What we know about The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Marvel’s first family are returning to the big screen in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The Fantastic Four, Stan Lee's original power line-up are getting a proper, Marvel Studios-backed movie which bodes incredibly well for one of the most enduring, and famous of superhero teams.

First Steps will be the fourth attempt to bring Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm — aka Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing — to the big screen following 1994’s unreleased Roger Corman cheapie, Tim Story’s noughties brace, and Josh Trank’s ill-fated 2015 reboot.

Read more: Every upcoming MCU movie and show

Here’s everything we know about the return of the Fantastic Four so far.

When will The Fantastic Four: First Steps be released?

Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps is slated for release on 25 July 2025 having been pushed back from its original release dates of 2 May 2025 and 14 February 2025 before that. It will mark the first film in Marvel’s Phase Six, the third part of its over-arching Multiverse Saga.

The film began shooting at London’s Pinewood Studios in July 2024, after encountering delays following the Hollywood strikes.

Who are the new Fantastic Four?

Pedro Pascal will be Marvel’s new Reed Richards, AKA Mr Fantastic, with The Crown star star Vanessa Kirby as Invisible Woman Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as The Human Torch Johnny Storm and The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing.

This casting news was made official on Valentine’s Day 2024 when Marvel issued a special loved-up confirmation post.

In July 2024, Pascal released the first look at the movie’s primary foursome together. Kirby can be seen embracing Pascal, with Moss-Bachrach and Quinn standing next to them. Pascal posted a short note alongside the photo which read “Our first mission” accompanied by a blue heart emoji.

Who else is in the cast?

Ozark’s Julia Garner is playing Shalla-Bal, a female version of the Silver Surfer.

The First Omen star Ralph Ineson is playing Galactus, the new story’s primary villain. According to Marvel lore, Galactus is an intergalactic being that feeds on the life force of planets.

Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser and John Malkovich have all joined the cast in as-yet-undisclosed roles.

An alternate universe version of Dr Reed Richards appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness played by fan favourite John Krasinski.

That version was a member of the Illuminati, a super-team alongside Baron Mordo, Professor X, Maria Rambeau’s Captain Marvel, Black Bolt and Captain Carter. He was shredded into ribbons by an evil Scarlet Witch, which doesn’t rule out Krasinski returning for this universe’s Reed in some capacity but nothing has been confirmed just yet.

There’s no news of if their arch-enemy Victor Van Doom aka Dr Doom — played by Robert Downey Jr — will appear. But given the Marvel universe includes a few fictional countries like Wakanda, Sokovia, Madripoor and Talokan, it makes sense to introduce Doom as he is in the comics: the King of the Sovereign nation of Latveria.

Story’s Doom was played by Nip/Tuck’s Julian McMahon as a wealthy scientist with ties to “the old country” while Trank radically revised Doom as a computer hacker, this time played by Toby Kebbell.

Is the film linked to previous Fantastic Four films?

During 2024’s Comic-Con, Moss-Bachrach told reporters that he was steering clear of previous iterations of Fantastic Four, saying: “I haven’t seen those movies... We’re really just making our own specific thing. This is no discredit to those movies. But we’re telling our own very specific story.”

Meanwhile, director Matt Shakman told Collider that movie will be “unlike anything you’ve seen before”, adding that “we are doing things very differently” from previous films.

Previously the Four were portrayed in feature films by Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans as Reed Richards / Mr Fantastic, Susan Storm / Invisible Woman, Ben Grimm / The Thing and Johnny Storm / Human Torch respectively.

They portrayed the team in two Tim Story-directed features in 2005 and 2007 sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer. Both were moderate box office successes but critical duds.

The team was rebooted in 2015 by Josh Trank taking a darker, more “grounded” take with the cast consisting of Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Michael B. Jordan. The film was a box office disaster and the critical reaction was even worse, with many citing the dull tone and clear reshoots hampering the story.

Both Evans and Jordan have found success and acclaim in new roles within the MCU.

What is the plot of The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Plot details for The Fantastic Four: First Steps are currently as easy to spot as The Invisible Woman but we do know that the foursome are set to play a big part in the upcoming Avengers movies Doomsday and Secret Wars.

We also know that the reboot won't be an origin story, as revealed by Shakman during 2024’s San Diego Comic-Con. He told Entertainment Weekly: “We thought, ‘Well, let’s just start this thing off on a completely new foot. So we are beginning after that.’”

Shakman also confirmed his movie will be set in a “retro-future ’60s” and will focus largely on “the space race and about voyaging out there.”

He added: “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.”

Elsewhere, footage showed at Comic-Con teased Reed Richards’ science-themed kids show and showed the quartet preparing for a trip to space.

Fantastic Four stories in the comics often revolve around the cosmic, including their battles with Skrulls (as shown in Captain Marvel), Silver Surfer and the monstrous planet eater Galactus.

Who is making The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Originally Jon Watts, the director behind Marvel Studios’ backed Spider-Man trilogy — Homecoming, Far From Home and No Way Home — was due to direct the film, but stepped down to work on other projects, including a Star Wars series.

In his absence WandaVision director Shakman was announced as director of the film, having impressed Marvel with his mixing of old-school and modern filmmaking with the series.

The first script was written by Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. In April 2023, it was announced that Josh Friedman would be rewriting the script. Friedman recently worked on Avatar: The Way of Water, and is known for his work in the sci-fi realm having worked on Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Terminator: Dark Fate, Foundation and Snowpiercer.

This could signal a change of tone for the Fantastic Four movie with Kaplan and Springer better known for their comedic work.

Read more: What is the multiverse?

Previous directors Tim Story and Josh Trank faced their fair share of criticism. Story directed bright, colourful adventures that very much played to a younger, family-friendly crowd which was fine for the time but lost some of the emotional resonance the team has had in the past.

Trank famously had feuds with original studio 20th Century Fox to the point where he was removed from directing re-shoots that changed the film’s original ending. Since then Trank has only directed one film: crime biopic Capone starring Tom Hardy.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is due for release on 25 July, 2025.