Where Fantastic Four travels inexorably from plot point to plot point on rails, Superman swings between surprises. Lex has a pocket universe! Superman and Lois have a tense journalistic sparring! Now there's a kaiju! This one dude turns into kryptonite!

Superhero movies appear to be back. After Superman opened to a storming box office a couple of weeks back, Fantastic Four: First Steps, by a whisker, has done even better. But damn, it was close.

Both Marvel Studios and DC Studios released major films in their respective franchises this month, and now that both opening weekends have passed, Superman stands as the winner — though not by much. In its first weekend out,

Hard on the heels of the new “Superman” comes “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” which shares its sentimental tone and surprisingly many of its themes, including a hostile populace, a gigantic menace,

For the past two weeks now, I’ve gone to the movies. That’s probably the first time in a half decade or so that I’ve actually chosen to buy tickets, make the drive out to the Lawrence multiplex, and watch two films on two successive Sundays.

Summer's two biggest superhero films pick up long after their central figures have already taken up their respective mantles. They (and the genre) are better for it.

That might sound like no big deal, but after 2023’s “The Marvels,” this spring’s fourth “Captain America” movie and “Thunderbolts*” all underperformed by Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) standards, the new “Fantastic Four” may offer broader audience appeal by not pulling from other franchises.

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