?p=836604</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-vertical"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/books/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Books 0"> Books </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/book-reviews/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag book reviews 1"> book reviews </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1"><i>An Unlikely Coven</i> by AM Kvita Is Full of Delightful Shenanigans</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">If you’re chasing a sense of belonging in what can feel like an ever-more-alienating real world, An Unlikely Coven is the book you need.</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/jenny-hamilton/" title="Posts by Jenny Hamilton" class="author url fn" rel="author">Jenny Hamilton</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 15, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="quick-access 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9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="407" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-An-Unlikely-Coven-740x407.png" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Cover of An Unlikely Coven by AM Kvita." srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-An-Unlikely-Coven-740x407.png 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-An-Unlikely-Coven-1100x605.png 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-An-Unlikely-Coven-768x422.png 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/review-An-Unlikely-Coven.png 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>Joan Greenwood is not excited to come back to New York. Scratch that: She’s excited about the <em>New York</em> part, and the <em>reuniting with her vampire bestie</em> part, and the <em>finished her architecture degree </em>part, but not so much about returning to the bosom of her family. The Greenwoods are the most powerful magical family in New York, counting among their number the Head and High Witch of New York and Manhattan (Joan’s aunt), and the Head Witch’s eagerly cutthroat planned successor (Joan’s father). And then there’s Joan, the only talentless Greenwood witch in living memory, a perpetual disappointment to her family.</p> <p>Still, home she goes, arriving to rumors that someone’s managed to cast a spell transforming a regular human into a powerful witch—rumors that, if true, have the potential to destroy the power Joan’s family have amassed in New York, not to mention the delicate ecosystem of mutual tolerance between the witches and New York’s other magical communities. Joan’s happy this is none of her business, except that the next phone call she gets is from her vampire bestie, CZ, anxiously confessing that the rumors are true, and the new witch is real, and in fact CZ has rescued them from the Night Market and is sheltering them at his apartment in Hell’s Kitchen. He needs help keeping the new witch, named Mik, safe from the magical communities that are now ravenous to find them. This is not a problem Joan is well-equipped to solve, given that she can’t do a single spell without it going completely haywire.</p> <p>As that description probably conveys, <em>An Unlikely Coven</em> is what I call hi-jinks literature: the type of book that scatters complications like jacks, only to amaze and astonish you by scooping them all back up in a great big finish at the end. A debut novelist has to be wildly ambitious to take on a cast as big as this book has—we’ve got Joan, her family, her bestie, the new witch, the witches that show up from California to cause problems, the vampire leaders, and the consultant brought on to solve the making-new-witches problem—and Kvita manages it handily.</p> <section class="wp-block-shop-the-book shop-the-book"> <h2 class="shop-the-book-headline">Buy the Book</h2> <div class="shop-the-book-content"> <figure class="shop-the-book-image-desktop image-cover"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="291" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/An-Unlikely-Coven.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="Cover of An Unlikely Coven by AM Kvita." /> </figure> <div class="grow shrink basis-0"> <div class="flex items-center"> <figure class="shop-the-book-image-mobile image-cover"> <!-- <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="291" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/An-Unlikely-Coven.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="An Unlikely Coven" /> --> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="291" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/An-Unlikely-Coven.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="Cover of An Unlikely Coven by AM Kvita." role="presentation" /> </figure> <div class="grow shrink basis-0"> <h3 class="shop-the-book-title text-h3">An Unlikely Coven</h3> <p class="shop-the-book-author">AM Kvita</p> </div> </div> <button type="button" class="inline-block px-8 py-4 text-center btn tablet:py-3 text-h6 bg-red text-white shop-the-book-button" id="buy_book" data-trigger="modal" data-target="#modal-1768505016" aria-open="false" aria-label="Buy Book"> <span class="inline-flex items-center button-label btn-label"> Buy Book </span> </button> </div> </div> <div id="modal-1768505016" class="shop-the-book-modal"> <div class="shop-the-book-modal-inner"> <button class="js-modal-close absolute top-5 right-5 z-10" type="button" aria-label="icon-close"> <svg class="w-[19px] h-[19px]" width="18" height="19" viewbox="0 0 18 19" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-label="close" role="img" aria-hidden="true"> <path d="M1 17L17 1" stroke="black" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" /> <path d="M1 17L17 1" stroke="black" stroke-opacity="0.2" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" /> <path d="M17 17.0809L1 1.08093" stroke="black" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" /> <path d="M17 17.0809L1 1.08093" stroke="black" stroke-opacity="0.2" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" /> </svg> </button> <div class="shop-the-book-modal-content"> <figure class="shop-the-book-modal-image-desktop image-cover"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="291" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/An-Unlikely-Coven.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="An Unlikely Coven" /> </figure> <div class="grow shrink basis-0"> <div class="flex items-center"> <figure class="shop-the-book-modal-image-mobile image-cover"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="291" height="450" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/An-Unlikely-Coven.jpg" class="attachment-full size-full" alt="An Unlikely Coven" /> </figure> <div class="grow shrink basis-0"> <h3 class="shop-the-book-modal-title">An Unlikely Coven</h3> <p class="shop-the-book-modal-author">AM Kvita</p> </div> </div> <p class="shop-the-book-modal-label">Buy this book from:</p> <ul class="not-prose ebook-links ebook-links-shortcode"><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0DVSR1MKT?tag=tordotcomgeneral-20" data-book-title="An Unlikely Coven" data-book-store="Amazon"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">Amazon</span></a></li><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="https://www.anrdoezrs.net/links/7992675/type/dlg/sid/tordotcomgeneral/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9780316586634" data-book-title="An Unlikely Coven" data-book-store="Barnes and Noble"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">Barnes and Noble</span></a></li><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/isbn9780316586641" data-book-title="An Unlikely Coven" data-book-store="iBooks"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">iBooks</span></a></li><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780316586634" data-book-title="An Unlikely Coven" data-book-store="IndieBound"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">IndieBound</span></a></li><li><a class="btn" target="_blank" href="https://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=9780316586634" data-book-title="An Unlikely Coven" data-book-store="Target"><span class="inline-flex items-center button-label text-h6 text-white font-aktiv">Target</span></a></li></ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> <p>Among the elements that go into making a book, plot can fly under the radar. We notice big twists and turns, but a well-functioning plot can act as the instrument of its own concealment. It’s like a hot water heater, not noticeable unless it stops working. (Ask me how I know.) So I want to take a moment to admire the quiet competence of Kvita’s plot work, where every cog in the machine does its job smoothly, leading us to a satisfyingly dramatic conclusion. The story of regular human Mik being transformed into a witch could have led to a straightforward MacGuffin hunt as our coven searched for a solution. Instead, we’re tossed into a sea of internecine conflicts, new ways of doing magic, and a possibly-sentient city—<em>and</em> the search for a cure for Mik.