Marvel Studios has assembled a fantastic cast for its next superhero team.
In February 2024, Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby were confirmed to be leading Marvel’s The Fantastic Four movie as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic and Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman, respectively. Completing the film’s titular quartet are Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/the Thing.
Of course, every superhero movie also needs a supervillain. Marvel has tapped Ralph Ineson to play Galactus, the film’s main antagonist who feeds off the energy of other planets.
The movie, set for a July 2025 release, marks the third big screen iteration of the comic book series. Before starring as Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (a.k.a. MCU), Chris Evans starred as Johnny Storm in 2005’s Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, alongside Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba and Michael Chiklis.
The heroes were rebooted again in 2015’s Fantastic Four, which starred Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell.
Pedro Pascal Joins the Marvel Universe in ‘The Fantastic Four’ Trailer
Marvel announced the film’s casting in February 2024 by paying homage to the characters’ origins with a 1960s-inspired poster. “Happy Valentine’s Day from Marvel’s First Family!” read the caption of the Instagram reveal, which featured illustrated versions of the actors sitting in a living room in comic-accurate costumes.
The movie’s official title – The Fantastic Four: First Steps – was announced at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2024.
Keep scrolling for everything to know the Fantastic Four’s latest film outing:
When Does ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Hit Theaters?
The film will premiere on July 25, 2025, two months after the release of Marvel’s Thunderbolts.
Who Is Starring in ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps?’
Pascal, Kirby, Quinn and Moss-Bachrach were all announced as part of the cast in February 2024, with a few additions trickling in since. “[I’m] beyond excited, especially to be in that cast, more than anything, with that director Matt Shakman,” Pascal told Access Hollywood in February 2024. “To be invited into a family like that is a dream come true, and I can’t wait to spend all of my time with them.”
Moss-Bacharach revealed Pascal launched the cast’s group chat.
The cast expanded in April 2024 when Julia Garner joined the film, according to Deadline. The Ozark alum is set to play Shalla-Bal, an incarnation of the iconic Silver Surfer. In addition to Ineson, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, John Malkovich and Sarah Niles have also been cast in undisclosed roles.
What Will Happen in ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps?’
In true Marvel fashion, major plot details for the film are being kept under wraps. The film’s April 2025 full-length trailer gave fans a glimpse of what to expect from the team’s latest big screen outing.
The film picks up with the newest iteration of the team in a futuristic, 1960’s-inspired universe outside of the main MCU timeline. Unlike the previous Fantastic Four films, the group is already an established superhero team beloved by the public.
“Well, folks, we all know the story. Four brave astronauts head up into space and come back forever changed,” a talk show host says before introducing the team on his show. “Our city, our planet, owe a debt to these intrepid souls.”
Things are going great for the group — with Sue announcing she and Reed are expecting their first child — until Garner’s Silver Surfer arrives to reveal their planet has been “marked for death.”
Reed, for his part, blames himself for their planet’s doomed fate. “It’s my fault. I stretched the bounds of space, and they heard,” he tells Sue. However, the team aren’t going to let their world end without a fight.
The trailer gives a glimpse at each team member using their powers in the battle to save their universe against Galactus, whose giant feet are shown stomping through a city at the end of the teaser.
“We will fight it together, as a family,” Sue declares in the footage. “It has to be us.”
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Will ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Be a Part of the MCU?
Unlike the Fantastic Four’s previous onscreen adaptations, the 2025 version will be the first to be set in the MCU. 21st Century Fox owned the film rights to Marvel characters — including Deadpool, the X-Men and more — prior to Disney’s acquisition of the studio in 2019. Deadpool & Wolverine, which hit theaters in July 2024, marked the first major crossover between the Fox and Disney universes.
The Fantastic Four characters have already been featured in the MCU, with John Krasinski making a cameo as Reed Richards in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Krasinski’s version of the hero, however, was not from the MCU’s main timeline.
Who Will Direct ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps?’
Matt Shakman, who directed the 2021 Disney+ series WandaVision, has signed on for the upcoming superhero film. Shakman took over directing duties from Jon Watts, who led Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy, following his exit from the project in April 2022.
Will Doctor Doom Appear in ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps?’
One of the biggest reveals at Marvel’s 2024 Comic-Con panel was the casting of Robert Downey Jr. as the famous villain Doctor Doom. The character is one of the Fantastic Four’s most notable enemies in the comics and is set to be the big bad in the upcoming fifth and sixth Avengers movies, titled Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Details about Downey Jr.’s version of the character are currently being kept under wraps, including whether he will make an appearance in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
