| Director: | Matt Shakman |
| Producer: | Kevin Feige |
| Cinematography: | Jess Hall |
| Music: | Michael Giacchino |
| Studio: | Marvel Studios |
| Distributor: | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (stylized as The Fantastic 4: First Steps) is an upcoming 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 intended to be the 37th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the second reboot of the Fantastic Four film series. The film is being directed by Matt Shakman from a screenplay by the writing team of Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, Josh Friedman, Cameron Squires, Eric Pearson, and Peter Cameron. It features an ensemble cast including Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as the titular team, alongside Julia Garner and Ralph Ineson.
20th Century Fox began work on a new Fantastic Four film after the failure of Fantastic Four (2015). 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 as director in December 2020, but stepped down in April 2022. Shakman replaced him that September when Kaplan and Springer were working on the script. Casting was underway by early 2023, and Friedman joined to rewrite the script by that March, with Squires and Cameron also writing. Marvel Studios wanted to tell a new story with the characters rather than retell their origin story. Pearson joined to polish the script by mid-February 2024, when the main cast was announced, and additional casting took place in the following months. Filming began in late July 2024 at Pinewood Studios in London.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 25, 2025, as the first film of Phase Six of the MCU.
Additionally, Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne have been cast in undisclosed roles. The character Mole Man is expected to appear, and Robert Downey Jr. is expected to appear as Victor von Doom / Doctor Doom in a post-credits scene.
After the critical and commercial failure of the 2015 film Fantastic Four, co-written and directed by Josh Trank and based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, 20th Century Fox began looking at new directions to take the franchise. Having also produced two earlier Fantastic Four films directed by Tim Story a decade prior, the studio did not want to just make another Fantastic Four film. By June 2017, Seth Grahame-Smith was writing a new film that would shift focus to Franklin and Valeria Richards, the children of original Fantastic Four leaders Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Taking inspiration from the Ultimate Fantastic Four (2004–2009) comic books, the screenplay included original Fantastic Four members the Thing and the Human Torch, and was described as kid-centric with a tone closer to The Incredibles (2004) than Trank's darker film. The basis of the screenplay came from a separate script that Carter Blanchard had adapted from the children's book Kindergarten Heroes by Mark Millar. Millar previously consulted with Fox on their Marvel-based films. In July, Noah Hawley, who had created the Marvel Television series Legion (2017–2019), was hired to develop a separate film focused on Doctor Doom, the Fantastic Four's primary antagonist. The Walt Disney Company officially acquired 21st Century Fox in March 2019 and gained the film rights for the Marvel Comics characters that Fox controlled, including the Fantastic Four, for its subsidiary Marvel Studios. The Marvel-based films that Fox had been developing were placed "on hold".
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed in July 2019 that they were developing a new Fantastic Four film, after announcing the company's Phase Four slate of projects for their shared universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Feige said he was "extremely excited about those characters, and about bringing Marvel's first family up to the sort of platform and level they deserve". In December 2020, Feige announced that Jon Watts, who previously directed the MCU Spider-Man films, had been hired to direct Fantastic Four. Marvel Studios had begun meeting with writers for the film by February 2021. That June, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said Feige and Marvel Studios were planning to "mine" the Fantastic Four franchise. In April 2022, Watts stepped down as director of the film, citing the need to step away from superhero films following his near-constant work filming and promoting the MCU Spider-Man films for seven years. Marvel Studios and Watts both expressed interest in working together again in the future. John Krasinski debuted in the role of Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, a member of the Fantastic Four, in the MCU film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which was released in May 2022. Krasinski had been a popular suggestion for the role among fans for some time, and rumors that he had been cast as Richards had especially circulated since confirmation of the new film's development. The version of the character that he portrayed in Multiverse of Madness was from Earth-838, an alternate universe to the main MCU, and was a member of the Illuminati. Grant Curtis and Nick Pepin were serving as producers on the new Fantastic Four film by that time, after working on the Marvel Studios Disney+ miniseries Moon Knight (2022).