</p> <p>The other central pleasure of <em>An Unlikely Coven </em>is witnessing its ensemble cast come together as a team. Joan’s friendship with CZ is the relationship that begins and grounds the book, and the two of them have variously wary, curious, and adversarial relationships with the characters who will become a part of their eponymous coven by the end. The arc of creating that found family interweaves seamlessly with the shenanigans of the main plot, as the characters learn how their different strengths, powers, and interests can complement and impede each other.</p> <p>With a cast this big, it’s inevitable that some of the characters will fall by the wayside, and Kvita doesn’t kill themself trying to unload backstory and character development on every single cast member. Instead, they focus on building relationships and establishing group dynamics, leaving plenty of space for readers to learn more about individual characters in future books.</p> <p>Joan’s love interest, Astoria, is inseparable from her bestie Wren, who’s half-fae, while Astoria herself belongs to a ruling family determined to maintain witch supremacy over other magical beings, including the fae. Outsider Grace struggles to find the balance between her passion for creating new spells and her dislike of the ruling witch families. The elder generation of Joan’s family cares about her, but also clings tightly to their power as Greenwoods. These issues, raised but not resolved, leave Kvita with plenty of room to continue exploring the characters and the world, should they wish to make it an ongoing series. (In case it is unclear, I would like for that to happen. I love, love, love a long-running series with an ensemble cast.)</p> <p>I admit that I’m not mad keen on stories where the one character believes she’s a talentless failure, only to discover later in the book that she’s actually the most special and powerful magic-user of them all. Maybe now and then, as a treat, a character who’s grown up feeling worthless because of their lack of magic could locate a sense of self-worth in some other place than the exact system that has excluded and devalued them their whole lives.</p> <p>Not to say that Joan’s magic isn’t cool—it is—or that it wasn’t fun to see her learning from other witches how her specific brand of magical failures could be channeled into success. It’s common for debut authors to insist on their protagonist’s awesomeness without really doing the work to show it in action; but when Joan’s friends remind her that she’s worthy even without magic, they point to personal qualities that Kvita has been careful to demonstrate in Joan throughout the rest of the book.</p> <p>In a fantasy landscape dominated by romance-forward stories, it felt like a treat to read a story where romance just isn’t the point—but relationships still are. There’s a warm heart at the center of <em>An Unlikely Coven, </em>and every single hi-jink will ultimately lead us back there. In the book’s first scene, Joan arrives at Grand Central to find that every member of her family forgot to come meet her there; a disappointment but not a surprise. By the end of the book, she’s no longer an afterthought, but has built herself—almost by accident—a community of support, a cadre of ride-or-dies. If you’re chasing a sense of belonging in what can feel like an ever-more-alienating real world, <em>An Unlikely Coven</em> is the book you need.[end-mark]</p> <div style="height:5px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <p class="has-sm-font-size"><em><a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/am-kvita/an-unlikely-coven/9780316586641/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">An Unlikely Coven</a></em> is published by Orbit.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/book-review-an-unlikely-coven-by-am-kvita/">&lt;i&gt;An Unlikely Coven&lt;/i&gt; by AM Kvita Is Full of Delightful Shenanigans</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/book-review-an-unlikely-coven-by-am-kvita/">https://reactormag.com/book-review-an-unlikely-coven-by-am-kvita/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=836604">https://reactormag.com/?p=836604</a></p>

<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/superhero-movie-rewatch-the-fantastic-four-first-steps/">https://reactormag.com/superhero-movie-rewatch-the-fantastic-four-first-steps/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=836632">https://reactormag.com/?p=836632</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/column/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Column 0"> Column </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/superhero-movie-rewatch/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Superhero Movie Rewatch 1"> Superhero Movie Rewatch </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">Fourth Time’s the Charm? — <i>The Fantastic Four: First Steps</i></h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">In which superheroes save the world, but can&#8217;t defeat terminal blandness&#8230;</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/keith-decandido/" title="Posts by Keith R.A. DeCandido" class="author url fn" rel="author">Keith R.A. DeCandido</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 15, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-vertical [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Marvel Studios</p> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/superhero-movie-rewatch-the-fantastic-four-first-steps/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 3.339a.917.917 0 0 1-.63.261H6.3Z" /> <path stroke="#000" d="M5.9 14.4v-.5H1.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3-1.3V1.8A1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.8.5h14.4a1.3 1.3 0 0 1 1.3 1.3v10.8a1.3 1.3 0 0 1-1.3 1.3h-5.698l-.146.147-3.324 3.333a.417.417 0 0 1-.282.12H6.3a.4.4 0 0 1-.4-.4v-2.7Z" /> </g> </svg> 1 </a> <details class="relative quick-access-details"> <summary class="quick-access-share flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 22 22" aria-label="share" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-share-new-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-share-new-quick-access-">Share New</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <circle cx="11" cy="11" r="11" fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" /> <circle cx="11" cy="11" r="10.5" stroke="#000" /> <path fill="#FFF" d="M5.993 13.464c.675 0 1.323-.266 1.806-.743l4.11 2.396a2.639 2.639 0 0 0 .368 2.451 2.583 2.583 0 0 0 2.227 1.043 2.59 2.59 0 0 0 2.09-1.3 2.64 2.64 0 0 0 .08-2.477 2.58 2.58 0 0 0-4.292-.54L8.344 11.94c.28-.616.31-1.319.086-1.958l3.952-2.303a2.564 2.564 0 0 0 4.263-.537 2.623 2.623 0 0 0-.078-2.46 2.573 2.573 0 0 0-2.075-1.293 2.566 2.566 0 0 0-2.213 1.033 2.622 2.622 0 0 0-.37 2.433L7.96 9.158a2.573 2.573 0 0 0-4.316.603 2.632 2.632 0 0 0 .172 2.501 2.58 2.58 0 0 0 2.178 1.202Z" /> <path fill="#000" d="M6.936 9.577c.322 0 .631.137.859.383.228.245.355.577.355.924 0 .347-.127.68-.355.925a1.172 1.172 0 0 1-.859.383c-.322 0-.63-.138-.858-.383a1.36 1.36 0 0 1-.356-.925c0-.347.129-.679.356-.924.228-.245.536-.383.858-.383Zm6.17-3.837c.323 0 .631.138.86.383.227.245.355.578.355.924 0 .347-.128.68-.356.925a1.172 1.172 0 0 1-.858.383c-.322 0-.631-.138-.859-.383a1.36 1.36 0 0 1-.355-.925c0-.346.128-.678.356-.924.227-.245.536-.383.858-.383Zm0 7.883c.323 0 .631.138.86.383.227.245.355.578.355.925 0 .346-.128.679-.356.924a1.171 1.171 0 0 1-.858.383c-.322 0-.631-.138-.859-.383a1.36 1.36 0 0 1-.355-.925c0-.346.128-.678.356-.923.227-.245.536-.383.858-.384Zm-6.17-.681c.499 0 .978-.21 1.334-.586l3.036 