Marvel's upcoming "The Fantastic Four" movie faces a task none of its predecessors have succeeded with — getting the Richards family right on the big screen. This is the MCU's first take on the family, so maybe it has a chance.
Details are finally coming in about the movie. We now know that the rumors of Pedro Pascal's casting were accurate, and there are now potential plot details that seem likely to be true. We even have a release date, though it's already moved around since the movie was announced back in 2019.
So will this movie be better than the other "Fantastic Four" movies that preceded it? Well, Disney's track record with Marvel movies is much stronger than any other studio's. Here's everything we know so far, including the release date, cast, plot rumors and more.
'The Fantastic Four' release date
Currently, Disney has slated "The Fantastic Four for July 25, 2025. It had most recently been slated for May 2, 2025, but Marvel swapped it with "Thunderbolts" when it announced the official casting of the Fantastic Four in the MCU.
The movie has reportedly been rewritten twice, so there's a chance this date moves again before it makes it to the big screen. But for now, we're hopeful this July 2025 date holds.
Oh, and Marvel got sneaky and changed the name of the movie when they changed the release date. The previous working title for the movie was "Fantastic Four" but Marvel has now officially dubbed it "The Fantastic Four: First Steps."
'The Fantastic Four' cast officially announced
Rumors about this movie's cast are rumors no more. Marvel made things official with the MCU's first family on Valentine's Day 2024, announcing the movie's main cast via Instagram.
As heavily rumored, and even leaked, Pedro Pascal of "The Last of Us" will indeed be starring as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic. He'll be joined by Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, aka The Thing and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch.
All four had been heavily rumored to be attached to this Marvel project, but it's a huge relief for fans to finally see it announced.
However, there's still one character in the announcement who has yet to be cast. The Instagram post features the robot H.E.R.B.I.E. and there's no word yet on who will voice this fifth member of the Fantastic Four.
Moss-Bachrach has given us an update on one thing to expect though — or rather, what we can expect from his portrayal of the Thing. In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel on Jimmy Kimmel Live (h/t Variety), Moss-Bachrach confirmed that he won't be wearing a suit like Michael Chiklis did in the 2005 movie "Fantastic Four." Instead, he'll be using motion capture technology to portray the golem-like figure.
But that wasn't all he revealed. Apparently, at least he has been cast for his role in this upcoming Marvel since last summer. It's pretty remarkable that Marvel was able to keep this under wraps for as long as they did.
Aside from the officially announced cast, we do have a casting rumor with some substance. According to Marvel insider Can We Get Some Toast, Franklin Richards will be cast in the film, which will reportedly start filming in August (h/t Austin Medeiros). It's still unclear who will play the son of Reed and Sue Richards, so stay tuned for more casting announcements on this character.
According to Deadline, Julia Garner has been cast to play a female version of Silver Surfer (as of April 3). Not much is known about her exact role in the narrative, but Garner said that she'll be "playing a version of Shalla-Bal". In the Marvel Comics, Shalla-Bal is the love interest of Norrin Radd, who is the original Silver Surfer. Earth X, the limited comic book series, revealed that Shalla-Bal gained the same powers as Silver Surfer.
As of May 3, Deadline reported that Paul Walter Hauser has joined the cast of "Fantastic Four". Walter is most known for his breakout role in "Tanya", as well as "Richard Jewell" and "Cruella". For now, his role in the upcoming Marvel movie is being kept under wraps.
Hauser has only teased in an interview with Screen Rant: "I can’t say anything about the character I’m playing, but know that it is in the sort of lexicon and mythology of the Fantastic Four stories. And it's a very distinct character that I’m excited to play and I’m kind of mapping out what I’m doing with that right now.” Although, he did like someone's Instagram comment about potentially playing the Mole.
On May 10, Hollywood Reporter revealed that Ralph Ineson has been cast as Galactus, the main antagonist in "Fantastic Four". His biography includes "Harry Potter" to the recent horror movie "The First Omen". Galactus is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to gain more power and sustain his life force.
Ralph Ineson has been cast as Galactus in ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’.(Source: https://t.co/qCRCmjoq7Z) pic.twitter.com/D49IHtJhUnMay 9, 2024
John Malkovich has also joined the cast of "Fantastic Four", and according to Deadline on May 10, his role is currently unknown. Malkovich has recently appeared in “The New Look” on Apple TV Plus and the Netflix series “Ripley.” Even though his character is being kept under wraps, he could play Wizard (one of the group's oldest foes) or the Beyonder (an incredibly powerful supervillain).
John Malkovich has joined the cast of #TheFantasticFour in an unknown role.He'll star alongside Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Paul Walter Hauser, and Julia Garner in the MCU film.via @Deadline pic.twitter.com/uGvRKLMs8QMay 9, 2024
On May 15, Deadline reported that Natasha Lyonne has joined the cast of the Fantastic Four. Nothing is currently known about what character she will play and whether she has a big role in the movie. Lyonne has been in movies like "Poker Face", "American Pie", and "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery", along with shows such as "Russian Doll" and "Orange Is the New Black".
