'Fantastic Four' First Look Images, Interviews Tease A New MCU – ryan
Marvel’s first family is taking flight on the big screen. Sorry, Avengers, but The Fantastic Four are, perhaps, the comic book company’s most iconic and beloved superhero families (I guess the Avengers are all technically co-workers first, aren’t they?). And Disney is clearly hoping that Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm will give a blast of cosmic energy to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. With stars like Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach playing the aforementioned parts, the future certainly looks hopeful and chock-a-block with talent.
And in a new cover story from Entertainment Weekly, it sounds like Marvel’s first family is going to reach new heights of nostalgia and timeline reinvention when they hit theaters on July 25, 2025. In fact, the retro-futuristic tale is set to plot the intersection of “where Kirby meets Kubrick,” as director Matt Shakman put it. After all, these heroes do not exist on the Earth we’ve seen in the MCU thus far, and that means changes, they are a-comin’!
Related
‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Actor Explains Why He Thinks MCU Reboot “Will Go Down in History”
Get ready for “the Marvel movie of the year.”
Per Shakman:
“We knew that we’d be on another Earth, so we had a chance to reinvent what the ’60s looked like. I was really interested in imagining The Fantastic Four being astronauts. Instead of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin going to the moon, what if it was Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben who were really the first to go into outer space, the first to push those boundaries?”
Curious to know more and to check out some new, first-look images from the movie? Keep reading below!
‘The Fantastic Four’ Movie Is Set To Lean Into The Hope Of Comics’ Silver Age
As comic book historian Sean Howe wrote in his book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story: “The blast of colorful heroics against a murky background world immediately set Fantastic Four apart from everything else on the newsstand.” And those colorful heroics feel well-suited to our currently murky world (putting it mildly). Which makes this latest iteration of the Fantastic story feel primed for a reboot and some character re-imaginations.
Perhaps most notable is this version’s take on Johnny Storm. Played by Chris Evans in the early aughts adaptations, Johnny is a cocky womanizer. According to Quinn, that self-assured confidence is still there, but his take on the teen character admittedly sounds a bit more grounded than Evan’s. “He’s a man that leads with a lot of bravado, which can be an affront sometimes. But also he’s funny,” Quinn explained. “Myself and (Marvel Studios boss) Kevin (Feige) were speaking about previous iterations of him and where we are culturally. He was branded as this womanizing, devil-may-care guy, but is that sexy these days? I don’t think so.”
“This version of Johnny is less callous,” said Quinn, “with other people’s feelings, and hopefully there’s a self-awareness about what’s driving that attention-seeking behavior.”
Or, as Shakman put it:
“He’s on that spaceship for a reason, and I think sometimes people forget that in various comic stories, he’s been one of the most heroic of them, even if he’s undercutting his heroism at every turn through humor. He’s Sue’s brother, which means they are cut from similar cloth.”
Another change that may help the film? The Thing isn’t so suited up, allowing the actors to all connect with the man they know and love as Ben. “The Fantastic Four are very close. They’re family before they go out to space and get mutated,” Moss-Bachrach explained. “So it was helpful that it was just me standing there, because then when Joe or Vanessa or Pedro looked at me, they saw Ben as opposed to the Thing. That’s really valuable in terms of intimacy and the way that we behave with each other.”
And, of course, our beloved Sue Storm is getting a bit of a characterization upgrade, too. In her early comic book days, Sue Storm was patronizingly referred to as “Invisible Girl” as she could not only turn herself invisible, she mostly existed to serve as a damsel in distress. “If you played an exact ’60s Sue today, everyone would think she was a bit of a doormat,” Vanessa Kirby explained. “So figuring out how to capture the essence of what she represented to each generation, where the gender politics were different, and embody that today, was one of the greatest joys of this.”
Another major aspect the film hopes to play with? Having a superhero that’s also a mom at the center of the action — and making sure she gets to bring a little bit of Malice with her, too:
“Matt and I were really aware that there hasn’t really been a mother with a baby in these superhero archetypes women have been getting. One of the things I love most from Sue’s history is when she becomes Malice, and all her dark stuff comes out. I was obsessed with that chapter of her life. So I wanted to make sure that there were tones of Malice in there with her, that she wasn’t just the stereotype of a goody, sweet mother. I’ve always been really interested in the mess of femininity, and how can you be both? How can you be all the things? Not just the tough, invincible, powerful woman, but also a mother who gives birth, which is itself a superhero act. I love that these characters are real humans in a messy family who argue and try to work it out and get things wrong.”
And if you are a comic book fan wondering whether that means Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, will show up in First Steps? You’ll be happy to know that he does. You can read the full EW story at the link below.