1.888a2.194 2.194 0 0 0 .272 1.93c.385.555 1.003.863 1.645.822.641-.04 1.221-.425 1.544-1.024a2.203 2.203 0 0 0 .059-1.952c-.286-.62-.841-1.044-1.48-1.13-.637-.085-1.272.18-1.69.705l-2.984-1.854c.207-.486.23-1.04.064-1.543l2.92-1.815c.415.522 1.046.784 1.68.7.633-.086 1.184-.507 1.468-1.123a2.188 2.188 0 0 0-.058-1.938c-.32-.595-.895-.977-1.532-1.018-.638-.041-1.251.264-1.635.813a2.179 2.179 0 0 0-.273 1.917L8.389 9.55c-.423-.534-1.07-.798-1.715-.702-.645.096-1.2.54-1.472 1.177a2.194 2.194 0 0 0 .126 1.97c.352.59.958.948 1.61.947Z" /> </g> </svg> Share </summary> <div class="quick-access-bubble"> <ul class="flex gap-6 text-black list-none"> <li class="flex"> <a class="flex items-center hover:text-red" href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Fourth Time’s the Charm? — &lt;i&gt;The Fantastic Four: First 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7.30371 1.75231C9.37038 2.64431 11.1704 3.85664 12.7037 5.38931C14.237 6.92264 15.4497 8.72264 16.3417 10.7893C17.2337 12.856 17.6794 15.0643 17.6787 17.4143H14.6787ZM8.67871 17.4143C8.67871 15.1976 7.89971 13.31 6.34171 11.7513C4.78371 10.1926 2.89605 9.41364 0.678713 9.41431V6.41431C2.21205 6.41431 3.64538 6.70197 4.97871 7.27731C6.31205 7.85264 7.47471 8.63597 8.46671 9.62731C9.45805 10.6186 10.2414 11.781 10.8167 13.1143C11.392 14.4476 11.6794 15.881 11.6787 17.4143H8.67871Z" fill="currentColor" fill-opacity="0.2" /> </g> <defs> <clippath id="clip0_1051_121783"> <rect width="17" height="17" fill="white" transform="translate(0.678711 0.414307)" /> </clippath> </defs> </svg> </a> </li> </ul> </div> </details> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-hero-media "> <figure class="w-full h-auto post-hero-image"> <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="423" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-galactus-740x423.jpg" class="w-full object-cover" alt="Galactus looms over the Statue of Liberty in The Fantastic Four: First Steps" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-galactus-740x423.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-galactus-1100x629.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-galactus-768x439.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-galactus.jpg 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> <div class="post-hero-caption post-hero-caption-horizontal [&amp;_a]:link"><p>Credit: Marvel Studios</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>From August 2017 – January 2020, Keith R.A. DeCandido took a weekly look at every live-action movie based on a superhero comic that had been made to date in the <a href="https://reactormag.com/columns/the-great-superhero-movie-rewatch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Superhero Movie Rewatch</a>. He’s periodically revisited the feature to look back at new releases, as well as a few he missed the first time through.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <p>The absorption of 20th Century Fox into the Disney Collective in 2019 meant that it was inevitable that both the X-Men and Fantastic Four—whose film rights were with Fox—would become part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That process started in <a href="https://reactormag.com/the-pursuit-of-happiness-doctor-strange-in-the-multiverse-of-madness/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness</em></a> by giving us an alternate Earth with Sir Patrick Stewart as Professor Charles Xavier and John Krasnicki as Reed Richards, then continued with the appearance of Kelsey Grammer as the Beast in an alternate dimension that Monica Rambeau travelled to at the end of <a href="https://reactormag.com/the-superhero-rewatch-the-marvels/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>The Marvels</em></a> and in the multiversal wackiness in <a href="https://reactormag.com/superhero-movie-rewatch-deadpool-and-wolverine/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Deadpool &amp; Wolverine</em></a>.</p> <p>However, the X-Men films were much better received than the FF films. While those three movies used established Fox actors Stewart, Grammer, and Hugh Jackman—and the teases for <em>Avengers: Doomsday</em> indicate that Stewart, Ian McKellen, and James Marsden, at the very least, will be reprising their X-roles in that film—the FF was always going to be restarted from scratch.</p> <p>Jon Watts, who directed the <a href="https://reactormag.com/whatevers-going-on-with-you-i-hope-you-figure-it-out-spider-man-homecoming/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first three</a> <a href="https://reactormag.com/the-calm-after-the-storm-spider-man-far-from-home/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tom Holland</a> <a href="https://reactormag.com/back-into-the-spider-verse-spider-man-no-way-home/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Spider-Man</a> films, was originally attached to direct, but he cited burnout following the exhausting COVID-19 protocols that had to be followed for the filming of <em>No Way Home</em>, and bowed out. He was replaced by Matt Shakman, who directed every episode of <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/wandavision/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>WandaVision</em></a>, and who has generally carved out an impressive career as a television director (including, notably, episodes of superhero series <em>Heroes Reborn </em>and <em>The Boys</em>). The original script was by Jeff Kaplan &amp; Ian Springer, partly off a story by Kat Wood, with first Josh Friedman and then Eric Pearson (who also worked on several of Marvel Studios’ early short films, as well as <a href="https://reactormag.com/ragnarok-and-ruin-thor-ragnarok/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Thor: Ragnarok</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://reactormag.com/superhero-movie-rewatch-black-widow/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Black Widow</em></a><em>, </em><a href="https://reactormag.com/superhero-rewatch-thunderbolts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Thunderbolts*</em></a>, and the TV series <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/agent-carter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Agent Carter</em></a>, along with uncredited rewrites on other MCU films) brought in to do rewrites. The film adapted the same comics story that was the basis of 2007’s <a href="https://reactormag.com/all-that-you-know-is-at-an-end-fantastic-four-rise-of-the-silver-surfer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Rise of the Silver Surfer</em></a>, to wit, the first Galactus story in <em>Fantastic Four</em> #48-50 (1966) by the FF’s creators Stan Lee &amp; Jack Kirby.</p> <p>The cast includes Pedro Pascal (last seen in this rewatch in <a href="https://reactormag.com/is-it-a-trash-can-or-is-it-art-wonder-woman-1984/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Wonder Woman 1984</em></a>) as Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Eben Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer (taking a cue from the alternate timeline of the <em>Earth X</em> series by Jim Krueger, Alex Ross, &amp; John Paul Leon, and having Shalla-Bal be the Zenn-Lavian who makes the sacrifice of becoming Galactus’ herald, rather than Norrin Radd), Ralph Ineson as Galactus, Paul Walter Hauser as the Mole Man, Sarah Niles as Lynne Nichols, who runs the FF’s Future Foundation, Mark Gatiss as the Ed Sullivan-esque TV host Ted Gilbert, Natasha Lyonne as a grammar-school teacher who serves as Grimm’s sorta-kinda-maybe love interest, and Matthew Wood as the voice of H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot. Also, the four stars of the never-officially-released <a href="https://reactormag.com/better-off-unreleased-captain-america-1990-and-fantastic-four-1994/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">1994 <em>FF</em> film</a>—Alex Hyde-White, Rebecca Staab, Jay Underwood, and Michael Bailey Smith—all make cameos, which is just sweet, and Robert Downey Jr. makes a brief appearance (with his face hidden) in a mid-credits scene as Victor von Doom. John Malkovich was cast as the Red Ghost, but his role wound up being rewritten and then cut from the film (though we do see brief footage of the FF fighting his Super Apes).</p> <p>Pascal, Kirby, Moss-Bachrach, Quinn, and Downey are all set to return in <em>Doomsday</em>.