The Fantastic Four: First Steps


The Fantastic Four: First Steps is a 2025 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Fantastic Four. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 37th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the second reboot of the Fantastic Four film series. The film was directed by Matt Shakman from a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, and the team of Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. It features an ensemble cast including Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn as the titular team, alongside Julia Garner, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, and Ralph Ineson. The film is set in the 1960s of a retro-futuristic world which the Fantastic Four must protect from the planet-devouring cosmic being Galactus.
20th Century Fox began work on a new Fantastic Four film following the failure of Fantastic Four. After the studio was acquired by Disney in March 2019, control of the franchise was transferred to Marvel Studios, and a new film was announced that July. Jon Watts was set to direct in December 2020, but stepped down in April 2022. Shakman replaced him that September when Kaplan and Springer were working on the script. Casting began by early 2023, and Friedman joined in March to rewrite the script. The film is differentiated from previous Fantastic Four films by avoiding the team's origin story. Pearson joined to polish the script by mid-February 2024, when the main cast and the title The Fantastic Four were announced. The subtitle was added in July, when filming began. It took place until November 2024 at Pinewood Studios in England, and on location in England and Spain.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps premiered at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles on July 21, 2025, and was released in the United States on July 25, as the first film in Phase Six of the MCU. It received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $521.9 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Fantastic Four film. A sequel is in development.

Plot

On Earth-828 in 1964, the world celebrates the fourth anniversary of astronauts Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm becoming the superhero team known as the Fantastic Four after they gained superhuman abilities from exposure to cosmic rays during a space mission. Since then, the team have become celebrities and fought supervillains, while Reed's inventions have progressed technology and Sue's diplomacy via the Future Foundation has led to demilitarization and peace for much of the world. When Reed and Sue reveal that they are expecting a child, the world prepares for the new arrival and questions whether the child will also have superpowers.
Months later, the Silver Surfer comes to Earth and declares that it has been marked for destruction by Galactus, a planet-devouring cosmic being. Reed studies the disappearance of other planets and verifies this claim, and the team decides to return to space to stop Galactus from coming to Earth. They track the Silver Surfer's energy signature and, using faster-than-light travel, arrive at a new planet just as it is destroyed by Galactus's ship. The team is captured and brought to Galactus, who reveals that he has an insatiable hunger that has driven him to consume planets for eons. Galactus senses that Reed and Sue's unborn child has an immense cosmic power and could take on his hunger, freeing himself from it. He offers to spare Earth in exchange for the child, and induces Sue to go into labor. The team refuses the offer and escapes from the ship. Using the gravity from a neutron star, which destroys their FTL system, the team delays the chasing Silver Surfer and propels themselves back to Earth. Sue gives birth to a boy, Franklin, on the way.
On their return to Earth a month later, Reed reveals the details of their encounter during a press conference. Their decision to save one child over the billions of other people on Earth leads to a public outcry, with many calling for Franklin to be sacrificed to Galactus. Johnny begins to decipher the Silver Surfer's native language using his interactions with her and some deep space transmissions Reed intercepted from her planet. They also have transmissions from planets that Galactus destroyed. As Galactus draws near and protests against the Fantastic Four escalate, Sue takes Franklin to meet with protesters. She explains that they will not sacrifice their child, but they will also not give up on the rest of humanity, regaining public trust. Using a teleportation system that he has been working on, Reed devises a plan to build large teleportation bridges across Earth so they can transport the entire planet to another solar system where Galactus cannot reach them. Through the Future Foundation, Sue organizes the world's nations to build the bridges and conserve the energy needed to use them.
As the bridges are being activated, the Silver Surfer returns and begins destroying them. Johnny stops her from destroying the last bridge in Times Square and reveals what he learned from the transmissions: her name is Shalla-Bal and she became Galactus's herald to spare her world, Zenn-La. Hearing transmissions from planets she helped destroy, Shalla-Bal expresses remorse but refuses to help and flees. Using Franklin as bait, the team plans to lure Galactus to the last bridge and teleport him away. Sue negotiates with Harvey Elder to evacuate New York City's citizens to Subterranea, his underground city. Galactus makes his way through the city and captures Franklin, avoiding the trap. Sue uses all of her power to push him towards the portal with a force field while Reed rescues Franklin. Johnny attempts to sacrifice himself to give Galactus a final push into the portal, but is stopped by Shalla-Bal. She pushes Galactus into the portal herself and it closes behind them. Sue dies from her efforts, but is revived by Franklin. The team later goes on a new mission as the world celebrates their fifth anniversary.
In a mid-credits scene set four years later, Sue is reading to Franklin at home and goes to get a different book. She returns to see him interacting with a man in a green cloak who is holding a metal mask.

