Why is “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “action/violence and some language.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes a couple of kissing scenes, a woman in labor and during delivery, an alien female being covered with a form-fitting metallic coating, many scenes of superheroes fighting foes and saving people, many scenes of superheroes trying to find a way to save a planet and a child, a giant galactic monster threatening to devour Earth, a few arguments, and name-calling. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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After four astronauts return from a space mission imbued with superpowers, they face a galactic monster determined to devour Earth, unless an unthinkable exchange is made. With Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Natasha Lyonne and the voice of Matthew Wood. Directed by Matt Shakman. A few lines of dialogue are spoken in an unidentified language without translation. [Running Time: 1:55]

The Fantastic Four: First Steps SEX/NUDITY 2

 – A metallic being on a surfboard appears to have a female form covered in a metal coating (breasts, abdomen, legs, buttocks are apparent while her crotch is usually in shadow or covered by her legs). A woman kicks off her pants while in labor as the infant is born (we do not see the woman’s nudity); we see the child as he is handed to the woman and his bare chest, abdomen and legs are seen.
► A woman is shown seated in a bathroom wearing a robe and waiting for a pregnancy test result (we see partial cleavage); she shares the results with her husband (he is wearing a tank T-shirt that reveals his bare shoulders and partial chest) and they embrace and kiss. A husband kisses his wife tenderly when he fears that she is dead.
► A man made from rock and a woman talk and flirt in a couple of scenes. A rock man goes to a synagogue to see a woman and she asks if he is there for spiritual guidance; he replies that he came to see her. A flaming man calls an alien being “sexy.”
► A husband and his wife lie in bed clothed and he caresses her bare abdomen (she is pregnant) and prepares to apply moisturizer to her skin. A husband touches his wife’s abdomen and we see an embryo inside her womb. A woman says that her brother is “very single.”
► A billboard shows a man’s swim trunks being pulled down and exposing his partial bare buttocks (it’s an ad for suntan lotion).

