Much like Marvel Studios did with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, the studio’s new take on the Fantastic Four will be foregoing an origin story altogether. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in a retro-futuristic version of the 1960s, in a different world than the one inhabited by most of MCU, so it has a lot of room for opportunity. Director Matt Shakman and the team will be using that opportunity to dive right into a new Fantastic Four story, rather than rehashing their voyage into space that gave them their powers.
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In an interview with Entertainment Weekly at San Diego Comic-Con, Shakman opened up about the story of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
“One of the things we decided early on was not to do an origin story,” Shakman said. “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]. 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.”
Fantastic Four Cast
The Fantastic Four is one of the very next movies set to be released in the MCU. The film, directed by WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman, is set to arrive in theaters in just over a year, hitting the big screen on July 25, 2025.
The film is focusing on an all-new version of Marvel’s First Family, with Pedro Pascal set to play Reed Richards. Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn are playing siblings Sue and Johnny Storm, while Ebon Moss-Bachrach will be playing Ben Grimm, aka The Thing. The cast also includes Ralph Inseson as legendary Marvel villain Galactus, and Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal, a version of the Silver Surfer.
The core cast of The Fantastic Four is rounded out with Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, and John Malkovich. None of their roles have been confirmed at this time.
The big question will now be whether or not the cast of The Fantastic Four: First Steps also includes Robert Downey Jr. In one of the most shocking moments of Marvel’s history at SDCC, Downey was revealed to be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Doctor Doom, after spending a decade leading the franchise as Tony Stark. Downey’s Doom will star in the upcoming films Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, which will also include the Fantastic Four.