Cast

  • Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic:
A highly intelligent scientist and the leader of the Fantastic Four who can stretch any part of his body to great lengths. Director Matt Shakman described Reed as "the most scientifically intelligent person" on the planet, and a combination of Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Robert Moses. Pascal said it was Reed's mind that was most important to him, rather than the character's physicality, and he considered "the brilliance of an octopus" when approaching the character. He also noted that he drew inspiration from many of the iterations of Reed from the comics, as opposed to previous portrayals of the character such as Ioan Gruffudd and Miles Teller in past Fantastic Four films, and John Krasinski in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Shakman said the character of Reed was the hardest to cast, but he found Pascal to be the best choice in part due to having a long-standing relationship working together in film.
  • Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman:
Reed's pregnant wife, Johnny's older sister, and a member of the Fantastic Four who can generate force fields and turn invisible. She is the founder of the Future Foundation, which has achieved global demilitarization and peace. Shakman described Sue as "the most emotionally intelligent person" on the planet. Kirby enjoyed synthesizing the various comic portrayals of Sue into her version of the character, focusing on motherhood as the through-line. The actress said she was obsessed with the comics run where Sue takes on the negative persona "Malice", and she included elements of that version in her portrayal so Sue would not be "the stereotype of a goody, sweet mother".
  • Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm / The Thing:
Reed's best friend, a former astronaut, and a member of the Fantastic Four whose skin has been transformed into a layer of orange rock, granting him superhuman strength and durability. Moss-Bachrach found comparisons between Ben and his character Richie Jerimovich in the series The Bear, noting both were "deeply loyal people" and "fighters with a fierce sense of code, morality, and family". Moss-Bachrach portrays the Thing through motion capture and computer-generated imagery rather than prosthetic makeup, and discussed that process with Mark Ruffalo, who portrays the Hulk in the MCU using the same technology. In addition to Moss-Bachrach performing his scenes in a motion-capture suit, some takes were re-filmed with the actor using different body extensions or a stand-in wearing a life-sized Thing costume to help the other actors reference the space that the character takes up. Shakman consulted scientists and studied desert rocks to find the best reference for the Thing's appearance; a specific desert rock that matched his desired look for the Thing, referred to as "Jennifer", was also filmed on set as a lighting reference for the visual effects team.
  • Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm / Human Torch:
Sue's younger brother and a member of the Fantastic Four who can control fire and fly. While Quinn was a fan of Chris Evans's portrayal of the character in the 20th Century Fox films Fantastic Four and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, he did not base his portrayal on Evans's. Quinn and producer Kevin Feige discussed Johnny's womanizing in previous portrayals and concluded that this would not be considered "sexy" by modern audiences. Quinn wanted his version to be "less callous with other people's feelings" and more self-aware of his attention-seeking behavior, while still having a lot of bravado and humor. Shakman noted that Johnny is also smart and heroic, despite undercutting that with jokes.
  • Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal / Silver Surfer:
An alien from the utopian planet Zenn-La who agreed to become Galactus's metallic-skinned herald in exchange for him sparing her planet. She travels through space on a surfboard-like craft in search of planets for Galactus to feed on. Garner said there was a "mysterious energy" to the character and her relationship with Galactus. She portrayed the Silver Surfer through motion capture, combining research on surfing poses with statuesque non-surf poses from the comics to have the character " elegantly, like a dance".
  • Sarah Niles as Lynne Nichols: The Chief of Staff of the Future Foundation
  • Mark Gatiss as Ted Gilbert: The host of a popular talk show called The Ted Gilbert Show
  • Natasha Lyonne as Rachel Rozman:
A school teacher and Ben's love interest. Commentators believed the character was named as a tribute to Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein, wife of Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby.
  • Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder / Mole Man:
A former enemy turned ally of the Fantastic Four and the human ruler of Subterranea, an underground society whose inhabitants refer to themselves as Moloids. Shakman compared Elder to a leader of a labor union with humanity and a focus on community and taking care of his people.
  • Ralph Ineson as Galactus:
A gigantic cosmic being who consumes the life force of planets to satiate his endless hunger. Galactus is the sole survivor of a dead universe that existed before the creation of Earth-828. Shakman called him a "humongous, 14-billion-year-old, planet-devouring cosmic vampire". Ineson did not think Galactus was evil, calling him a "god of sorts" and a "big, planet-eating guy, simply doing what a big, planet-eating guy does". The actor spent time "ruminating" at the top of tall buildings to prepare for the role. Feige loved the introduction of Galactus in the comics and had long wanted to use him. Ineson stated that Galactus does not care about a planet's life since "it's his food", only sparing them if there is something that "interests" him there. Feige shared a clip of the character from the video game Fortnite Battle Royale as a reference for how he should be portrayed. The film uses a comic book-accurate design, in contrast with the cloud-like design in Rise of the Silver Surfer. Galactus's purple and blue armor was built for Ineson to wear, as it was important to Shakman that someone was "embodying the part". Ineson had a support crew to keep him cool between takes because of the armor, which was also intended to aid the motion capture process.
Additionally, Matthew Wood voices the Fantastic Four's robot companion H.E.R.B.I.E., who generally serves as Reed's assistant. Shakman said H.E.R.B.I.E. is charming, adorable, "slightly put-upon", and invaluable to the team. Ada Scott and several other babies portray Franklin Richards, the superpowered newborn son of Reed and Sue, while Shakman's daughter Maisie appears as a child Johnny saves. Alex Hyde-White, Rebecca Staab, Jay Underwood, and Michael Bailey Smith, who portrayed the eponymous team in the unreleased 1994 film The Fantastic Four, make cameo appearances: Hyde-White and Staab play television journalists, Underwood and Smith play power plant workers who salute Johnny, and all four appear together as civilians thanking the Fantastic Four. Martin Dickinson and Greg Haiste appear as Timely Comics employees who are creating comics when the Silver Surfer arrives in Times Square. They are references to Fantastic Four creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Robert Downey Jr. makes an uncredited cameo appearance in the mid-credits scene as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom. While his face is not seen, Vanessa Kirby confirmed that Downey filmed the scene during production of the film Avengers: Doomsday.