The Fantastic Four: First Steps VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – A space vessel approaches a planet as it is being devoured: we see grinding wheels turning, lava flowing, and rubble and debris floating through the atmosphere; the vessel dodges the debris and a woman uses her powers to shield it until they are locked into a beam and scanned and a metallic being tells them that a giant galactic monster will see them; they walk through a dark cave and encounter a giant being with glowing eyes and rumbling voice and he says that he will devour Earth unless they give him the child that a woman is carrying. A metallic being flies through cities blowing up bridges and a flaming man chases and shoots at her. A giant galactic monster snatches an infant and prepares to leave with him; the monster is struck by a rock man and sprayed with flames by a flaming man and another man grabs the child and takes him to safety as the giant is pushed back into a portal and disappears; his arm reaches back through, but it is severed and falls to the ground, a woman lies motionless on the ground and a man performs CPR on her without result (she revives later and gasps deeply and her eyes turn white briefly).
► A woman’s labor is induced by a galactic monster and she moans and screams in pain; the space vessel she and others are in speeds away from the monster and through space, a metallic being chases them and tries to retrieve the baby from the woman’s abdomen (we see her hand reaching into the woman’s abdomen with no blood shown), the woman orders someone to kill the being and she is shot at as they speed away (the woman pushes and delivers her baby). A flashback shows a woman being taken in a beam of lights and covered with a metallic substance; we understand that she searches for planets for a giant galactic monster to devour.
► A space vessel speeds at hyper speed and approaches a black hole followed by an alien being; the vessel’s hull begins to break up and a woman inside initiates an invisibility cloak as the being is struck by debris and pulled into the black hole. Alarms ring and lights appear in the sky, a flaming man flies into the sky and finds a metallic being on a surfboard (please see the Sex/Nudity category for more details); the being floats in the air, hovers over a street and tells people that Earth is marked for death and to prepare to be devoured by a galactic being. A metallic being is held in the air by a giant galactic monster when she tells it that she failed to retrieve a child.
► A giant galactic monster arrives in a city and giant tubes disconnect from his back, large waves wash into a city when he splashes into the water and a ship is overturned; he walks through streets knocking high-rise buildings down and breaking up streets; an infant is placed in a car seat and surrounded by an energy beam, the monster’s eyes are sprayed with flames and the baby is taken away to safety. A man with elastic limbs climbs a giant galactic monster and pokes him with a spear, and the monster grabs the man and stretches him to an extreme point as the man screams. A flaming man and a rock man try to stop a giant galactic monster by throwing flames and objects at him and the rock man is thrown into the air (we hear him gasp when he leaves the atmosphere); a woman in a flying vehicle chases the giant and he hits it out of the air; it crashes into a building and the driver is shown unconscious.
► A few scenes of superheroes saving people from danger are seen: a large rock man drags a damages ship to shore before it sinks, a woman uses her powers to hold a large object off the ground before crushing people, a flaming man absorbs flames and extinguishes them in buildings in a city, a rock man fights with a giant monster that is breaking the streets of a city apart, and a man uses his elastic limbs to climb girders and throw an ape off. A metallic being shoots into the sky and out of the atmosphere followed by a flaming man; his flames extinguish and the being pushes him off the surfboard that she flies on (he falls back to Earth unharmed). We hear recordings of people screaming and pleading for help as their planets are destroyed. A woman finds her young son talking to a person shrouded in a dark cloak and holding a metallic mask as the scene ends.
► Four superheroes tell members of the press that they were not able to defeat a galactic monster and that they are not sure if they are safe; the people argue with them telling them to turn over their child to save the planet. We see a group of people identified as a “Galacticus Cult” marching in the streets. Several people talk about several planets seeming to have disappeared after being devoured by a galactic monster. A woman blows up a TV screen when a person onscreen talks about needing to hand over a child to save the planet.
► Several scenes show a global mass mobilization of people working to construct bridges to use to save Earth from destruction. Many people are evacuated from a city and we see them being moved to a subterranean area. Several people and a robot prepare for launch in a rocket; the rocket’s engines ignite and the ship lifts off with a lot of flames blowing out around the launchpad and they dock with a mechanism that allows them to fly faster than the speed of light.
► A man tests a teleportation system and transports an egg across the room causing the power to go out; another man in the room uses his flame power to light the room. A rock man is goaded by children to lift a car parked on the street and he lifts the car over his head; they then cheer for him to throw it and he pretends to throw it toward them, but does not. People talk about the amount of energy needed to run a system and that there will need to be energy curfews to save power.
► People and a robot baby-proof a building covering electrical outlets and putting locks on cabinets. A man worries about the effects that a DNA alteration he and his wife underwent after traveling through a cosmic storm will have on their unborn child. A rock man says that he used to steal cookies when he was a boy. A woman appears in a room startling a rock man and a flaming man and they complain when she does that. Three men struggle to figure out how to strap a child safety seat into a car.
► Two men discuss whether one of them is scared about becoming a father and he insists that he is not. A man is reprimanded for eating cereal before dinner. A man disparages another man saying that he barely has a grasp of the English language. A man jokes about eating a magic baby and pretends to nibble his foot. A man sniffs the diaper of an infant and says, “You’re busy peeing.” A rock man is frustrated when he cannot shave because of a power curfew and we see that he grows a beard.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps LANGUAGE 3

 – 3 scatological terms, 1 mild obscenity, name-calling (weird thing, cosmically compromised, bad, stupid, mole man, you ain’t that smart, devourer of worlds, clever little bugs, slippery, selfish), exclamations (spiffy), 5 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my God, sweet Jesus, a God, space God, end of days). | profanity glossary |

The Fantastic Four: First Steps SUBSTANCE USE

 – None.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Space exploration, anomalies, DNA alterations, teleportation, adventure, hope, sacrifice, mystery, discovery, fearing the unknown, criminal organizations, family, Law of Levers, Origin of Species.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps MESSAGE

 – Working together and uniting as a family can defeat dark forces.