Marvel Studios was not close to shortening their list of director candidates by the start of June 2022. This reportedly featured a large mix of directors, including some high-profile filmmakers. Feige was said to be looking for a director who could oversee the filming process without him being present for the entire shoot, similar to Multiverse of Madness director Sam Raimi. Later that month, Raimi said Feige had cast Krasinski in Multiverse of Madness because it was for an alternate universe cameo appearance and an opportunity to deliver on a popular fan casting. This led to speculation about whether Krasinski's role was a one-off or if he would return to star in the Fantastic Four film. Krasinski later said he appreciated the role but there had been no discussions about him reprising the character. At the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con in July, Feige announced that the film would be released on November 8, 2024, as the first film in Phase Six of the MCU. Filming was set to begin in 2023. Soon afterward, Feige said the film would not be an origin story for the Fantastic Four like the Story and Trank films were. He likened this to the MCU introducing Spider-Man without retelling his origin story (there were also several Spider-Man films before the MCU version). He explained that many audience members were aware of the basic Fantastic Four details and Marvel Studios instead wanted to tell a new story, and added that the studio felt they had "set a very high bar for ourselves" based on the group's long history in the comic books going back to 1961.
Matt Shakman was in early talks to direct the film by late August 2022. He and Michael Matthews were considered the finalists in a search that also considered Reid Carolin. Deadline Hollywood felt Shakman was the person to beat given his familiarity with Feige after directing the Marvel Studios Disney+ miniseries WandaVision (2021). Shakman subsequently exited a planned Star Trek film due to the schedule for Fantastic Four. Feige confirmed that Shakman would direct the film at the 2022 D23 Expo in September. Later that month, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer were revealed to have been writing the script with Feige for some time prior to Shakman's hiring. The four were set to work on aligning their visions for the film while Feige and Shakman began searching for actors. In October, the film's release date was pushed back to February 14, 2025. At the end of the month, Jeff Sneider of Above the Line reported that Doctor Doom was not planned to be the main antagonist of the film, but could potentially have a small role such as an appearance in a post-credits scene; Marvel Studios were looking for a major star to play him. Talent agents were preparing for casting by January 2023. The following month, Shakman revealed that filming would begin in early 2024 and explained that he chose to work on Fantastic Four as he did not want to pass up the opportunity and was excited by its focus on family, optimism, and technology, even though he enjoyed his work on the Star Trek film. He also confirmed that they were in the early process of casting, which would begin later that month. The focus was reportedly on casting Sue Storm before the other Fantastic Four members. Feige said the characters would be a big pillar in the MCU moving forward.
Josh Friedman was hired to rewrite the script at the end of March 2023. Borys Kit of The Hollywood Reporter felt Friedman's hiring indicated a possible tonal shift for the film, since Friedman had written many science fiction projects while previous writers Kaplan and Springer were known more for comedy. Sneider reported that Shakman wanted to heavily feature cosmic elements from the 1960s, including the characters Galactus—who was set to be the main antagonist—and Silver Surfer, and said Friedman was hired to bring the film closer to Feige and Shakman's vision. Marvel was still open to working with Kaplan and Springer in the future. In April 2023, Sneider reported that Marvel Studios had offered Adam Driver the role of Reed Richards. The next month, filming was set to begin in January 2024 in London. Also in May, Sneider reported that Emma Stone was the studio's top choice for the role of Sue Storm, but the actress declined the offer after they refused to pay her the $15–20 million she wanted for the role. Driver also passed on the film after the studio did not want to pay his high salary, and after he struggled to connect with an early draft of the script, but Sneider believed that he could re-consider after Friedman submitted a new draft following the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.
In June, the film's release was pushed back to May 2, 2025. Prior to the start of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike in July, Marvel Studios held screen tests for the role of Richards with several actors, including Christopher Abbott and Jamie Dornan, which "did go very well" according to Sneider. The studio wanted a high-profile actor and offered the role to Jake Gyllenhaal, who portrayed Mysterio in the MCU film (2019), but they did not want to pay the salary he asked for as Feige wanted to contain the studio's talent spending. They were also considering non-white actors for Richards and Pedro Pascal became interested, though he would not engage in conversations during the strike. In August, Ebon Moss-Bachrach was offered the role of the Thing, after playing Micro in the first season of the Marvel Television series The Punisher (2017). Marvel Studios was committed to casting a Jewish actor as the Thing, who is depicted as Jewish in the comics but was not portrayed by Jewish actors in the previous Fantastic Four films; Moss-Bachrach is Jewish. David Krumholtz met with Shakman about the role after campaigning for it online, but was unsuccessful. He began campaigning to portray the villainous Mole Man instead. Additionally, Sneider reported that Marvel Studios was looking at Vanessa Kirby for Sue Storm, who was expected to be the film's lead character, and Joseph Quinn for Johnny Storm. Nicholas Galitzine was also rumored to be portraying Johnny Storm and had conversations about the role, but was not cast. Marvel approached Matt Smith for Richards, but that was not expected to work out and they were instead looking for "a bona fide movie star". A Latino actor was expected to be hired as Galactus.
