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- The Fantastic Four: First Steps release date – when will The Fantastic Four be released?
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer – any The Fantastic Four footage yet?
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast – who's going to be in The Fantastic Four?
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps plot – what will The Fantastic Four be about?
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is coming this July and thanks to Thunderbolts*, we have already seen them in action – kind of.
We've already had two trailers for the eagerly-awaited movie (in February 2025 and April 2025), but the post-credit scene for Thunderbolts* sees a crossover with the team in a big way – more on that later.
The new movie takes place in a separate universe to the main MCU, but we know that won't be the case forever, especially as the four stars – Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn – have been confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday.
So as we count down the days to the release of the movie, here's everything you need to know about The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps release date – when will The Fantastic Four be released?
The Fantastic 4: First Steps will now be released in cinemas on July 25, 2025, a slight delay from its previous date of May 2, 2025.
The movie was previously pushed back from its original release date on November 8, 2024, which was announced by Kevin Feige at Comic-Con 2022.
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The movie has been delayed slightly, but director Matt Shakman suggested it'll be worth the wait.
"It's different in so many ways. I wish I could be specific. I wish I could say more. But we are doing things very differently from a story standpoint, from an approach to the filmmaking standpoint, that really fits the material," he teased.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer – any The Fantastic Four footage yet?
We might have had to wait until February 2025 for our first look at The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but it was worth the wait to see the team in action.
Check out that first trailer below if you haven't seen it:
The second trailer, which landed in April 2025, was more plot-heavy and gave fans a lot to savour, including the first look at Julia Garner's Silver Surfer and a tease for Ralph Ineson's Galactus.
What's more, it confirmed the fan theory that Sue Storm is pregnant in the new movie, something that fans suspected had been cleverly edited out of the first trailer.
If you missed it above, check it out below:
The Fantastic Four: First Steps cast – who's going to be in The Fantastic Four?
We had to wait a while, but on Valentine's Day 2024, Marvel confirmed the long-running rumours about The Fantastic 4: First Steps cast.
As previously announced, Pedro Pascal is taking on the role as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic.
That means John Krasinski's appearance as Reed Richards was just a cameo/fan service in Doctor Strange 2, unless we get to see multiple versions of Marvel's First Family in the new movie.
Pascal is joined by Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch.
Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Moss-Bachrach shared the first thing he did after landing the role.
"I got a call from my agent. And I wasn’t thinking about work at all because writers were striking and then actors were probably going to strike — and he said: 'Yeah, they asked you to play The Thing'.
"And I remember, because I was right on Fifth Avenue and 21st Street [in New York City], and I was so shocked, and I was walking, and the next thing I realised, I was right in front of Astor Wines. So I went in and bought a bunch of mezcal," he said.
Following the announcement of the main cast, Marvel has also confirmed some exciting new names.
Ozark star Julia Garner will be playing the Silver Surfer in the film. In case you're wondering if this is a gender-swap, it's not – she will be the Shalla-Bal version of the cosmic herald rather than the more well-known Norrin Radd.
In the comics, Shalla-Bal is the empress of the planet Zenn-La, who volunteers to become the Silver Surfer in order to spare her world from being eaten by Galactus.
Harry Potter star Ralph Ineson has been cast as Galactus, who is confirmed to be the main villain in The Fantastic Four. Galactus is a cosmic being known as 'The Devourer of Worlds' for consuming planets across the Multiverse.
The second trailer also revealed that Mark Gatiss stars in the movie as a TV show host, while Cobra Kai star Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne, Sarah Niles and John Malkovich are all in the movie too in undisclosed roles.
As we mentioned above, Matt Shakman directed the movie following the departure of Jon Watts, while it will be written by Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps plot – what will The Fantastic Four be about?
Along with the trailers, we got our first official plot synopsis for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but it's very vague:
"The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel's First Family – Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing as they face their most daunting challenge yet," it reads.
"Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer.
"And if Galactus' plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal."
Some extra information comes from the Thunderbolts* post-credit scene which is set 14 months after the events of that movie.
While we don't see any of The Fantastic Four in Thunderbolts*, we do see their space craft enter the orbit of the 'main' MCU universe. As to how or why they're there, we guess we'll find out in their own movie.
We've seen the origin story play out on screen a couple of times now, and it seems like the new movie will avoid that story altogether.
"A lot of people know this origin story. A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they've never seen before?" Kevin Feige said in July 2022. "We've set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen."
The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be released in cinemas on 25 July.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
