Everything You Need To Know About Fantastic Four: First Steps

Despite being one of the earliest and most beloved creations in superhero comics, the Fantastic Four have never really had a respectable track record at the box office. They’ve had a nearly impossible-to-find unreleased urban legend in the form of the Roger Corman-produced ‘90s film, two middling early 2000s features, and a 2014 reboot that some critics declared the worst film of all-time.

For decades its been a bad time at the movies to be a Fantastic Four fan, but luckily the group’s MCU debut is right around the corner. The MCU has gone through its own rough patch recently with some less-than-positively received releases, but the hype for Fantastic Four seems to suggest that audiences aren’t experiencing superhero fatigue just yet. The 37th release in the franchise so far, there are quite a lot of people hoping that Fantastic Four: First Steps will end up being the adaptation to finally perfect Marvel’s First Family on the big-screen.

Is Fantastic Four: First Steps Coming Out?

Yes, Marvel Studios have been workshopping plans to include the Fantastic Four since they first acquired the superhero team back in March 2019, as a result of the 20th Century Fox deal. Initially, Jon Watts (director of the MCU Spider-Man trilogy) was attached to direct the project, but in April of 2022 he stepped away to begin work on the original film Wolfs.

After an extensive search for a replacement filmmaker, Marvel confirmed that the director of WandaVision, Matt Shakman, would be taking over the project.

When Is The Fantastic Four: First Steps Release Date?

Diehard Fantastic Four fans should be rejoicing, because the release date for First Steps is only a few months away, on July 25, 2025.

What Is The Plot of Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Like every MCU release post-Avengers: Endgame, Fantastic Four: First Steps is an installment in the Multiverse Saga, part of the larger culmination that will end with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. Considering the Fantastic Four’s arch-nemesis, Doctor Doom, is confirmed to play a major role in this Phase’s final crossover, it can reasonably be assumed that the team will also play a crucial part in the story as well.

However, this version of the Fantastic Four will definitely be a little different than what fans know from the source material. The film’s official synopsis mentions that the film will take place on a “1960s, retro-futuristic Earth,” strongly implying that the team will be from an alternate dimension from the main MCU, which is something that has been heavily theorized by fans for a while now. And despite Robert Downey Jr. being cast in the role of Doctor Doom, there’s another, much larger villain taking center stage here, as the synopsis also reveals the presence of the planet-consuming Galactus and his apocalyptic herald-turned-superhero, the Silver Surfer.

There’s not a whole lot of finer details we know so far, other than the fact that the film will not be an origin story and will instead take place after the team has already gained their powers and become known to the world. With the larger threat of the Incursions and Dr. Doom looming ahead in the future, it’s not confirmed but a strong possibility that we might also see the Fantastic Four separated from their home reality as well, setting the stage for them to encounter the other heroes found in the traditional MCU.

Who Is In The Cast of Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Despite John Krasinski appearing as Reed Richards in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, the First Steps cast is entirely new and filled with some pretty recognizable and in-demand faces.

• Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. A brilliant scientist (one of the smartest men on Earth in the source material) who, after encountering cosmic rays with the rest of the team while on a space expedition, discovers that he has the ability to stretch any part of his body as if it’s elastic.
• Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman. The wife of Reed Richards and sister of Johnny Storm, Sue is also an accomplished scientist in her own right who receives the ability to turn invisible and also generate powerful force fields after exposure to the cosmic storm. It’s also confirmed, in new footage shown at CinemaCon, that Sue is pregnant, potentially planting the seeds for an X-Men movie down the line.
• Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing. A former astronaut and Reed’s best friend since college. Ben suffers the worst as a result of the team’s space expedition, with his skin solidifying into an orange rock substance which grants him super-strength and durability, at the cost of his self-esteem and social alienation.
• Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch. The team’s youngest member, playboy, and Sue’s brother, Johnny gains the ability to both control and engulf himself in flames, alongside controlled flight.
• Ralph Ineson as Galactus. An incomprehensibly massive and ancient cosmic being who contains the mysterious Power Cosmic and roams the galaxy devouring planets whole. Galactus was famously depicted as a giant storm cloud in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which makes this his first proper on-screen appearance.
• Julia Garner as Shalla-Ball/the Silver Surfer. A former inhabitant of the planet Zenn-La, who sacrifices their autonomy to save their planet by agreeing to become the superpowered herald of Galactus. In the comics, the Silver Surfer is Ball’s lover, a man named Norrin Radd, but it seems like the MCU has decided to swap the positions (worth mentioning that Shalla did serve as the Silver Surfer in the alternate Earth X continuity). Of course, with the film taking place in an alternate dimension, there is still a possibility that Norrin Radd could make an appearance at some point in the future.

Is There A Trailer For Fantastic Four: First Steps?

Yes, the brief first teaser trailer for the film debuted on February 4, 2025, with a full-length trailer and TV spots sure to follow the closer the film gets to release.

How Many Fantastic Four Movies Will There Be In Total?

Right now it’s impossible to say, although it’s safe to assume that if this one is financially successful then Marvel will surely greenlight more. It’s been their business model for years and we can see it across most of their solo films — it’s easier to count on one hand the number of characters who have only received one film in the MCU so far. With the popularity of the FF across Marvel’s long history, as well as the nature of the MCU being one of growth and decay, it’s likely that the team will be a major player in the franchise moving past the Multiverse Saga.

Of course with them all but confirmed to appear in Doomsday and Secret Wars, it would be bizarre for them not to show up again before the end of the phase. Outside of a cataclysmic catastrophe à la Inhumans, we can expect to see Marvel’s First Family a few times as the MCU builds once again to another world-shattering conclusion.