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots" /> <p><strong><em>The Fantastic Four: First Steps</em></strong><br>Written by Eric Pearson and Jeff Kaplan &amp; Ian Springer and Kat Wood and Josh Friedman<br>Produced by Kevin Feige<br>Directed by Matt Shakman<br>Original release date: July 25, 2025</p> <p><strong>“The unknown will become known, and we will protect you”</strong></p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="629" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-space-suits-1100x629.png" alt="Ben Grimm, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, and Johnny Storm wearing space suits in The Fantastic Four: First Steps" class="wp-image-836665" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-space-suits-1100x629.png 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-space-suits-740x423.png 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-space-suits-768x439.png 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-space-suits.png 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Marvel Studios</figcaption></figure> <p>It’s the 1960s on Earth-828, and <em>The Ted Gilbert Show </em>is doing a fourth-anniversary celebration of the fateful spaceflight taken by Dr. Reed Richards, his wife Sue Storm (who kept her maiden name, which would’ve been very provocative in our Earth&#8217;s 1960s…), her brother Johnny Storm, and their good friend Ben Grimm, which resulted in their DNA being altered by cosmic rays, turning them into the Fantastic Four. We see footage of them fighting various foes, including the Mole Man (as well as a monster that looks <em>just like</em> the one on the cover of <em>Fantastic Four </em>#1) and Red Ghost’s Super Apes, along with clips from the animated <em>Fantastic Four</em> TV series (with the animated version of Grimm uttering the catch phrase “It’s clobberin’ time!”) and from Richards’ educational program <em>Fantastic Science with Mister Fantastic</em>. We also learn of the Future Foundation, run by Sue, which has worked with the UN to apparently bring about world peace, er, somehow.</p> <p>After recording the episode, the foursome return home to the Baxter Building. H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot prepares Sunday dinner, with Grimm kibbitzing (and adding garlic). Richards and Sue are late for dinner, as the latter took a pregnancy test and it came up positive. They had been hoping for a baby for years, and indeed had given up actively trying, and now she’s expecting. Grimm figures it out before they can actually reveal the big news, and everyone is thrilled, with Johnny declaring that Sue will make a great mother and that Richards will be totally out of his depth, but also that Grimm and he himself will make fabulous uncles.</p> <p>There’s lots of speculation in the press about the upcoming baby, including whether or not it will have superpowers, though all of Richards’ scans indicate that the baby is normal. (Sue also turns her tummy invisible so they can see the gestating fetus at one point.) Richards tasks H.E.R.B.I.E. with aggressively baby-proofing the Baxter Building. He also works out the locations of several criminals at large, including the Wizard, the Puppet Master, and Diablo, enabling the police to capture them. Grimm jokes that he’s also baby-proofing the city.</p> <p>At one point, Grimm is wandering the neighborhood where he grew up. A civilian wants him to say the catchphrase “It’s clobberin’ time!” but Grimm insists he never says that, that’s just from the cartoon. He lifts a car at the request of some schoolkids, then flirts with their teacher for a bit.</p> <p>A woman covered in silver and riding what looks like a silver surfboard arrives from space, declaring herself the herald of Galactus, who is coming to devour the planet. She tells everyone to prepare for their destruction. She then flies off, with Johnny flying after her into the stratosphere, grabbing onto the surfboard just as his flame goes out from lack of oxygen. The Silver Surfer says something in her native language, and then flies off, leaving Johnny to fall into the atmosphere, reignite, and fly back.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="680" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Surfer-1100x680.jpg" alt="Shalla-bal (Julia Garner) in The Fantastic Four: First Steps" class="wp-image-836666" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Surfer-1100x680.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Surfer-740x457.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Surfer-768x475.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Surfer.jpg 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Marvel Studios</figcaption></figure> <p>Richards is able to track the Surfer’s energy signature, and realizes that there are planets missing from where she’s been, lending credence to her warning. They decide that they have to confront her, so they prep their original rocket, the <em>Excelsior</em>, for spaceflight. All four of them (including the very pregnant Sue), as well as H.E.R.B.I.E., take off, with Richards assuring the public that they will do everything in their power to save the Earth.</p> <p>Using the FTL drive in orbit, they track the Surfer’s energy to a world in another star system, arriving just in time to witness Galactus consuming it. Galactus then grants them an audience, though the Surfer tells them sadly that they shouldn’t have come. Johnny also asks her what it was she said to him, and she translates it: “Die with yours.” It’s a blessing, she says.</p> <p>Galactus explains that his hunger is all-consuming and must be sated. However, he will spare Earth if they give him the child that Sue is carrying. The FF refuse, and manage to escape by the skin of their teeth, though the Surfer chases after them even when going faster than light. They lose her in a neutron star, with the Surfer caught in the time-dilation, and the FF only able to escape by sacrificing the FTL drive. Sue has gone into premature labor thanks to Galactus, and gives birth to the baby on the <em>Excelsior</em>. They finally get home months later, and the people of Earth are rather devastated to learn that they didn’t defeat Galactus, and that Earth would’ve been spared if they had given up their son (whom they’ve named Franklin).</p> <p>Existential despair grips the world as people try to come to terms with what’s happening. Richards is beside himself because he can’t figure out how to save the Earth without sacrificing his child.</p> <p>The Baxter Building computers have picked up other transmissions in the same language that the Surfer was speaking, and now that they know what one phrase means, Johnny is able to create a translation matrix to try to decipher the other signals they’ve been getting.</p> <p>Sue decides to confront an angry crowd outside the Baxter Building, Franklin in her arms, to explain that she won’t sacrifice her child—but they will move heaven and Earth to save the planet any way they can. That not only mitigates some of the negative public opinion, but also gives Richards an idea. He’s been working on a teleporter, which thus far has succeeded in transporting an egg across a room, though it takes out New York’s power grid in the process. The FF uses the Future Foundation and the <em>Fantastic Science with Mister Fantastic</em> show to rally public support behind a worldwide effort to recreate the teleporter on a massive scale, so they can move the planet to another solar system. They also need to conserve power, implementing an energy curfew every night in order to hoard the power necessary to make this work.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="615" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Fantasticar-1100x615.jpg" alt="Johnny Storm, Sue Storm, Reed Richards, and Ben Grimm stand near the Fantasticar in The Fantastic Four: First Steps" class="wp-image-836652" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Fantasticar-1100x615.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Fantasticar-740x414.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Fantasticar-768x430.