Source:
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
-
July 25, 2025
- Director
-
Matt Shakman
- Writers
-
Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee
- Producers
-
Jamie Christopher, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Tim Lewis
- Franchise(s)
-
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Cast
-
Pedro Pascal
Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
-
Vanessa Kirby
Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman
-
Joseph Quinn
Johnny Storm / Human Torch
-
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Ben Grimm / The Thing
Marvel’s first family is taking flight on the big screen. Sorry, Avengers, but The Fantastic Four are, perhaps, the comic book company’s most iconic and beloved superhero families (I guess the Avengers are all technically co-workers first, aren’t they?). And Disney is clearly hoping that Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm will give a blast of cosmic energy to the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. With stars like Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach playing the aforementioned parts, the future certainly looks hopeful and chock-a-block with talent.
And in a new cover story from Entertainment Weekly, it sounds like Marvel’s first family is going to reach new heights of nostalgia and timeline reinvention when they hit theaters on July 25, 2025. In fact, the retro-futuristic tale is set to plot the intersection of “where Kirby meets Kubrick,” as director Matt Shakman put it. After all, these heroes do not exist on the Earth we’ve seen in the MCU thus far, and that means changes, they are a-comin’!
Related
‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Actor Explains Why He Thinks MCU Reboot “Will Go Down in History”
Get ready for “the Marvel movie of the year.”
Per Shakman:
“We knew that we’d be on another Earth, so we had a chance to reinvent what the ’60s looked like. I was really interested in imagining The Fantastic Four being astronauts. Instead of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin going to the moon, what if it was Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben who were really the first to go into outer space, the first to push those boundaries?”
Curious to know more and to check out some new, first-look images from the movie? Keep reading below!
‘The Fantastic Four’ Movie Is Set To Lean Into The Hope Of Comics’ Silver Age
As comic book historian Sean Howe wrote in his book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story: “The blast of colorful heroics against a murky background world immediately set Fantastic Four apart from everything else on the newsstand.” And those colorful heroics feel well-suited to our currently murky world (putting it mildly). Which makes this latest iteration of the Fantastic story feel primed for a reboot and some character re-imaginations.
Perhaps most notable is this version’s take on Johnny Storm. Played by Chris Evans in the early aughts adaptations, Johnny is a cocky womanizer. According to Quinn, that self-assured confidence is still there, but his take on the teen character admittedly sounds a bit more grounded than Evan’s. “He’s a man that leads with a lot of bravado, which can be an affront sometimes. But also he’s funny,” Quinn explained. “Myself and (Marvel Studios boss) Kevin (Feige) were speaking about previous iterations of him and where we are culturally. He was branded as this womanizing, devil-may-care guy, but is that sexy these days? I don’t think so.”
“This version of Johnny is less callous,” said Quinn, “with other people’s feelings, and hopefully there’s a self-awareness about what’s driving that attention-seeking behavior.”
Or, as Shakman put it:
“He’s on that spaceship for a reason, and I think sometimes people forget that in various comic stories, he’s been one of the most heroic of them, even if he’s undercutting his heroism at every turn through humor. He’s Sue’s brother, which means they are cut from similar cloth.”
Another change that may help the film? The Thing isn’t so suited up, allowing the actors to all connect with the man they know and love as Ben. “The Fantastic Four are very close. They’re family before they go out to space and get mutated,” Moss-Bachrach explained. “So it was helpful that it was just me standing there, because then when Joe or Vanessa or Pedro looked at me, they saw Ben as opposed to the Thing. That’s really valuable in terms of intimacy and the way that we behave with each other.”
And, of course, our beloved Sue Storm is getting a bit of a characterization upgrade, too. In her early comic book days, Sue Storm was patronizingly referred to as “Invisible Girl” as she could not only turn herself invisible, she mostly existed to serve as a damsel in distress. “If you played an exact ’60s Sue today, everyone would think she was a bit of a doormat,” Vanessa Kirby explained. “So figuring out how to capture the essence of what she represented to each generation, where the gender politics were different, and embody that today, was one of the greatest joys of this.”
Another major aspect the film hopes to play with? Having a superhero that’s also a mom at the center of the action — and making sure she gets to bring a little bit of Malice with her, too:
“Matt and I were really aware that there hasn’t really been a mother with a baby in these superhero archetypes women have been getting. One of the things I love most from Sue’s history is when she becomes Malice, and all her dark stuff comes out. I was obsessed with that chapter of her life. So I wanted to make sure that there were tones of Malice in there with her, that she wasn’t just the stereotype of a goody, sweet mother. I’ve always been really interested in the mess of femininity, and how can you be both? How can you be all the things? Not just the tough, invincible, powerful woman, but also a mother who gives birth, which is itself a superhero act. I love that these characters are real humans in a messy family who argue and try to work it out and get things wrong.”
And if you are a comic book fan wondering whether that means Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, will show up in First Steps? You’ll be happy to know that he does. You can read the full EW story at the link below.
Source:
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Release Date
-
July 25, 2025
- Director
-
Matt Shakman
- Writers
-
Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson, Jack Kirby, Stan Lee
- Producers
-
Jamie Christopher, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Tim Lewis
- Franchise(s)
-
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Cast
-
Pedro Pascal
Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
-
Vanessa Kirby
Sue Storm / The Invisible Woman
-
Joseph Quinn
Johnny Storm / Human Torch
-
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Ben Grimm / The Thing