Shakman confirmed in October 2023 that they planned to start filming in early 2024 at Pinewood Studios in London, and said the cast would be announced once the SAG-AFTRA strike ended. He said during the strikes they were still able to work on the film's production design and early tests of the visual effects for translating the team's abilities from comic art to the screen. Alexandra Byrne was serving as costume designer after working on several other MCU films. Later that month, Shakman revealed that Cameron Squires was co-writing the script with Friedman. Both had worked with Shakman on the Star Trek film, and Squires was a writer on WandaVision. Shakman had discussed the film with comic book writer Matt Fraction, and said his work on the television series It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005–present) helped inform his approach to the film with its playfulness, collaboration, and improvisation. Following the conclusion of the actors' strike in November, Pascal entered talks to portray Richards and was negotiating his schedule for the film around his other commitments. Marvel Studios was expected to make offers for the other leading roles soon after, having waited because they deemed it essential to find the actor for Richards first. /Film reported that Pascal had signed on and that an announcement would be made shortly. Javier Bardem was being eyed to portray Galactus after Antonio Banderas had previously been linked to the role, though Bardem had a potential scheduling conflict with the film F1 (2025). Sneider reported that Moss-Bachrach had been cast as the Thing and the studio was looking to cast a woman as Silver Surfer, who is usually the male character Norrin Radd in the comics.
By early January 2024, Sneider believed filming would begin in mid-March or April, but he reported shortly after that filming would not begin until later in 2024, between July and September, and this delay had caused Pascal to leave his commitment to the film Weapons (2026). Sneider questioned if Fantastic Four could still make its May 2025 release date if filming was not starting until mid-to-late 2024. At the end of January, filming was revealed to be beginning in August 2024. Early the following month, SAG-AFTRA listed Pascal as being cast in the film and set to begin production shortly. On February 14, Marvel Studios released a Valentine's Day-themed announcement that confirmed Pascal's casting as Reed Richards alongside Kirby as Sue Storm, Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Moss-Bachrach as the Thing. The film was officially titled The Fantastic Four and its release date was delayed to July 25, 2025, swapping places with the MCU film Thunderbolts*. The announcement's promotional art included the December 13, 1963, issue of Life magazine with Lyndon B. Johnson on the cover and used a new logo style with "a certain throwback tone and sense of aesthetics", indicating that the film is set during the 1960s (around the time the Fantastic Four debuted in Marvel Comics). Adding to this speculation, Pascal referenced 1960s songs from the Beatles when sharing the promotional art on his social media. The art included the comic book character H.E.R.B.I.E., a robot companion to the Fantastic Four.
Feige said family dynamics was key to the film and "90 percent of the work was done" by confirming the main cast. He also confirmed that the film would be a 1960s period piece, but indicated that it would be set in an alternate universe within the multiverse. Shakman called it a "retro-future '60s" aesthetic, describing it as "part what you know from the '60s, but part what you've never seen". Industrial designer and concept artist Syd Mead served as an inspiration for the film, along with the optimism of the Space Race and ideas of future space travelers that people had in the 1960s when the comics were being written. Shakman stated, "I really wanted to take all of that great stuff from Apollo 11 and just imagine that instead of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, it was the Storms and Ben Grimm and Reed Richards heading off into space." He reaffirmed that the film would begin after the Fantastic Four have gained their superhero abilities, avoiding a re-telling of their origin story and allowing the film to have its own story which Shakman was excited for. Shakman also looked to the Fantastic Four comics, from their original creation up to present day, as an inspiration.
