The Fantastic 4: First Steps

The Fantastic 4: First Steps
Director:	Matt Shakman
Writer(s):	Josh Friedman Cameron Squires Eric Pearson Peter Cameron
Expected Release:	July 25, 2025
More Information
Expected Credits	Rumors
Merchandise	Characters

The Fantastic 4: First Steps is the upcoming thirty-seventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the first film of Phase Six set on a parallel universe in the 1960's where the team battles the planet hungry entity called Galactus.

Plot[]

Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps' introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

Cast[]

• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/Thing
• Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer
• Ralph Ineson as Galactus
• Jack Parker as H.E.R.B.I.E.
• Paul Walter Hauser as a to-be-confirmed character
• John Malkovich as a to-be-confirmed character
• Natasha Lyonne as a to-be-confirmed character
• Sarah Niles as a to-be-confirmed character
• To-be-confirmed actor as Harvey Rupert Elder/Mole Man

Production History[]

On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced plans to acquire 21st Century Fox. The acquisition would provide Disney with the opportunity to reunite the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool with the Marvel family under one roof. The deal was completed on March 20, 2019.

On July 20, 2019, at San Diego Comic Con 2019, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed that numerous projects, including a Fantastic Four reboot were in development.

On December 10, 2020, at the Disney Investors Day event, Kevin Feige revealed that a Fantastic Four film was in the works, with Spider-Man director Jon Watts set to direct.

On April 29, 2022, it was announced that Watts has exited from the film as Deadline stated that he just needs a break from the superhero realm after completing the Spider-Man films.^[1]

On August 24, 2022, it was reported that Michael McCullers and Shane McGoey would write the screenplay.^[2]

On August 26, 2022, Deadline reported that Matt Shakman was in talks to direct the film, after Watts left the project.^[3]

On October 11, 2022, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the film would be delayed from November 8, 2024 to February 14, 2025.

In June, the film's release was pushed back to May 2, 2025. Prior to the start of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike in July, Marvel Studios held screen tests for the role of Richards with several actors, including Christopher Abbott and Jamie Dornan, which "did not go very well" according to Sneider. The studio wanted a high-profile actor and offered the role to Jake Gyllenhaal, who portrayed Mysterio in the MCU film Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), but they did not want to pay the salary he asked for as Feige wanted to contain the studio's talent spending. They were also considering non-white actors for Richards and Pedro Pascal became interested, though he would not engage in conversations during the strike. In August, Ebon Moss-Bachrach was offered the role of the Thing, after playing Microin the first season of the Marvel Television series The Punisher (2017). Marvel Studios was committed to casting a Jewish actor as the Thing, who is depicted as Jewish in the comics but was not portrayed by Jewish actors in the previous Fantastic Four films;Moss-Bachrach is Jewish. David Krumholtz met with Shakman about the role after campaigning for it online, but was unsuccessful. He began campaigning to portray the villainous Mole Man instead. Additionally, Sneider reported that Marvel Studios was looking at Vanessa Kirby for Sue Storm, who was expected to be the film's lead character, and Joseph Quinn for Johnny Storm. Nicholas Galitzine was also rumored to be portraying Johnny Storm and had conversations about the role, but was not cast. Marvel approached Matt Smithfor Richards, but that was not expected to work out and they were instead looking for "a bona fide movie star". A Latino actor was expected to be hired as Galactus.

Shakman confirmed in October 2023 that they planned to start filming in early 2024 at Pinewood Studios in London, and said the cast would be announced once the SAG-AFTRA strike ended. He said during the strikes they were still able to work on the film's production design and early tests of the visual effects for translating the team's abilities from comic art to the screen. Alexandra Byrne was serving as costume designer after working on several other MCU films. Later that month, Shakman revealed that Cameron Squires was co-writing the script with Friedman. Both had worked with Shakman on the Star Trek film, and Squires was a writer on WandaVision. Shakman had discussed the film with comic book writer Matt Fraction, and said his work on the television series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005–present) helped inform his approach to the film with its playfulness, collaboration, and improvisation. Following the conclusion of the actors' strike in November, Pascal entered talks to portray Richards and was negotiating his schedule for the film around his other commitments. Marvel Studios was expected to make offers for the other leading roles soon after, having waited because they deemed it essential to find the actor for Richards first. /Filmreported that Pascal had signed on and that an announcement would be made shortly. Javier Bardem was being eyed to portray Galactus after Antonio Banderas had previously been linked to the role, though Bardem had a potential scheduling conflict with the film F1(2025). Sneider reported that Moss-Bachrach had been cast as the Thing and the studio was looking to cast a woman as Silver Surfer, who is usually the male character Norrin Radd in the comics.