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Fantastic-Four-First-Steps-Fantasticar.jpg 1430w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Marvel Studios</figcaption></figure> <p>They’re all set to teleport the planet as Galactus is approaching, but then the Surfer shows up and destroys all the teleportation bridges—except the one in Times Square, and she’s only stopped from destroying that one by Johnny playing the recordings of the transmissions they’ve received, which include her giving the “Die with yours” blessing to worlds Galactus has destroyed, and also the people of Zenn-La thanking Shalla-Bal for her sacrifice. The Surfer reveals that she is indeed Shalla-Bal, and she convinced Galactus to spare her home planet of Zenn-La in exchange for becoming his herald. The Surfer departs the planet in anguish, leaving the Times Square teleportation bridge intact.</p> <p>Richards comes up with a new plan, and it’s one that everyone hates, but eventually agrees is necessary: use Franklin as bait to lure Galactus to the teleportation bridge in Times Square and send <em>him</em> to the far side of the galaxy. Grimm points out that Galactus is huge and will probably do a lot of damage to the city getting to Times Square, so they evacuate the residents of New York to the Mole Man’s subterranean city, which takes a certain amount of cajoling on Sue’s part.</p> <p>Galactus lands in New York Harbor and stomps his way north to Times Square (inexplicably passing by Lincoln Center, which is actually north of Times Square, but whatever). However, the switcheroo the FF attempts, replacing Franklin with an empty crib in the teleporter, doesn’t work, as Galactus senses that Franklin is in the Baxter Building. Calling them clever insects, Galactus goes to the Baxter Building and grabs Franklin. Sue manages to use her force fields to push Galactus back to Times Square, aided by Grimm taking out the buildings that Galactus is attempting to use for support. Richards is able to grab Franklin from Galactus’ grasp while Johnny activates the teleportation bridge. However, Sue has pushed herself beyond her limits getting him there and collapses to the pavement, dead, and Galactus starts to climb his way out of the teleportation matrix. Johnny is about to sacrifice himself to force Galactus back in, but then the Surfer appears out of nowhere and knocks him aside, and <em>she</em> pushes Galactus into the matrix, sending them both across the galaxy.</p> <p>The Earth is saved, as is Franklin, but Sue is not alive, despite Richards administering CPR and mouth-to-mouth. He sadly lays their infant son on her chest, and Franklin uses his nascent superpowers to revive her.</p> <p>The people of New York come back above-ground, and the world is saved. We cut ahead to the fifth anniversary of the FF, where their appearance on <em>Ted Gilbert</em> is interrupted by an alert, though they struggle with the baby’s car seat in the Fantasticar on their way to their next mission.</p> <p>Four years later, Sue is reading to Franklin. She finishes <em>The Very Hungry Caterpillar</em> and goes to get <em>A Fly Went By</em>—when she comes back, Victor von Doom is kneeling before Franklin…</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots" /> <p><strong>“I will not sacrifice my child for this world—but I will not sacrifice this world for my child”</strong></p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="629" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-franklin-1100x629.jpg" alt="Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) lay in bed with baby Franklin in The Fantastic Four: First Steps" class="wp-image-836662" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-franklin-1100x629.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-franklin-740x423.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-franklin-768x439.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/fantastic-four-first-steps-franklin.jpg 1400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Marvel Studios</figcaption></figure> <p>For years, I’ve been saying that any new <em>Fantastic Four</em> film really needed to just blow past the origin and just show the FF as an established bunch of superheroes, and I’m very grateful that Kevin Feige, Matt Shakman, and the team of writers agree with me. The movie is <em>much</em> stronger for it. The FF’s origin is, in a word, awful, and one that’s (like many of early Marvel’s origin stories) aggressively tied to the early 1960s (in this case, trying to beat the Commies to space).</p> <p>Having the movie take place in the 1960s makes that work a little bit better, but that’s only part of why the origin is dumb, and I’m just as happy to get it over with quickly and just have the FF be established from the start of the story.</p> <p>Putting it on an alternate Earth—specifically the one numbered 828, in honor of Jack Kirby’s birthday of August 28th—solves the “where have they been?” problem that would arise from trying to retcon them into the mainline MCU.</p> <p>The movie also has the <em>perfect</em> visual aesthetic. It’s right out of <em>The Venture Bros.</em>, and I mean that as a very high compliment. The retro-futuristic vibe of the set design is absolutely magnificent, plus they impressively nailed the fashions and hairstyles of the 1960s.</p> <p>Would that the writers had been operating on the same level. There are a number of problems with the script, starting with a fundamental misunderstanding of what this country was like six decades ago. For starters, Sue Storm kept her maiden name when she married Richards, and that would have been <em>massively</em> controversial at the time. Indeed, it’d be controversial now to an extent.</p> <p>But the biggie is this: the vast majority of mainstream America of the time would <em>never</em> have accepted the notion that parents should sacrifice their infant child for <em>any </em>reason. Sure, <em>some</em> people would call her selfish, and some people would respond with confusion as to why they wouldn’t consider the option. But the mainstream press that question them when they first return to Earth? They would’ve all nodded their heads and agreed with the FF’s refusal to give Franklin to the guy who eats planets.</p> <p>The most glaring problem with this movie, though, is that the FF themselves are remarkably uninteresting. Their personalities are muted and toned down to the point of spectacular blandness.</p> <p>Richards is a super-genius whose ruthless intellectualism is leavened by his love for his family, which is the only thing that keeps him from being a complete asshole. But we don’t get any of the negative aspects of Richards’ personality, except in tiny blink-and-you-miss-it doses. Mostly he’s just an eccentric goof. Pedro Pascal’s performance is aggressively toned down from what we know he’s capable of.</p> <p>The hotheaded Johnny Storm is a bit snarky, but Joseph Quinn doesn’t have any of the verve or charm of his comics counterpart, or of the last two guys to play the role (<a href="https://reactormag.com/were-all-in-this-together-fantastic-four-2005/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chris</a> <a href="https://reactormag.com/all-that-you-know-is-at-an-end-fantastic-four-rise-of-the-silver-surfer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Evans</a> and <a href="https://reactormag.com/please-dont-blow-up-fantastic-four-2015/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Michael B. Jordan</a>, who were both brilliant despite being in movies that were mediocre-to-terrible). His womanizing is toned down, though there’s enough of it there to have him sorta-kinda flirt with the Shalla-Bal iteration of the Silver Surfer, but not enough of it to actually make him interesting. Also Johnny is apparently an accomplished linguist now, because the plot won’t work otherwise, and they needed to give him something to do, I guess?</p> <p>Vanessa Kirby is the only one who works here, as her Sue is allowed to be both complex and powerful. She comes across as very much the heart and soul of the team, though the manufactured conflicts between her and Richards over using Franklin as bait feel <em>very</em> manufactured. But Kirby does right by the role.