Infants are not receiving favorable portrayals in movies and television shows during this summer season.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

The Fantastic Four: First Steps presents its titular super team with a nightmarish trolley problem. Galactus (Ralph Ineson) promises to spare Earth from total annihilation, but only if Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby) give up their newborn baby Franklin. Of course, Reed, Sue, Ben Grimm/the Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Johnny Storm/the Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) refuse these terms. They’re not going to sacrifice a family member! Plus, they’ve got superpowers and brilliant minds. Surely they can find a way to save both the Earth and Franklin. However, Reed and Sue’s decision not to give up their baby goes over terribly with the denizens of Earth. They protest outside the Fantastic Four’s headquarters in the Baxter Building, decrying their heroes as selfish.

The Moral Quandaries of Superheroes

The perception of the Fantastic Four as selfish seemed to spill over into the real world as some audience members expressed frustration at the characters’ refusal to hand over their baby to Galactus. Instead of wanting to see superheroes struggling with moral quandaries and finding a way to save everyone, some viewers preferred a utilitarian approach that would have ended the movie much sooner.

The “save Franklin or save Earth” dilemma is just one example of massive summer film and TV titles featuring life-or-death situations involving babies. In Superman, Lex Luthor holds Metamorpho’s baby son hostage, while in 28 Years Later, Erik threatens to kill a seemingly uninfected baby girl born to infected parents, fearing she will become a monster like them.

Babies in Peril in Popular Culture

The darkest portrayal of babies in peril in 2025 is seen in Squid Game Season 3, where a newborn is kept in the deadly game after her mother’s death. The players see the baby as a hindrance to their financial gain, leading to a disturbing narrative of murder and survival. Similar themes of sacrificing babies for the greater good are also explored in other titles like 28 Years Later and The Fantastic Four: First Steps, highlighting the ethical dilemmas faced by characters when the lives of children are at stake.

Exploring the Significance of Saving Babies in Film and TV

Thankfully, all these babies, including Superman‘s Joey, survive their dangerous circumstances, with 28 Years Later‘s baby and Squid Game‘s baby getting the last laugh and outliving their would-be killers.

Saving babies in film and TV is nothing new — remember when 2023’s The Flash stuck a baby in a microwave to protect it? (I wish I could forget.) It’s a surefire way to get audiences on a hero’s side. After all, babies are the ultimate innocents, deserving of total protection. (In 2022, donkeys, of all things, occupied a similar role in three awards season contenders.)

The Moral Dilemma of Justifying Theoretical Deaths for the Greater Good

But the focus of these scenes in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Squid Game Season 3, 28 Years Later, and, to a lesser extent, Superman isn’t just on heroes saving babies. It’s on people trying, horribly, to justify the theoretical deaths of these babies for the greater good, and the protagonists stepping in to prove their undeniable good and humanity.

In the case of characters like Galactus, Lex Luthor, and Squid Game‘s game heads, VIPs, and the more bloodthirsty players, audiences already know they’re bad guys. Throw a baby in the equation, though, and you’re drawing an even clearer line in the sand between heroes and villains. Sure, it’s not subtle — in Squid Game in particular, it feels like you’re being hit over the head with a hammer — but it immediately raises your hackles and makes every bone in your body think, “That’s wrong, and I need to see someone put a stop to it.” And guess what? Someone does exactly that in all four of these major summer titles. But next summer, I’m really going to need film and TV to cut these newborns some slack!