Sneider reported that Bardem was Marvel Studios' top choice for Galactus, that the studio had begun meeting with actors for Silver Surfer, and that Doctor Doom would be cast during filming. He added that the release date could be delayed again to the November 2025 date reserved for the MCU film Blade, with that film potentially moving to 2026, to avoid competition with DC Studios' Superman and an untitled Jurassic World film that were also scheduled for July 2025. He felt Disney was unlikely to release four MCU films in 2025 while the company was prioritizing quality over quantity for the MCU, and The Fantastic Four was further along in production than Blade. Shortly after, Eric Pearson was revealed to have been "quietly hired" to polish the script. He previously worked on Marvel Studios' (2017) and Black Widow (2021), and had a reputation for "taking projects over the finish line". Julia Garner was cast as Shalla-Bal / Silver Surfer in April 2024. In the comics, Shalla-Bal is the love interest of original Silver Surfer Norrin Radd and eventually becomes a Silver Surfer herself. Justin Kroll of Deadline Hollywood reported that the role of Galactus was open at that time, with no actors holding an offer or being in talks for the character. Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Ralph Ineson, and Natasha Lyonne joined the cast the following month, with Ineson cast as Galactus. Ineson previously appeared as a Ravager pilot in the MCU film Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Hauser had worked with Shakman on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and met with him to discuss joining The Fantastic Four. He was initially reluctant to join because of the poor reception to previous Fantastic Four films, but was won over by the script and the film's other cast and crew. Sneider reported that Mole Man would appear at the beginning of the film and he believed Hauser was cast in that role. WandaVision writer Peter Cameron had contributed to the script by then.
By late June, filming was set to begin at the end of July. At San Diego Comic-Con that month, the film was retitled The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Robert Downey Jr. was announced to be portraying Doctor Doom in the films (2026) and (2027). Sneider reported that Downey, who previously portrayed Tony Stark / Iron Man in the MCU, would be introduced as Doom in a post-credits scene at the end of First Steps. Shakman said he had known about Downey's casting for a while before the Comic-Con announcement. The subtitle was added as a broad reference to the film's ideas of optimism and space exploration within the 1960s Space Race, with Shakman stating there were additional meanings to the subtitle as well. Jenna Anderson at ComicBook.com theorized one of those meanings could relate to the first steps of a child, indicating the film would see the introduction of either of Reed and Sue's children, Franklin and Valeria Richards; both were never seen in the previous Fantastic Four films. A few days of pre-filming occurred before the convention, including footage of an astronaut preparation area, a dating game show titled Let's Make a Match, and a children's science show hosted by Reed Richards.
Principal photography began on July 30, 2024, at Pinewood Studios in London, under the working title Blue Moon, with Jess Hall serving as cinematographer, after working with Shakman on WandaVision. Filming is expected to last for five months. It was previously expected to begin in 2023, in January 2024, and then in August 2024. The film is being shot for IMAX.
Michael Giacchino was announced in July 2024 to be composing the film's score, after previously scoring various MCU projects. His music for the Fantastic Four and Galactus was previewed during a drone show at San Diego Comic-Con that month, and his main Fantastic Four theme was played in full at the D23 convention in August during a "Music of Marvel Studios" panel that Giacchino moderated.
On April 4, 2024 ("4–4 Day"), Marvel Studios released a teaser poster for the film of the Human Torch creating the Fantastic Four symbol. A link was also included with the post that led to a 404 error page featuring H.E.R.B.I.E., who had an embedded QR code leading to a Future Foundation-themed page with a list of Fantastic Four comics available to read on Marvel Unlimited in preparation for the film; the comics were Fantastic Four #1 (1961), the team's first appearance; Fantastic Four #48–50, which features the first appearances of Galactus and Silver Surfer; and #1 (2021), which is set in the 1960s. Following a screening of Deadpool & Wolverine at San Diego Comic-Con on July 25, 2024, a drone show occurred over Petco Park that included images of a comics-accurate Galactus and the Fantastic Four logo, teasing announcements regarding the film at Marvel Studios' Hall H panel two nights later. That panel featured Shakman and the main cast, revealed the film's full title, showed a teaser reel, and had the film's futuristic Fantasticar float across the stage. Shakman explained that the teaser reel featured pre-filming footage combined with pre-visualizations and animatics that were created during the film's design development. The footage was presented in an "old-timey ".
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is scheduled to be released in the United States on July 25, 2025, in IMAX. It was previously scheduled for November 8, 2024, February 14, 2025, and May 2, 2025. It will be the first film of Phase Six of the MCU.