</p> <p>So does Eben Moss-Bachrach, but alas here is where the script <em>really</em> fails. Benjamin J. Grimm is one of the greatest characters in the Marvel pantheon, a tragic figure who still maintains his compassion and friendliness. He’s the best friend of everyone in the Marvel Universe, but constantly struggles with the fact that he’s an ambulatory collection of rocks. But Moss-Bachrach has precisely <em>none</em> of the character’s tragedy or angst, which is a big part of what makes him so compelling. Instead, he’s just a nice guy who likes to cook and show off for kids. Not only that, but after going to the trouble of actually casting a Jewish actor as the Jewish Grimm, they don’t do a single thing with it. He does walk into a synagogue at one point, but it’s expressly <em>not</em> for any spiritual reason, but simply to boringly flirt with Natasha Lyonne’s spectacularly uninteresting teacher. Indeed, there’s nothing in this movie to support the notion that Grimm <em>is</em> Jewish, and at least one line of dialogue supporting the fact that he isn’t. (He uses “Jesus” as an epithet at one point.)</p> <p>Oh, and the <em>Galaxy Quest</em>-esque running gag with him refusing to say “It’s clobberin’ time” fails utterly<em>. </em>The attempts to get him to say it and him refusing are cute, but the payoff at the film’s climax does not land at all. It worked with Alan Rickman’s refusal to say “By Grabthar’s hammer” in <em>GQ</em> because of the character’s anger at being typecast and forced to keep flogging a role he’d rather he never played, and his journey to finally embracing the part at the film’s climax. By contrast, the moment when Grimm says “It’s clobberin’ time” here is completely unearned, unnecessary, and uninteresting.</p> <p>The blandification extends to the entirety of Earth-828, as the citizens of this Earth are an unconvincingly monolithic bunch of people who seem to just do whatever the FF tells them to do (except for the brief period where they’re just as unconvincingly mad at them for not committing infanticide).</p> <p>The movie is well paced, looks <em>amazing</em>, and I’m <em>so incredibly grateful</em> that they didn’t do what the <em>Ultimate Fantastic Four</em> comic and <em>Rise of the Silver Surfer</em> did and make Galactus into a force-of-nature series of planet-consuming drones, but instead embraced the fact that he’s a fifty-foot-tall white guy with a big purple W on his head. Points to Ralph Ineson for giving the character appropriate gravitas and menace.</p> <p>It is, still, the best Fantastic Four movie ever made, but given the competition, that’s hardly an accomplishment.</p> <p>This ends the current iteration of the Superhero Movie Rewatch. The original intent was to cover two more 2025 releases, but your humble rewatcher had an unnecessarily eventful holiday season, including a foot injury, the unexpected demise of a beloved Toyota Corolla, and two killer deadlines. With all that, and the upcoming release of the first season of <em>Star Trek: Starfleet Academy</em> this week, we’re going to punt <em>The Old Guard 2</em> and <em>Red Sonja</em> to later in the year, along with some of the 2026 releases.[end-mark]</p> <p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/superhero-movie-rewatch-the-fantastic-four-first-steps/">Fourth Time’s the Charm? — &lt;i&gt;The Fantastic Four: First Steps&lt;/i&gt;</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/superhero-movie-rewatch-the-fantastic-four-first-steps/">https://reactormag.com/superhero-movie-rewatch-the-fantastic-four-first-steps/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=836632">https://reactormag.com/?p=836632</a></p>

<p class="syndicationauthor">Posted by Sarah</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-kids-these-days/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-kids-these-days/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=836728">https://reactormag.com/?p=836728</a></p><post-hero class="wp-block-post-hero js-post-hero post-hero post-hero-horizontal"> <div class="container container-desktop"> <div class="flex flex-col mx-auto post-hero-container"> <div class="post-hero-content"> <div class="post-hero-tags font-aktiv text-xs tracking-[0.5px] font-medium uppercase"> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/articles/movies-tv/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Movies &amp; TV 0"> Movies &amp; TV </a> </span> <span class="mr-3"> <i class="inline-block w-2 h-2 rounded-full mr-[5px] bg-blue"></i> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tag/star-trek-starfleet-academy/" class="inline-block link-no-animation" aria-label="Link to term or tag Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 1"> Star Trek: Starfleet Academy </a> </span> </div> <h2 class="post-hero-title text-h1">“Do not kill your instructor on day one” — <i>Star Trek: Starfleet Academy</i>’s “Kids These Days”</h2> <div class="prose post-hero-description prose--post-hero">Welcome aboard the U.S.S. Athena&#8230;</div> <div class="post-hero-wrapper"> <div class="post-hero-inner"> <p class="post-hero-author text-xs font-aktiv uppercase font-medium [&amp;_a]:link-hover">By <a href="https://reactormag.com/author/keith-decandido/" title="Posts by Keith R.A. DeCandido" class="author url fn" rel="author">Keith R.A. DeCandido</a></p> <span class="post-hero-symbol relative top-[-2px] hidden tablet:block">|</span> <p class="text-xs uppercase post-hero-publish font-aktiv"> Published on January 15, 2026 </p> </div> </div> <div class="quick-access post-hero-quick-access mt-[17px] tablet:hidden"> <div class="flex gap-[30px] tablet:gap-6"> <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-kids-these-days/#comments" class="flex items-center text-sm font-aktiv tracking-[0.6px] font-semibold uppercase translate-x-[1px] translate-y-[1px]"> <svg class="w-[22px] h-[22px] mr-[7px] icon-hover" viewbox="0 0 18 18" aria-label="comment" role="img" aria-hidden="true" aria-labelledby="icon-comment-quick-access-"> <title id="icon-comment-quick-access-">Comment</title> <g fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"> <path fill="#FFF" fill-rule="nonzero" d="M6.3 18a.9.9 0 0 1-.9-.9v-2.7H1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 0 12.6V1.8A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 1.8 0h14.4A1.8 1.8 0 0 1 18 1.8v10.8a1.8 1.8 0 0 1-1.8 1.8h-5.49l-3.33 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viewbox="0 0 18 18" fill="none" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" aria-label="rss feed" role="img" aria-hidden="true"> <g clip-path="url(#clip0_1051_121783)"> <path d="M2.67871 17.4143C2.12871 17.4143 1.65771 17.2183 1.26571 16.8263C0.873713 16.4343 0.678046 15.9636 0.678713 15.4143C0.678713 14.8643 0.874713 14.3933 1.26671 14.0013C1.65871 13.6093 2.12938 13.4136 2.67871 13.4143C3.22871 13.4143 3.69971 13.6103 4.09171 14.0023C4.48371 14.3943 4.67938 14.865 4.67871 15.4143C4.67871 15.9643 4.48271 16.4353 4.09071 16.8273C3.69871 17.2193 3.22805 17.415 2.67871 17.4143ZM14.6787 17.4143C14.6787 15.481 14.312 13.6683 13.5787 11.9763C12.8454 10.2843 11.841 8.80097 10.5657 7.52631C9.29171 6.25164 7.80871 5.24764 6.11671 4.51431C4.42471 3.78097 2.61205 3.41431 0.678713 3.41431V0.414307C3.02871 0.414307 5.23705 0.860306 7.30371 1.75231C9.37038 2.64431 11.1704 3.85664 12.7037 5.38931C14.237 6.92264 15.4497 8.72264 16.3417 10.7893C17.2337 12.856 17.6794 15.0643 17.6787 17.4143H14.6787ZM8.67871 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object-cover" alt="Robert Picardo as The Doctor in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-01-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-01-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-01-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-01.