One of the hotly anticipated movies to kick off Phase 6 for Marvel Studios is “The Fantastic Four.” Onstage at San Diego Comic-Con today, Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige and director Matt Shakman discussed the upcoming reboot. During the panel, it was announced the film is actually called “The Fantastic Four: First Steps.” An additional logo, some footage, and news about Michael Giacchino composing music was also revealed to the excited audience. Filming is scheduled to commence in London following Comic-Con weekend.
Perhaps most exciting for fans was the mention that The Fantastic Four will show up in both ‘Avengers’ films coming in 2026 and 2027. So, it would appear that The Fantastic Four will definitely show up in the MCU quickly after ‘First Steps’ premieres.
‘The Fantastic Four’ property has had a bit of a wild ride up to this point. With an unreleased Roger Corman production in 1994 (“The Fantastic Four”), a pair of pretty average movies in the mid-aughts (“Fantastic Four” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”), and a disappointing, heavily disputed, stand-alone feature in 2015 (“Fantastic Four”), the franchise is desperately due for the MCU treatment. It also makes sense why the title would add “First Steps,” to help differentiate from those past failures.
READ MORE: ‘The Fantastic Four’: Natasha Lyonne Is The Latest Actor To Join Marvel’s All-Star Cast
The movie is set to take place in the 1960s in what may be a slightly warped New York City (alternate reality?). This was speculation on social media that was confirmed by Kevin Feige recently. Thus far it’s certain that big bad Galactus (Ralph Ineson) will play a villainous role. But characters like the evil Doctor Doom and Mole Man might also be confirmed.
The characters already announced include Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Joseph Quinn), Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), and Galactus (Ralph Ineson). John Malkovich has been cast in an undisclosed role.
Matt Shakman (“Wandavision,” “Game of Thrones,” “Succession”) serves as director while Josh Freidman (“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “Avatar: The Way of Water), and writing team Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer are screenwriters on the project. With contributions by Eric Pearson.
Considered Marvel’s first family, ‘The Fantastic Four’ comic premiered back in 1961. It follows four scientists who gain superpowers after being exposed to cosmic radiation anw with their combined strength and unique gifts they take on villains of earth and far away galaxies.
Disney is releasing “Fantastic Four” July 25, 2025.