The Fantastic Four: First Steps: release date, trailer, confirmed cast, plot synopsis, and more news and rumors about the Marvel movie
Here's everything you need to know about The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which will be the first Marvel Phase 6 movie.
- Will launch globally in late July
- First trailer released in February
- Main cast confirmed
- Story synopsis unveiled alongside first trailer
- Isn't technically set in the MCU
- Other plot details teased
- Should set up the next two Avengers movies
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is going to take one small step for man and one giant leap for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in a few months time. The highly-anticipated superhero film will arrive on July 25, so it's time you learned more about the forthcoming movie.
In this guide, I've compiled the biggest and latest news (and the odd rumor!) on The Fantastic Four 's next silver-screen outing. That includes its first trailer, confirmed cast, story details, and how it may impact future MCU projects.
Potential spoilers follow for First Steps, so proceed with caution.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps release date
The Fantastic Four: First Steps will have lift-off on Friday, July 25. It was originally due to fly into theaters in November 2024, but Marvel revised the launch date of its Fantastic Four movie last February.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer
Marvel finally unveiled The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer on February 4, and it revealed official looks at Marvel's iconic quartet of superheroes, the movie's Big Bad in Galactus, and John Malkovich's mysterious character.
The footage differs from a teaser shown exclusively to D23 Expo 2024 attendees in August 2024. That sizzle reel showed Reed Richards teaching science to schoolkids, the titular group suiting up for a space mission (likely the one where they acquire their superpowers), Ben Grimm/The Thing appearing on a dating show, the team flying through the retro-futuristic Manhattan skyline in their Fantasticar, and Galactus peering through one of the Baxter Building's many windows and startling the group's robot H.E.R.B.I.E.
With Thunderbolts, Phase 5's final film, set to storm into cinemas in early May, I wouldn't be surprised if a new First Steps trailer is debuted in late April so it can run ahead of Thunderbolts*. So, expect this article to get another update in less than a month's time.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast: confirmed and rumored
Here's the confirmed cast for Marvel's latest Fantastic Four movie reboot:
- Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic
- Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman
- Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing
- Ralph Ineson as Galactus
- Julia Garner as Silver Surfer
- John Malkovich as TBC
- Paul Walter Hauser as TBC
- Natasha Lyonne as TBC
- Sarah Niles as TBC
Ahead of the first four actors' unveiling as the titular team, there was an avalanche of rumors about who'd play them that sent MCU fans into a tailspin. Some have since confirmed they've been locked in for some time – Moss-Bachrach tellingThe Jimmy Kimmel Show that he joined the cast in August 2023. One month earlier, Kirby also told me "it would be an honor" to play Sue Storm, which all but confirmed her hiring.
As for Pascal, he reportedly held talks with Marvel about joining the cast in November 2023. Then, a February 2024 report revealed Pascal had signed on to play Richards, so the sting was taken out of that surprise. The only shock reveal was Quinn's, with Stranger Things actor being announced as Johnny Storm on Valentine's Day 2024.
On the villain front, one of the Fantastic Four's most famous adversaries – Galactus – is the movie's chief villain. The Office UK's Ralph Ineson will voice Galactus in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
World devouring cosmic villain is it? I’ll see what I can do https://t.co/QhCk2v8VCcMay 10, 2024
Ineson will be joined on antagonistic duties by Ozark's Garner, who'll play a gender-swapped version of Galactus' Herald, aka the Silver Surfer. They're another prominent character in the Fantastic Four's extensive comic book history who flits between working with and against the titular group.
Hauser, Malkovich, and Niles are also part of the cast, but their roles remain a mystery. Poker Face and Russian Doll's Natasha Lyonne is also involved and, while her role hasn't been publicly disclosed, Marvel fans think Lyonne would be perfect for a very specific role.
And what of Doctor Doom, another of the team's legendary villains and one of Marvel's most iconic villains? With none other than Robert Downey Jr – yes, he of Iron Man and Avengers fame – playing Doom, who is now the Multiverse Saga's new main villain, he should cameo, right?
First Steps director Matt Shakman wouldn't be drawn on that rumor when quizzed by ComicBook.com, while Moss-Bachrach also refused to comment on Downey Jr's possible involvement on The Jimmy Kimmel Show in January. That's usually code for "he will appear", so don't be amazed if Doom shows up, even if it's in a post-credits scene.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps plot speculation
Here's The Fantastic Four: First Steps' official story brief: "Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family... as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer. And, if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal."
Outside of that, the first thing you need to know about the Marvel Phase 5 project is it won't be an origins story. With three other Fantastic Four films released since 2005, fans know how the iconic quartet attain their powers.
"One of the ways we're making it our own thing is we're not telling the story of them going up and being changed, and starting our story [there]," Shakman told Entertainment Weekly (EW): "There's a lot of well-known narrative that leads into that moment, right? And then you're making up your new story starting basically at the end of the first act, and we thought, 'Well, let's just start this thing off on a completely new foot. So we are beginning after that.'"
Feige has also confirmed that it'll be a period piece and won't be set in the MCU. "Yes, very much so. It is a period," Feige told The Official Marvel Podcast episode 1. "There were a lot of smart people who noticed that the cityscape [artwork] didn't look exactly like the New York that we know, or that existed in the 1960s in our world. Those are smart observations, I'll say."
The cityscape imagery Feige mentions refers to a piece of comic-inspired artwork uploaded to Marvel's social channels. The image, which you can see below, shows The Human Storm flying around a retro-futuristic version of New York, i.e. the US city that the group operates out of.