Natasha Lyonne has been cast in ‘THE FANTASTIC FOUR’.(via: @DEADLINE) pic.twitter.com/Oq2mbuePY3May 15, 2024
Who will be working on 'The Fantastic Four'
It's been confirmed recently by LUX that Jess Hall will serve as the cinematographer on this upcoming Marvel movie. He is known for his work on "WandaVision", "Ghost in the Shell", and "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters". Hall's contribution to the movie's production ensures it has the best look, color, and lighting.
'The Fantastic Four' plot rumors
While there's nothing official about this movie's plot, there have been rumors since August 2023 about when this movie would take place.
According to these rumors, this Fantastic Four movie would take place during the 1960s. The family of superheroes would then eventually make it into the present day, possibly in a similar fashion to how Captain America (h/t Comic Book Movie).
Marvel's Instagram announcement does hint at this rumored plot given its retro 1960s vibe. Sure, it could be a coincidence, but I think we all know there must be a reason Marvel made that artistic choice.
For his part, Moss-Bachrach wouldn't confirm or deny the rumors of a 1960s story for this movie. All that Kimmel could get out of him in their interview was "That image does seem to be ’60s themed." Having watched the interview though, I'm inclined to believe that if the rumor was wrong he'd have denied things a little more strongly.
It's normal to assume that for the new generation of Marvel fans, we might expect an origin story of how the Fantastic Four gained their powers. However, Kevin Feige revealed to the Hollywood Reporter that this won't be the case: "A lot of people know this origin. A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they've never seen before? We've set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen."
With Garner confirmed as a female Silver Surfer, we do know that she'll most likely play the villain in the movie. Silver Surfer agreed to become the official messenger of a powerful cosmic entity known as Galactus in hopes of saving his love interest and his planet. In return for great power, he had to find worlds that Galactus could feed on to please his quenchless appetite. Due to this storyline, it's possible that Doctor Doom and Galactus will join the MCU at some point.
As of April 26, a new character poster from Marvel Entertainment has teased the idea of an alternate universe even more. Check it out:
🔥🔥🔥🔥 #TheFantasticFour Celebrate 4-4 Day at: https://t.co/2y9vMDzco4 pic.twitter.com/jTIJTZU7TKApril 4, 2024
Again, this poster of Joseph Quinn's Human Torch has a retro 1960s vibe with the logo and bright colors. If you zoom in on the city below him, you'll notice that it doesn't look like Earth-616 (the most used universe in the MCU). This means we could see "Fantastic Four" in an alternate timeline, with the characters possibly joining Earth-616 at some point in Phase 6.
UPDATE (Thursday, June 27): Kevin Feige recently confirmed in an episode of The Official Marvel Podcast that "Fantastic Four" is a period piece set in the 1960s. He also teased that the movie will be set in an alternate universe to the main MCU. However, this doesn't mean that our regular superheroes won't show up for a sneaky cameo. Since we know the multiverse is very much real, the Fantastic Four could somehow end up traveling through space and time.
'Fantastic Four' filming updates
According to Hollywood Reporter, "Fantastic Four" will begin filming at the end of July this year. It's also reported that filming starts in London, but the exact location is unknown. We'll come back here with more updates when the beginning of August rolls around.
UPDATE (Friday, June 14): However, Joseph Quinn did share some exciting news about his role in the movie. In an interview with GQ, he talked about how much work he's done on the project thus far: "I’m eating stuff and lifting things. I’m working with someone great—if you’d cast someone as a personal trainer, you’d cast him, he’s a rhinoceros of a man." Quinn also went onto say the "wheels are getting moving" regarding the movie's progress.
UPDATE (Thursday, July 15): Big news! Filming has officially started today, meaning the cast are now together filming their first mission as the Fantastic Four. We got this update from Pedro Pascal, who posted a selfie on Instagram. He's seen smiling with Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn. The cast are currently in London, but it's unknown how long they'll be there for. So, things are finally kicking off, as the movie will release in theaters in exactly one year.
UPDATE (Wednesday, September 11): With filming currently underway, some of the cast members have shared their thoughts and excitement. Vanessa Kirby said to Entertainment Tonight: "We love each other so much. I’ve been away from them for two days and I miss them. We’re having such great time together. I’m really hopeful for the movie and Matt Shakman is amazing and Pedro [Pascal] is heavenly."
References to the Fantastic Four in the MCU so far
We're starting to see references to Marvel's first family in the MCU. For starters, a Kang the Conqueror (who also goes by the name Nathaniel Richards) variant named He Who Remains appeared in the Loki season 1 finale. Kang's long been a thorn in the Fantastic Four's side in the comics.
In that same episode, there may have been another reference to the Richards family, at least as one fan saw it. A close look at an outer-space scene may have revealed the Richards family's spaceship.
And of course, we saw John Krasinski as Mr. Fantastic in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" but that was a separate Earth and likely won't have further bearing on the MCU.
As of April 29, fans have been speculating that the Fantastic Four (2015 version) may have a cameo in "Deadpool & Wolverine" since Michael B. Jordan recently shared a trailer. Just to confirm, there have been no reports that any actor in the "Fantastic Four" franchise will appear in "Deadpool & Wolverine". However, with the MCU now focusing on the multiverse, it wouldn't be a surprise if any of the 2005 or 2015 "Fantastic Four" actors showed up.
