Everything we know about 'The Fantastic Four'

Fran Ruiz
·6 min read
An illustration with photographed faces with four characters in blue jumpsuits and a rock man in blue underwear enjoying time in a living room. A small robot hands the rock man a mug.
An illustration with photographed faces with four characters in blue jumpsuits and a rock man in blue underwear enjoying time in a living room. A small robot hands the rock man a mug.
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While Marvel Studios has been struggling a bit recently with underwhelming big-screen entries such as The Marvels, strong stories like Loki (both season 1 and 2) are keeping the spark alive and letting us know the production company is still capable of putting out great stuff. Its Fantastic Four reboot is perhaps the most anticipated Marvel movie at the moment, and we’re now finally close to watching it in cinemas. Here’s everything we know about it so far.

The Multiverse Saga, despite all the disappointment surrounding Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania and other recent entries, is still marching forward after being delayed due to strikes as well as real-life drama. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is now being reworked into something else, but Secret Wars seems to be the final destination after we're done with Phases 5 and 6. After a noticeable theatrical break in 2024, with only Deadpool & Wolverine hitting the big-screen, Marvel Studios will be back in 2025 in full force. This doesn’t rule out more Disney Plus series this year though.

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The Fantastic Four release date

the characters, a man and woman, appear in blue jumpsuits. The woman is giving 'talk to the hand' gesture. A shirtless rock man is behind her.
the characters, a man and woman, appear in blue jumpsuits. The woman is giving 'talk to the hand' gesture. A shirtless rock man is behind her.

After many delays and shakeups in Disney and Marvel Studios' packed release schedule for the next few years, it seems like The Fantastic Four will finally come to theaters on July 25, 2025.

The other theatrical releases marked for 2025 coming from Marvel Studios are "Captain America: Brave New World" (February 14), "Thunderbolts" (May 2), and the "Blade" reboot (November 7). "The Fantastic Four" will supposedly mark the beginning of Phase 6 of the MCU.

What is the plot of The Fantastic Four?

Three cartoon characters in blue jumpsuits and a rock man in blue underpants run from a crumbling rocky foundation.
Three cartoon characters in blue jumpsuits and a rock man in blue underpants run from a crumbling rocky foundation.

Unsurprisingly, plot specifics haven't been shared by Marvel, though we can infer from the recently released artwork to announce the cast that creatives and producers might've chosen to stick close to the characters' space-related origins. The traditional explanation behind their powers was exposure to cosmic rays that should've killed them, but instead gave them wildly different abilities. That said, Marvel honcho Kevin Feige has teased in the past that most people know the basics, so they may try their luck with a twist.

The official promotional material that we've seen does confirm rumors that the movie would be set in the 1960s, which brings up an entire new set of questions regarding how their origins and first adventures will fit into the pre-existing main MCU continuity. We shouldn’t forget we’re dealing with a multiverse now too, so maybe they'll be coming from a different reality altogether when they meet up with Earth's Mightiest Heroes and everyone who shows up in the two next Avengers movies.

What about the evil forces threatening the team and likely Earth? Well, word on the street is that, while Doctor Doom may be coming sooner rather than later (especially now that Marvel is pivoting away from Kang the Conqueror), the first movie might wow everyone from the get-go with new iterations of the Silver Surfer and Galactus. Those are two huge names that could have long and impactful runs in the current MCU, so let's just hope they last longer than one movie if they’re being introduced this soon.

The Fantastic Four trailers

four illustrated characters, two in blue jumpsuits, one on fire, and a rock man fly through space.
four illustrated characters, two in blue jumpsuits, one on fire, and a rock man fly through space.

No trailers for The Fantastic Four have been released yet, as the movie’s production will take place over 2024 in hopes of hitting that sweet summer 2025 slot. We’ll be updating this article with all the big details and chunks of promotional material that come out, so stay tuned.

The Fantastic Four cast

a rugged man in a dark collared shirt stares to the left.
a rugged man in a dark collared shirt stares to the left.

The Fantastic Four is a very important movie for Marvel Studios, especially after way too many disastrous live-action adaptations, so they’re making sure diehards as well as casual audiences are interested in the reboot beyond brand recognition. We do think the amazing cast they’ve put together so far will surely help.

Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us) plays Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic; Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One) is Sue Storm aka Invisible Woman; Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) plays her brother Johnny Storm aka Human Torch; and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) is Ben Grimm aka The Thing after playing Punisher ally David Liverman aka Micro in Netflix’s The Punisher series.

No, fan-favorite Mr. Fantastic actor John Krasinski won’t be reprising the role after having a surprise cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Mind you, we could be seeing him again thanks to multiversal events and whatnot, but the MCU’s main Reed Richards is Pedro Pascal, who is arguably one of the busiest actors in Hollywood right now and already was in the Star Wars side of the Disney family as Din Djarin aka The Mandalorian.

Be sure to come back in a few months’ time, when we’ll surely have learned about the supporting cast, including the actors playing the villains and little robot helper HERBIE.

The Fantastic Four director, writers, and crew

Three white people stand in a 1950s/60s style kitchen. One man is pointing.
Three white people stand in a 1950s/60s style kitchen. One man is pointing.

While the director behind the last Spider-Man trilogy, Jon Watts, was once set to direct The Fantastic Four, he instead chose to focus on the Star Wars series Skeleton Crew. It now seems that WandaVision’s Matt Shakman will be the man getting the movie made, as he’s gradually become one of the studio’s go-to creatives.

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As for the script, it's gone through many iterations and writers, with scribes like Eric Pearson (Black Widow) and Cameron Squires (WandaVision) once being attached. Unless the trades missed new details, the script going into production has been put together by Josh Friedman (Avatar 4), with relatively unknown writing partners Jeff Kaplan (Atom TV) and Ian Springer (The Last of the Great Romantics) also silently working on it at some point.