The Fantastic Four: First Steps Release Date, Cast, Director, Writer And More Details

The world has seen a number of "Fantastic Four" films come and go. There's the low-budget and infamously unreleased 1994 flick few have ever seen (and perhaps you've never heard of). There's the 2005 and 2007 films helmed by Tim Story, which made a solid splash among the moviegoing public. Finally, there's 2015's disappointing "Fantastic Four," which earned devastatingly bad reviews and equally dire box office returns. Though it's better than nothing, this motley assemblage of adaptations has left fans of Marvel's first family frustrated. You would be too, if half of the movies made about your favorite characters were either inaccessible or legendarily awful.

Luckily, hope is on the horizon. The MCU will be turning out its own "Fantastic Four" movie soon, and if its previous big-deal films ("Avengers: Endgame," "Spider-Man: No Way Home") are any indication, it's bound to be a winner. While we caught an early glimpse of an alternate Reed Richards in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," what do we actually know about the upcoming adventure flick? Quite a lot, really. Strap yourselves into the Fantasti-Car, because we're taking a look at everything we know about "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" so far.

"The Fantastic Four" was officially announced in 2019, but it's taken quite a while for the film to hit the big screen. It was originally slated to debut in November 2024 before getting kicked back to May 2, 2025. But then the suits at Marvel decided to push it back one more time, and now, "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" is set to release on July 25, 2025. The year 2025 will be a huge one for Marvel, especially with "Deadpool & Wolverine" being the lone MCU release of 2024. In addition to introducing Marvel's first family, 2025 will also see the arrival of "Captain America: Brave New World," "Thunderbolts," and "Blade." While we're psyched for all those films — especially the MCU arrival of the Daywalker — the crown jewel of that superhero release slate has to be the movie bringing Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, and the Storms back into the Marvel fold.

After endless online theories, we finally know who will be playing Marvel's first family. Pedro Pascal of "The Mandalorian" will portray Reed Richards (aka Mr. Fantastic), and Vanessa Kirby of the "Mission: Impossible" franchise will star as Sue Storm (aka Invisible Woman). Her hot-headed brother, Johnny Storm (aka the Human Torch), will be portrayed by Joseph Quinn of "Stranger Things." And last but not least, Ben Grimm (aka the Thing) will finally start clobberin' thanks to Ebon Moss-Bachrach of "The Bear."

As for the rest of the cast, Julia Garner of "Ozark" will portray Silver Surfer, the herald of Galactus. On that note, Ralph Ineson of "The First Omen" will use his powerful voice to portray the aforementioned cosmic wanderer who literally consumes planets. John Malkovich ("Being John Malkovich"), Paul Walter Hauser ("Blackbird"), and Natasha Lyonne ("Poker Face") will all appear in the film, but there's no word yet on who they're playing. (Will any of them voice H.E.R.B.I.E. — a charismatic robot associated with the Fantastic Four and who appeared on an official promo poster?) 

We also wonder if Robert Downey Jr. will show up. Why would Iron Man himself appear? Well, at San Diego's Comic-Con, it was announced that RDJ would be playing a new character in the MCU — none other than Doctor Doom. The Latverian sorcerer will be the main villain of the upcoming "Avengers" movies, but in the comics, he's long been connected to the Fantastic Four. Perhaps Downey's Doom will show up in a post-credit scene?

We don't know many concrete details about the plot of "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," but we do have some tantalizing hints. The movie will take place in a retro-futurist 1960s New York, with director Matt Shakman explaining at the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con that the look of the movie is largely based on the designs of artist Syd Mead. Talking further about the '60s setting, Shakman told Entertainment Weekly that "First Steps" will be set during the Space Race. "I really wanted to take all of that great stuff from Apollo 11," Shakman said, "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."

Speaking on "The Official Marvel Podcast," Kevin Feige strongly implied the movie's 1960s retro-futurist setting will be thanks to a new multiversal setting, with this version of the Fantastic Four living in an alternate dimension. We also won't see these heroes get their classic powers. After all, we've seen that play out in two previous "Fantastic Four" movies. As Shakman explained to Entertainment Weekly, "One of things we decided early on was not to do an origin story. ... 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."

We also know Galactus will be the movie's big bad, with Silver Surfer also playing an important part. On the rumor side of things, in an exciting departure from classic FF storytelling, it seems that Sue Storm is the likely lead. 

