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 (MCU) and the second reboot of the Fantastic Four film series. The film is 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 Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles. In the film, the Fantastic Four must protect their 1960s-inspired retro-futuristic world from the planet-devouring cosmic being Galactus.
Plot[]
In 1960, on Earth-828, astronauts Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm embarked on a mission into outer space, during which they gained superhuman abilities from cosmic rays. Upon returning to Earth, they became the superhero team known as the Fantastic Four.
Four years later, the Fantastic Four have become celebrities and are regarded as the world's protectors. During a family dinner, Reed and Sue reveal to Ben and Johnny that they are expecting a child. A few months later, the Silver Surfer suddenly appears to announce to the people of Earth that their planet has been marked for destruction by a planet-devouring cosmic being known as Galactus. After studying numerous anomalies involving the disappearance of planets, the team decides to try and negotiate Earth's fate with Galactus.
Tracking the Silver Surfer's energy signature to a distant star system, the planet they encounter is immediately destroyed by Galactus' ship, and the team is captured. Galactus offers to spare Earth in exchange for Reed and Sue's unborn son, as he senses an immense power within him, inducing Sue to go into labor. The team refuses and escapes from Galactus and the Silver Surfer using gravity from a black hole. On the flight back to Earth, Sue gives birth to her son, Franklin Richards. Following a disastrous press conference to explain their failure to defeat Galactus, the world turns against the team, fearing Galactus' imminent arrival. With Franklin in her arms, Sue declares to the public that they will do whatever is necessary to defeat Galactus, regaining public trust.
Reed devises a network of standing teleportation bridges that will transport Earth away from Galactus's reach, by hiding it in a distant galaxy many light-years away. Just as they begin activating the bridges, they are destroyed by the Silver Surfer. Johnny stops her from reaching the last bridge in Times Square and, having learned her language from their first encounter, identifies her as Shalla-Bal, who willingly became Galactus's herald to spare her own world from the same fate. Forced to hear the dying words of the planets she had led Galactus to, Shalla-Bal flees in anguish.
Using Franklin as bait, the team plans to lure Galactus to the Times Square bridge and teleport him away from Earth, negotiating with Mole Man to evacuate the citizens of New York to his underground city of Subterranea. The plan fails, and Galactus takes the baby from the team's headquarters, the Baxter Building. Sue forces Galactus into the portal using her shield-generating powers while Reed rescues Franklin. When Sue begins to falter from overexertion, Johnny prepares to sacrifice himself to give Galactus a final push into the portal. Having a change of heart, Shalla-Bal stops him and sacrifices herself instead, as Galactus gets consumed by the portal and thrown into the void. Reed, Ben, and Johnny recover Sue, who has died after exhausting her powers. However, when Reed places Franklin on her chest, his newly awakened powers resuscitate her. In the aftermath, the team is celebrated for their victory.
Four years later, Sue reads to Franklin at the Baxter Building. After momentarily leaving, she walks in on a person in a green cloak interacting with Franklin in their living room, mask in hand.
Cast[]
- Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic
- Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing
- Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch
- Ralph Ineson as Galactus
- Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer
- Natasha Lyonne as Rachel Rozman
- Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder/Mole Man
- Sarah Niles as Lynne Nichols
- Mark Gatiss as Ted Gilbert
- Ada Scott as Franklin Richards
- Matthew Wood as H.E.R.B.I.E. (voice)
- Maisie Shakman as Donna
- Alex Hyde-White as William Russell
- Rebecca Staab as Carolyn Haynes
- Patrick Miller as Larry
- Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller as Albert Taft
- Cheyenne Dasri as Sally
- Angela Jones as Mole Man Attack Witness
- Jay Underwood as Power Plant Worker #1
- Michael Bailey-Smith as Power Plant Worker #2
- Mather Zickel as Boston Newscaster
- Firdous Bamji as Yancy Street Man
- Bertie Caplan as Wiseass Kid
- Max Lester as Yancy Street Kid
- Hunter del Valle Marfo as Yancy Street Kid
- Riotafari Gardner as Yancy Street Kid
- Isla McRae as Yancy Street Kid
- Martin Dickinson as Timely Employee #1
- Greg Haiste as Timely Employee #2
- Mark Weinman as Connor
- Lizzie Clarke as Baxter Reporter #2
- Richard Summers-Calvert as Baxter Reporter #3
- Macaulay Cooper as Hooligan
- Ankur Bahl as Pundit
- Edward Bennett as Pundit
- Krysten Peck as Sue Speech Crowd
- Fintan Shevlin as Sue Speech Crowd
- Louis Sparks as Sue Speech Crowd
- Dana Myzer as Sue Speech Crowd
- Iverson Yabut as Sue Speech Crowd
- Russ Whismore as Sue Speech Crowd
- Patricia García Rodríguez as Interpreter
- Dede Ma as Interpreter
- Kasra G Farahani as Interpreter
- Ortis Deley as Lagos Family
- Florence Odumosu as Lagos Family
- Ihla Omohegbe as Lagos Family
- Aamaya Oyedele as Lagos Family
- Isaiah Oyedele as Lagos Family
- Joseph Davison as New York Family
- Cecilia Blair as New York Family
- Dale Mathurin as New York Apartment Father
- Iliana Norris as Shalla-Bal's Daughter
- Vienna Norris as Shalla-Bal's Daughter
- Ecow Smith-Asante as Ghanian Anchor
- Simon Thorp as Australian Anchor
- Kiff VandenHeuvel as Newscaster
- Corey Burton as Ted Gilbert Announcer (voice)
- Eric Stroud as Stagehand
- Alex Sturman as Ted Gilbert Show Dancer
- Grace Durkin as Ted Gilbert Show Dancer
- Nahum McLean as Ted Gilbert Show Dancer
- Redmand Rance as Ted Gilbert Show Dancer
- Savannah Ffrench as Ted Gilbert Show Dancer
- Robert Downey Jr. as Victor von Doom/Doctor Doom (uncredited; mid-credits scene)
- John Malkovich as Ivan Kragoff/Red Ghost (deleted scene; uncredited)
- To-be-confirmed actor as Giganto
- To-be-confirmed actor as Peotor
- To-be-confirmed actor as H
Future[]
A sequel to First Steps was reported to be in development in June 2025. In August, Sneider reported that Shakman was expected to return to direct the sequel, which Marvel Studios believed would perform better financially than First Steps once the Fantastic Four had been seen in Doomsday and Secret Wars.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the thirty seven film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
- This is the first film of Phase Six.