By early January 2024, Sneider believed filming would begin in mid-March or April, but he reported shortly after that filming would not begin until later in 2024, between July and September, and this delay had caused Pascal to leave his commitment to the film Weapons (2026). Sneider questioned if Fantastic Four could still make its May 2025 release date if filming was not starting until mid-to-late 2024. At the end of January, filming was revealed to be beginning in August 2024. Early the following month, SAG-AFTRA listed Pascal as being cast in the film and set to begin production shortly. On February 14, Marvel Studios released a Valentine's Day-themed announcement that confirmed Pascal's casting as Reed Richards alongside Kirby as Sue Storm, Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Moss-Bachrach as the Thing. The film was officially titled The Fantastic Four and its release date was delayed to July 25, 2025, swapping places with the MCU film Thunderbolts*. The announcement's promotional art included the December 13, 1963, issue of Life magazine with Lyndon B. Johnson on the cover and used a new logo style with "a certain throwback tone and sense of aesthetics", indicating that the film is set during the 1960s (around the time the Fantastic Four debuted in Marvel Comics). Adding to this speculation, Pascal referenced 1960s songs from the Beatles when sharing the promotional art on his social media. The art included the comic book character H.E.R.B.I.E., a robot companion to the Fantastic Four.

Feige said family dynamics was key to the film and "90 percent of the work was done" by confirming the main cast. He also confirmed that the film would be a 1960s period piece, but indicated that it would be set in an alternate universe within the multiverse. Shakman called it a "retro-future '60s" aesthetic, describing it as "part what you know from the '60s, but part what you've never seen". Industrial designer and concept artist Syd Mead served as an inspiration for the film, along with the optimism of the Space Race and ideas of future space travelers that people had in the 1960s when the comics were being written. Shakman stated, "I really wanted to take all of that great stuff from Apollo 11 and just imagine that instead of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, it was the Storms and Ben Grimm and Reed Richards heading off into space." He reaffirmed that the film would begin after the Fantastic Four have gained their superhero abilities, avoiding a re-telling of their origin story and allowing the film to have its own story which Shakman was excited for.

Trivia[]