The MCU's "Fantastic Four" will be directed by Matt Shakman. This project clearly means a lot to him; he chose it over helming "Star Trek 4." "Yeah, I love that comic," he told "The Discourse Podcast." "I certainly let them know that I love that comic ... I was thrilled that I was able to jump into the director's chair on it and take [Jon Watts'] place." Fans should be encouraged by this dedication, to say nothing of the impressive work he's already pulled off within the MCU: Shakman directed the smash hit Disney+ series "WandaVision." 

"WandaVision" is an excellent trial run for "Fantastic Four." Like that series, the FF's stories tend towards the retro. Even as the decades have flown by, there's something indelibly '60s about them — they're children of the Space Race, no matter the era. That's especially true here, as the new movie will actually be set in an alternate version of the 1960s. Shakman's non-MCU experience also bodes well for "Fantastic Four." He's helmed episodes of everything from the riotous historical satire "The Great" to the blockbuster fantasy saga "Game of Thrones," not to mention multiple episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." This versatility will doubtlessly prove invaluable to tackling one of Marvel's longest-running supergroups.

"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" has had a number of writers attached to it over the course of the last few years, but it's come to rest in the capable hands of Josh Friedman, Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer, and Peter Cameron. Friedman wrote the primary version of the script, with the others coming in to do a bit of a polish.

Friedman is a thoroughly experienced writer who's worked on everything from 2005 disaster epic "War of the Worlds" to 2006 crime drama "The Black Dahlia" to 2019 sci-fi actioner "Terminator: Dark Fate." More recently, Friedman has worked on the Apple TV+ series "Foundation," blockbuster epic "Avatar: The Way of Water," and "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes." 

Sharp-eyed fans will notice something about those projects: They're all science fiction. Moreover, two of them — "Foundation" and "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" — are based on classic genre properties that first came to be in the middle of the 20th century. This is tremendously good news for Marvel fans, as the Fantastic Four were born of that same era. Friedman is a dab hand when it comes to thoughtful stories about humanity on the outer reaches of experience — which happens to be exactly what's called for in "Fantastic Four."

As for Pearson, he's pretty experienced on the Marvel side of things, as he's been involved with "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Black Widow," as well as the Monsterverse's "Godzilla vs. Kong." Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer penned "Bert and Arnie's Guide to Friendship," and Peter Cameron worked with Matt Shakman on "WandaVision."

When it comes to the score for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," Marvel is bringing out the big guns. The music will come courtesy of Michael Giacchino, a composer with deep connections to the MCU. Giacchino wrote the scores for the first "Doctor Strange," "Thor: Love and Thunder," and all three Tom Holland "Spider-Man" movies. Giacchino has even done a bit of directing for Marvel, sitting behind the camera and calling the shots on the wonderfully spooky "Werewolf by Night."

In addition to his Marvel music, Giacchino has composed some of the most memorable scores of the past couple of decades. He's the one who wrote all the heart-tugging, tear-jerking songs for the beloved ABC series "Lost," and he scored some of Pixar's very best movies — "The Incredibles," "Up," "Inside Out," and "Ratatouille." In addition to titles like 2009's "Star Trek," "Zootopia," and both the "Mission: Impossible" and "Planet of the Apes" franchises, Giacchino has worked for Marvel's Distinguished Competition, taking us into the brooding mind of Bruce Wayne with his work on Matt Reeves' "The Batman."

Director Matt Shakman has a wealth of source material for the MCU's "Fantastic Four." There are decades of incredible ink-and-paper stories starring the famous foursome he can draw on — and happily, he knows their worth. While discussing inspiration with Inverse, Shakman remarked, "I'm not so much looking at the other movies. I'm looking at the comics themselves. I'm a huge comic book fan. I've been a big fan of the Fantastic Four since I was a kid. So going back to Kirby and Lee and Byrne and following all the way up to what's happening, certainly Hickman and Wade and Ryan North, what he's been doing. I'm trying to figure out who these characters are to me and how to bring them to life in the best possible way, and that's really where I've started and how we've approached it."

The names he drops here are seriously encouraging. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee's run on the FF is among the best in Marvel history. John Byrne's time on the comic was marked by incredible action and artwork. Jonathan Hickman, one of Marvel's modern masterminds, expanded the team's mythology in a gigantic way. With touchstones like these, Shakman is definitely on the right path.