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /> </figure> </div> </div> </div> </post-hero> <div class="wp-block-more-from-category"> <div> </div> </div> <p>The notion of portraying life in Starfleet Academy has been around the <em>Star Trek </em>universe for ages. It was first pitched as a movie back in the late 1980s and was seriously considered for the sixth movie following the lukewarm reception to <a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-original-series-rewatch-star-trek-v-the-final-frontier/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>The Final Frontier</em></a> in 1989, going so far as to have a script by Harve Bennett and David Loughery, before deciding to do a last hurrah with Shatner, Nimoy, and the gang. Both Marvel (an ongoing series from 1996-1998 contemporary with <a href="https://reactormag.com/columns/star-trek-deep-space-nine-rewatch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>DS9</em></a> and <a href="https://reactormag.com/columns/star-trek-voyager-rewatch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Voyager</em></a> and using <em>DS9</em>’s Nog as a main character) and IDW (a 2015 miniseries telling stories set during the events of <a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-original-series-rewatch-star-trek-2009/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the 2009 <em>Star Trek</em></a>) have done <em>Starfleet Academy</em> comic book series. Simon &amp; Schuster has done two sets of YA books focusing on the Academy, including a series from 1993-1998 that showed Academy tenures for characters from <a href="https://reactormag.com/columns/star-trek-tos-rewatch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the original series</a>, <a href="https://reactormag.com/columns/star-trek-the-next-generation-rewatch/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>TNG</em></a><em>, </em>and <em>Voyager</em>, and another from 2010 that focused on the Bad Robot films. In 1997, there was a <em>Starfleet Academy </em>CD-ROM game (remember those?), which also had a novelization by Diane Carey, and the following year was Susan Wright’s Academy-focused novel <em>The Best and the Brightest</em>. The TV shows have done the occasional spotlight on the Academy, from <em>TNG</em>’s “<a href="https://reactormag.com/star-trek-the-next-generation-rewatch-the-first-duty/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The First Duty</a>” to <em>Discovery</em>’s “<a href="https://reactormag.com/unification-iv-star-trek-discoverys-all-is-possible/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">All is Possible</a>.”</p> <p>With the diversification of <em>Trek</em> on TV that we’ve seen since Secret Hideout took over producing <em>Trek</em> stuff for Paramount+, an Academy series was almost a given to happen at some point. Additionally, they’re having it spin off of <em>Discovery</em>’s <a href="https://reactormag.com/lets-fly-star-trek-discovery-third-season-overview/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">final</a> <a href="https://reactormag.com/lets-get-to-it-star-trek-discovery-fourth-season-overview/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">three</a> <a href="https://reactormag.com/everything-ends-someday-star-trek-discovery-fifth-season-overview/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">seasons</a>, which was a masterstroke. The thirty-second century is ripe for further exploration—<em>Discovery</em> barely scratched the surface—plus, it’s explicitly a Federation that is finally back on its feet after being isolationist and devastated because of the Burn. Now the Burn is over and there’s a new set of cadets coming in. It’s a great era to set an Academy series in, as you’ve got lots of different species coming together, many of them leaving their home star systems for the first time.</p> <p>Scripter/creator Gaia Violo has come up with a way of still doing shipboard adventures while doing an Academy series: the show primarily takes place on the <em>U.S.S. Athena</em>, a starship that is specifically designed to be a flying Academy. They will learn on the job, as it were, taking class and doing supervised shipboard functions on an actual ship. (And presumably also sometimes have unexpected adventures, as they do in this episode.) When on Earth, the ship docks at the Academy grounds in San Francisco, continuing to be the main campus building.</p> <p>Two of the main characters are functionally immortal, so they actually remember when the Federation was at its height. One is our lead, Holly Hunter’s Captain Nahla Ake, who is part Lanthanite (the same species as Carol Kane’s Pelia on <em>SNW</em>), and is several hundred years old. Hunter plays her with a similar relaxed, seen-it-all attitude to Kane on the sister show, but she’s very much her own person, and much less eccentric than Pelia. (Which is good, as that level of goofiness works in a supporting character, less so in your lead.) Ake is a good teacher, a compassionate authority figure, and a canny leader, and Hunter inhabits the character magnificently.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-02-1100x733.jpg" alt="Paul Giamatti as Nus Braka and Holly Hunter as Nahla Ake in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" class="wp-image-836744" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-02-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-02-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-02-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-02.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Paramount+</figcaption></figure> <p>The other immortal is one of two legacy characters in this pilot: Robert Picardo as the <em>Voyager</em>’s EMH, who still, centuries later, just goes by “Doctor.” He also added an aging subroutine five hundred years previous—the Watsonian reason is to placate organics, with the Doylist reason being that Picardo is very obviously three decades older than he was when <em>Voyager</em> was on the air. (Picardo also joins the swelling ranks of actors who have played the same character on three or more <em>Trek</em> television series.<sup data-fn="b785fa75-a3bc-4836-bb4d-5121f414211e" class="fn"><a id="b785fa75-a3bc-4836-bb4d-5121f414211e-link" href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-kids-these-days/#b785fa75-a3bc-4836-bb4d-5121f414211e">1</a></sup>) The EMH is, as ever, a total delight. Age has just made him <em>even snarkier</em>, and Picardo remains a treasure.</p> <p>The other legacy character is Oded Fehr’s Admiral Vance, and he retains his cool demeanor and charisma from his appearances on <em>Discovery</em>. Fehr was listed with the main characters, not as a guest star, which means we’ll hopefully see lots of him, which is always welcome. (Mary Wiseman and Tig Notaro are also supposed to be recurring regulars, coming over from <em>Discovery</em> as, respectively, Tilly and Reno, but neither is in the premiere episode.)</p> <p>The other characters are a bit hit-and-miss. I will give credit to director Alex Kurtzman (yes, Kurtzman himself directed this one) and the actors playing the various members of the bridge crew that they give each character a distinctive style of speaking and body language and personality. It’s not much, and I suspect that, as with <em>Discovery</em>, the bridge crew will only be occasional supporting characters rather than main characters, but “Kids These Days” gives me hope that they will stand out as individuals more than <em>Discovery</em>’s bridge crew did.</p> <p>However, the remaining adult we see is magnificent: Gina Yashere as Lura Thok, who is half-Klingon, half-Jem’Hadar. Yashere plays the role with gusto, modulating hilariously from deferential when dealing with Ake and the other adults to drill-sergeant bluster when interacting with the cadets. While Lura is first officer of the <em>Athena</em>—Ake even calls her “Number One,” as we’ve seen Pike and Picard do with their first officers—her actual title is “Cadet Master,” as she’s more directly in charge of the cadets.</p> <p>As for our gaggle of cadets, they’re a mixed bag. I think my favorite is Series Acclimation Mil, who comes from Kasq, a planet populated entirely by sentient holograms, and who goes by SAM, “in the interest of not being mocked mercilessly by my fellow cadets.” Kerrice Brooks plays her as delightfully nerdy, and I just want to hug her. She also wants the EMH as her mentor, a job the EMH pretty much runs screaming from. SAM was specifically created to be a teenager who interacts with organics to build a post-Burn bridge between Kasq and the rest of the Federation.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-03-1100x733.jpg" alt="George Hawkins as Reymi and Sandro Rosta as Caleb in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" class="wp-image-836746" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-03-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-03-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-03-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-03.