- This is the fifth live-action incarnation of the Fantastic Four, after The Fantastic Four (1994), the Tim Story films Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and Fantastic Four (2015).
- Marvel Studios regained the film rights to Fantastic Four after Disney bought most of 20th Century Fox's film and TV assets, including franchises.
- On the same day of the film's release day announcement, Kevin Feige confirmed that the film would not be an origin story, a decision compared to that of Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).
- The first-live action appearance of H.E.R.B.I.E. He appeared in Fantastic Four (2005), but his scenes were cut.
- Fans wanted director Brad Bird to direct the film because of his Incredibles superhero films, which were focused on a superhero family based on the Fantastic Four.
- Matthew Vaughn expressed interest in directing a Fantastic Four film set in the 60s himself, similar to his work on the X-Men prequel X-Men: First Class (2011).
- Michael Chiklis who played The Thing in the Tim Story Fantastic Four films, informed Marvel to not make the reboot dark and brooding: "Try to make it that, you will fail."
- Pedro Pascal dropped out of Weapons (2025) to work on this movie.
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach's second time playing a Marvel character as he previously played David Lieberman/Micro in The Punisher (2017).
- Pedro Pascal called playing Reed Richards a dream come true.
- Julia Garner studied the comics and researched surfing to aid her performance as the Silver Surfer.
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach portrays the character through performance capture and computer generated imagery (CGI) rather than prosthetic makeup and discussed that process with Mark Ruffalo who portrays Bruce Banner / Hulk in the MCU using the same technology.
- Peyton Reed, who directed the Ant-Man trilogy, expressed interest in directing this film. He was previously attached to direct Fantastic Four (2005). Fantastic Four (2015) director Josh Trank also supported Reed as director of the reboot.
- Jon Watts was originally announced as the director in December 2020, but stepped down in April 2022 to take a break from superhero projects for a while. Had he stayed, this would've been his fourth Marvel film after the Spider-Man trilogy, tying him with Bryan Singer, the Russo brothers, and Sam Raimi for directing the most Marvel films.
- Matt Shakman left Untitled Star Trek: Beyond Sequel to direct this film.
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach is the first Jewish actor to play the Jewish superhero Ben Grimm/The Thing.
- Joseph Quinn was a fan of Chris Evans's portrayal of the character in Tim Story's Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), but did not base his own portrayal on Evans's version.
- The movie will be released 20 years after Fantastic Four (2005) and 10 years after Fantastic Four (2015).
- Joseph Quinn is the second Stranger Things (2016) actor to join the MCU after David Harbour who appeared in Black Widow (2021).
- Matt Shakman reveals that the film takes place on Earth 828, which is named after Jack Kirby's birthday: August 28th.
- The first trailer received 202 million online views within the first 24 hours.
- This is Natasha Lyonne's fourth comic-book feature or series, after Blade: Trinity (2004), DC League of Super-Pets (2022) and What If...? (2021) (season 3).
- Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Mark Gatiss and Ralph Ineson are the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th actors from Game of Thrones (2011) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after:
- David Bradley and Natalie Dormer in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).
- Clive Russell in Thor: The Dark World (2013).
- Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick in Iron Fist (2017).
- Iwan Rheon in Inhumans (2017).
- Peter Dinklage in Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
- Hannah John-Kamen in Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018).
- Richard Madden and Kit Harington in Eternals (2021).
- Emilia Clarke and Richard Dormer in Secret Invasion (2023).
| Fantastic Four |
|---|
| The Fantastic Four (1994), Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Fantastic Four (2015), The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) |
| Phase Six |
|---|
| The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), Avengers: Doomsday (2026), Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026), Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) |