• A sequel to the 2015 film Fantastic Four was planned to be released, but was cancelled after its failure at the box office.
• Matthew Vaughn who produced Fantastic Four expressed interest in directing a new version of Fantastic Four himself as an apology saying, "One of my favorites is the Fantastic Four, so maybe one day I'll try and rectify the mistake."
• In June 2017, Seth Grahame-Smith who reworked on Fantastic Four was writing a new film in the franchise that would shift the focus to Franklin and Valeria Richards, the children of original Fantastic Four leaders Reed Richards and Sue Storm, instead of being another reboot which would have taking inspiration from the Ultimate Fantastic Four comic books, the screenplay also included original Fantastic Four members the Thing and the Human Torch and was described as "kid-centric" with a tone closer to The Incredibles than Josh Trank's darker film. The basis of the screenplay came from a separate script that Carter Blanchard had adapted from the children's book Kindergarten Heroes by Mark Millar who previously consulted with Fox on their Marvel-based films.
• Tommy Wiseau, Joss Whedon and Peyton Reed were considered to direct the film.
• Due to his work on Pixar's The Incredibles, fans wanted Brad Bird to direct the film.
• Chris Rock made a campaign for J.J. Abrams to direct the film.
• Peyton Reed who directed Ant-Man and its sequels Ant-Man and the Wasp and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, who at one point was going to direct Fantastic Four, expressed interest in directing the reboot.
• This will be the fourth Fantastic Four film to be released in theaters and the fifth film overall.
• Marvel Studios regained the film rights to Fantastic Four after Disney bought most of 21st Century Fox's film and TV assets, including franchises.
• Kevin Feige announced that a Fantastic Four reboot which will be set in the MCU.
• Fans wanted director Brad Bird to direct the film because of his Incredibles superhero films, which were focused on a superhero family based on the Fantastic Four.
• John Krasinski has wanted to play Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic after seeing a fanart of himself as the character along with his wife Emily Blunt as Susan Storm/Invisible Woman.
• Grant Anstine campaigned for the role of Johnny Storm/Human Torch.
• Dylan Sprouse wants to play Johnny Storm/Human Torch.
• Jaime King and Sunny Mabrey have both expressed in playing Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman).
• Marvel fans have been campaigning for years to have John Krasinski and Emily Blunt play Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and Susan Storm/Invisible Woman, as they are married in real life and already have solid power couple chemistry onscreen. Krasinski has reportedly wanted to play Mister Fantastic after seeing a fanart of he and his wife as the characters, but in an interview with Blunt, she claimed that Marvel Studios have not contacted either of them about Fantastic 4. Even if they did, she is not a fan of superhero films. Fans have also campaigned to have Zac Efron play Johnny Storm/Human Torch.
• Kevin Feige announced that a Fantastic Four reboot, which will be set in the MCU, is in development as part of Phase 4 alongside sequels including Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels and reboots of Blade and X-Men.
• Kevin Feige officially announced on December 10, 2020 that the movie is in development and will be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Michael Chiklis who played The Thing in both Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer tells Marvel to not make the reboot dark and brooding, try to make it that, you will fail.
• Jon Watts was originally announced as the director in December 2020 but stepped down in April 2022 to take a break from superhero projects for a while.
• Bryce Dallas Howard had denied the rumor that she was up to for the role of Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman after a fan asked her to sign his Invisible Woman Funko Pop and also to direct the reboot.
• On the same day of the film's release day announcement, Kevin Feige confirmed that the film would not be an origin story, a decision compared to that of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
• Matt Shakman left Untitled Star Trek: Beyond Sequel to direct this film.
• Mason Gooding was campaigned and then later took his name off the list to play Johnny Storm/The Human Torch.
• Diego Luna denied reports that he was up for Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic saying that he's busy on other projects.
• John Krasinski appears in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic.
• Countless names were suggested by fans to play the Fantastic Four, including:
  • Reed Richards - John Krasinski, Jake Gyllenhaal, Adam Driver, Matt Smith, Penn Badgley, Rahul Kohli, William Jackson Harper, John David Washington, Jamie Dorman, John Cho, Tom Ellis, Dev Patel, Christopher Abbott, Henry Cavill, Regé-Jean Page and Daniel Craig.
  • Sue Storm - Emily Blunt, Emma Stone, Margot Robbie, Melissa Benoist, Lily James, Jodie Comer, Eiza González, Natalia Dyer, Jennifer Lawrence, Aja Naomi King, Victoria Pedretti, Amanda Seyfried, Phillipa Soo, Melissa Fumero, Claire Foy, Sarah Snook, Katerine Waterston, Saoirse Ronan and Bryce Dallas Howard.
  • Johnny Storm - Joe Keery, Zac Efron, Ross Lynch, Paul Mescal, Austin Butler, Jordan Fisher, Matthew Daddario, Michael Provost, Brandon Butler, Lucas Hedges, Rudy Pankow and LaKeith Stanfield.
  • Ben Grimm - John Cena, Daveed Diggs, Alan Ritchson, Jason Segel, Channing Tatum, Jason Biggs, Sacha Baron Cohen Liev Schreiber, Justin Bartha, Ed Skrein, David Krumholtz and Jon Bernthal.
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach is the 27th actor to played a different character in the MCU after portraying David Lieberman on The Punisher.
• Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn and Ralph Ineson are the 13th, 14th and 15th Game of Thrones actors in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after:
  • David Bradley and Natalie Dormer in Captain America: The First Avenger.
  • Clive Russell in Thor: The Dark World.
  • Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick in Iron Fist.
  • Iwan Rheon in Inhumans.
  • Peter Dinklage in Avengers: Infinity War.
  • Hannah John-Kamen in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
  • Richard Madden and Kit Harington in Eternals.
  • Emilia Clarke and Richard Dormer in Secret Invasion.
• Both Pedro Pascal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach appeared on Star Wars shows on Disney+ with Pascal as Din Djarin / The Mandalorian on both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and Moss-Bachrach as Arvel Skeen on Andor.
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach is the first jewish actor to played The Thing who's also jewish.
• Both Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn are the first non-American actors to play both The Invisible Woman and The Human Torch who are American characters in the comics.
• Joseph Quinn is the second Stranger Things actor to joined the MCU after David Harbour who appeared in Black Widow and Thunderbolts*.
• The first-live action appearance of H.E.R.B.I.E. He appeared in Fantastic Four, but his scenes were cut.
• David Krumholtz campaigned to play Ben Grimm/The Thing.
• The movie will be released 20 years after Fantastic Four (2005) and 10 years after Fantastic Four (2015).
• Pedro Pascal and Joseph Quinn have appeared on separate seasons on Game of Thrones (2011) and have worked together in Gladiator 2 (2024).
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach is the first Jewish actor to played The Thing who's also Jewish.
• Mason Gooding was campaigned and then later took his name off the list to play Johnny Storm/The Human Torch.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

Marvel Studios Celebrates The Movies

New Marvel Studios Titles Revealed! - Marvel Minute

Marvel Studios' The Multiverse Saga Revealed at Hall H

He’s hungry…

The Fantasticar takes flight in Hall H

Meet The Fantastic 4️⃣

Meet The Fantastic Four- First Steps Cast and MORE at SDCC 2024!

Every MCU Reveal at SDCC 2024- Fantastic Four, Avengers- Doomsday & More! - Official Recap

External Links[]

• The Fantastic 4 on Wikipedia
• The Fantastic 4 on IMDB

References[]