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Paramount+</figcaption></figure> <p>My least favorite—by far—is sadly the one being set up as the main character among the cadets, Caleb Mir, played by Sandro Rosta. We spend the entire teaser with him and Ake, and I was pretty much sick to death of him before the opening credits even rolled. He’s introduced to us as a six-year-old (played by Luciano Fernandez) whose single mother (played with her usual brilliance by an underused Tatiana Maslany) is arrested as an accessory to a pirate, Nus Braka (played with scenery stuck in his teeth by the always-brilliant Paul Giamatti), who has killed several Starfleet officers. Ake is the captain in charge of sentencing both Braka and Caleb’s mother, and she hates that she has to separate a mother from her child. Then Caleb manages to escape.</p> <p>We cut ahead fifteen years. Ake is a teacher on Bajor, having quit Starfleet after being put in a position to separate mother and child, and having failed to track down Caleb at all in those fifteen years. As for the now-twenty-one-year-old kid, we see him on the way to prison, but he manages to hijack the prison ship in an attempt to use the ship’s computer to locate his mother.</p> <p>Prior to his breakout, they list his criminal record, and it pretty much starts the nanosecond he escaped from Ake’s custody. So he’s been living the life of either a prisoner or a fugitive for most of the fifteen years since he was six years old, yet he managed to become a wiz at piloting and making covert communications and astrophysics and operating systems on a starship, er, somehow.</p> <p>That sound you hear is my disbelief gasping on the side of the road.</p> <p>If Caleb wasn’t human, I might be willing to buy it, but unless we later find out he had some kind of mentor to teach him at least some of this stuff—a Fagin to his Oliver Twist, a Lob to his Modesty Blaise, an Achmed El Gibár to his Storm—I might like him better, but probably not. He’s the whiny rebel who thinks he’s too cool for the Academy, and he’s only going along with it because the alternative was a brutal prison sentence (the cutting off of fingers and hands is mentioned) and because Ake has promised to help him try to find his mother. (Hey look, a seasonal through-line!)</p> <p>The rest of the cadets we meet are all similar types, some more clichéd than others (though none as clichéd as Caleb).</p> <p>Bella Shepard’s Genesis Lythe is the pretty genius, daughter of an admiral, smart as a whip, clever with wordplay, and just generally annoyingly perfect, but charming enough so you don’t hate her. Intellectually I want to dislike her, but Shepard is <em>so</em> charming I’m willing to forgive it. (This is an acting trick that Rosta does <em>not</em> manage.)</p> <figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1100" height="733" src="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-04-1100x733.jpg" alt="Kerrice Brooks as Sam and Bella Shepard as Genesis in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy" class="wp-image-836745" srcset="https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-04-1100x733.jpg 1100w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-04-740x493.jpg 740w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-04-768x512.jpg 768w, https://reactormag.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/starfleet-academy-101-04.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1100px) 100vw, 1100px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: Paramount+</figcaption></figure> <p>George Hawkins’ Darem Reymi is the asshole child of privilege, the first Khionian in Starfleet. He’s an arrogant snot, complete with an entourage of sycophants. On the one hand, there’s (at least) one of these in <em>every </em>classroom. On the other hand, I’m already bored with his shit. We’ll see how this goes.</p> <p>And then we have my second favorite of the cadets, Jay-Den Kraag, a Klingon who wants to pursue the sciences and loves bird-watching. I’ve been <em>dying</em> to learn the status of the Klingon Empire in the thirty-second century (<em>Discovery</em> avoided even mentioning the Klingons once they bounced forward in time), and I’ve similarly been <em>dying </em>to see a Klingon who isn’t cut from the warrior cloth for a change.</p> <p>Not seen in this episode is one other main character, Zoë Steiner’s Tarima Sadal, a Betazoid. The <em>Athena</em> only just arrives at Earth at the episode’s end, so presumably she’s waiting for them there (along with Reno and Tilly).</p> <p>The story itself does all the things a premiere episode is supposed to do. We meet the characters, we get the setting, and we get an unexpected conflict, as Nus Braka shows up to steal the <em>Athena</em>’s warp drive. The ship is damaged, it needs to be fixed, and the cadets need to bring their special skills to bear. And I have no trouble believing that these particular cadets come with existing skills and useful traits, as up until a year or two ago, they were more isolated and self-sufficient. These people didn’t <em>expect</em> to have the option of the Academy until <em>Discovery</em> showed up and reversed the Burn.</p> <p>It all works nicely and we get enough to make me very interested in what happens next to most of these people. (I say “most” because I could give a damn about Caleb. I mean, we <em>know</em> what’s going to happen, he’s gonna try to find his mother and he may find her, he may not, but it’s not going to end the way he wants and snore.) Hunter plays Ake much differently than any of the other <em>Trek</em> captains, as you can tell that she’s, on the one hand, seen it all, and on the other, is still excited about the possibilities ahead of her and her cadets. She has the joy of learning that most of the best <em>Trek</em> characters (and best teachers) have, but she also has the accumulated wisdom of the centuries that we’ve previously seen in a few characters (Guinan, particularly; Pelia, occasionally), and it makes her nicely stand out from her fellow captains.</p> <p>I just hope they don’t overuse the search-for-Mom plot with Caleb, and I <em>especially</em> hope they don’t overuse Nus Braka. The setting doesn’t really lend itself to a recurring antagonist, and besides, Giamatti’s OTT act works best in small doses.[end-mark]</p> <p>[Editor&#8217;s Note: Keith will be back to cover episode 2, &#8220;Beta Test,&#8221; in a later post.]</p> <div style="height:5px" aria-hidden="true" class="wp-block-spacer"></div> <ol class="wp-block-footnotes"><li id="b785fa75-a3bc-4836-bb4d-5121f414211e">Picardo has played the <em>Voyager</em> EMH on <em>Voyager, Prodigy</em>, and now <em>Academy</em>. The others include Michael Ansara as Kang (original series, <em>DS9, Voyager</em>), LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge (<em>TNG, Voyager, Picard</em>), John deLancie as Q (<em>TNG, DS9, Voyager, LD, Picard</em>), Michael Dorn as Worf (<em>TNG, DS9, Picard</em>), Jonathan Frakes as William T. Riker (<em>TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, LD, Picard</em>), Alice Krige as the Borg Queen (<em>Voyager, LD, Picard</em>), Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher (<em>TNG, Prodigy, Picard</em>), Richard Poe as Evek (<em>TNG, DS9, Voyager</em>), Tim Russ as Tuvok (<em>Voyager, DS9, Picard</em>), Armin Shimerman as Quark (<em>DS9, TNG, Voyager, LD</em>), Alexander Siddig as Julian Bashir (<em>DS9, TNG, LD</em>), Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi (<em>TNG, Voyager, Enterprise, LD, Picard</em>), Brent Spiner as Data (<em>TNG, Enterprise, Picard, LD</em>), Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard (<em>TNG, DS9, Picard</em>), George Takei as Hikaru Sulu (original series, <em>Voyager, LD</em>), and Wil Wheaton as Wes Crusher (<em>TNG, Picard, LD, Prodigy</em>). <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-kids-these-days/#b785fa75-a3bc-4836-bb4d-5121f414211e-link" aria-label="Jump to footnote reference 1"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/17.0.2/72x72/21a9.png" alt="↩" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;" />︎</a></li></ol><p>The post <a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-kids-these-days/">“Do not kill your instructor on day one” — &lt;i&gt;Star Trek: Starfleet Academy&lt;/i&gt;’s “Kids These Days”</a> appeared first on <a href="https://reactormag.com">Reactor</a>.</p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-kids-these-days/">https://reactormag.com/tv-review-star-trek-starfleet-academy-kids-these-days/</a></p><p class="ljsyndicationlink"><a href="https://reactormag.com/?p=836728">https://reactormag.com/?p=836728</a></p>