The Fantastic Four: First Steps

[Glacier Peak]

Release date: 25 July 2025

 

 

Cast: Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm and Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.

 

 

https://www.ign.com/articles/the-fantastic-four-casting-and-new-release-date-revealed

 

*So no Jim Halper 😕 😢 

Edited July 28 by Glacier Peak
New title

[dtjunkie]

Who are they going to cast to play Doom? I think this is the most important thing to get right.

[Frostbiter]

[InvaderStych]

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Exactly what I was going to ask.

[Luminara]

4 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

Pedro Pascal

 

That name sounds familiar.  Was he the horribly misused and blandly written Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984?

 

*does the Goog*

 

He was.

 

Eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh...

[Techwright]

What I've seen of Pedro onscreen I like, so understand that I'm not saying he's stupid but he's not the first name that comes to mind when I'm trying to think of actors who can pull off super-genius. Guess that makes this his chance to demostrate that he can act against type.

 

I don't really know the other three.  I kind of wish they'd found good actors who kind of look like brother and sister, but I guess that's the hair and makeup department's job.

 

What I'm most concerned about is that this is attempt number...ahem...4...to bring the Fantastic Four to the screen, and as all the others were weak sauce, though to varying degrees. They desperately need a win this time.  The muddle that was Phase...ahem...4 was such a mixed bag that I'm concerned about the F4 and Phase 5.

 

Specific to the poster: Do the F4 now have a robot in the comics?  That's a mildly interesting wrinkle.  Is Reed Richards going to be the MCU's new go-to big brain now that Tony is gone and Shuri is likely too busy being Black Panther and queen?

 

Mid-Century Modern furniture: is that a subtle reference to the year F4 premiered?

[Glacier Peak]

No word yet on Doom casting. I'm hoping no sky beams will be present in this one. 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

We like Pedro: Mando, Joel in Last Of Us, Javi in Unbearable Weight... and even Max the manager in Bloodsucking B***ards - all benefiting from charisma by the bucketload.

(Even Maxwell Lord from the misbegotten WW84 was eminently memeable.)

 

All of which makes makes him very wrong in my headcanon for Reed.

Who may be a superhero and one of the smartest folks alive, but also a bit of a milquetoast personality-wise.

Not Zaddy type.

 

Really is a missed opportunity to cast Krasinski for reals - and Blunt.

That would have been one hell of a double act...

[Excraft]

No thank you.  Casting Pedro Pascal just cements it for me that this movie is going to suck.  I'm sure he has fans and that's ok, but I personally think he's awful and can't act his way out of a wet paper bag.  His performance in WW 1984 made an already terrible movie even worse. 

 

Also seems like this is going to be a period piece?  Which means yet another multiverse setting of some kind or other silliness.  Honestly, the MCU is dead at this point.  This is going into the "maybe watch it once its available on streaming for free if there really is nothing else even remotely interesting on" category. 

 

 

1 hour ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Really is a missed opportunity to cast Krasinski for reals - and Blunt.

 

I could not agree more. 

[ZacKing]

Nope.  I'm out.

[Glacier Peak]

4 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Really is a missed opportunity to cast Krasinski for reals - and Blunt.

That would have been one hell of a double act...

So true! 

 

[Glacier Peak]

Article talks about it being a period piece set in 1960 New York City. Additional cast members have been announced as well.

 

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/fantastic-four-setting-1960s-new-york-city-kevin-feige-marvel-1236049964/amp/

Edited July 20 by Glacier Peak

[BrandX]

On 2/15/2024 at 11:28 AM, Glacier Peak said:

So true! 

 

 

Honestly.  No thank you.  I like them both.  However, they're both to old.  Stop with the old casting.  This includes Pascal.  Who imo, isn't right for the part of Reed Richards.

[Triumphant]

Quote

This includes Pascal.  Who imo, isn't right for the part of Reed Richards.

 

Really, when I think about it honestly, I have to agree with you on this.  I love Pedro.  He's great in pretty much everything I've ever seen him in.  But he just doesn't feel like Reed Richards to me.  I will watch the film and give him a fair shake, but it's gonna be a hard sell for me, tbh.

 

The industry has done such a lackluster job of bringing this team to a live-action film in the past, that it's just very difficult to feel hopeful about the next iteration.

[BrandX]

7 hours ago, Triumphant said:

 

Really, when I think about it honestly, I have to agree with you on this.  I love Pedro.  He's great in pretty much everything I've ever seen him in.  But he just doesn't feel like Reed Richards to me.  I will watch the film and give him a fair shake, but it's gonna be a hard sell for me, tbh.

 

The industry has done such a lackluster job of bringing this team to a live-action film in the past, that it's just very difficult to feel hopeful about the next iteration.

 

Yeah, I don't hate Pedro, I just don't feel him as Reed.

 

I liked the casting we had in FF1 and FF2, but yes, the movies could've been better, but on that, I blame FOX.  I never felt FOX did the super movies all that great as compared to Marvel/Disney.  

 

And honestly, FOX felt like they were banking on the names more than trying to give us a more comic accurate version before they went off the rails.

[Glacier Peak]

So much to lose, so little to gain - going the route of post-origin story and set in the past by 60 years. Giving the studio an off ramp if it bombs? What's the angle here? Time travel makes character development irrelevant and life and death meaningless from a story perspective. I'm calling it now - the Marvel Cinematic Universe will get it's universe rebooted and then younger actors will take over and the cycle will repeat - just like in the comics. 

[Ghost]

9 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

So much to lose, so little to gain - going the route of post-origin story and set in the past by 60 years. Giving the studio an off ramp if it bombs? What's the angle here? Time travel makes character development irrelevant and life and death meaningless from a story perspective. I'm calling it now - the Marvel Cinematic Universe will get it's universe rebooted and then younger actors will take over and the cycle will repeat - just like in the comics. 

I’ve always thought it should have rebooted after Endgame.

 

IMO they should have announce “Forget everything you’ve seen before.  That does not exist here”.  Then built a new universe around a different team - XMen, Alpha Flight, etc.

I think by not doing that, they essentially eliminated any real threat in standalone movies for the average movie goer “The Avengers can save the day” or “Time travel”.

They also are now falling into what I call “The Batman Issue”.  
Instead of building up new characters over time, they are now recycling ones that were successful in the past - such as wanting to bring back Downey and Evans again, instead of letting their respective stories stay done.

Edited July 21 by Ghost

[BrandX]

2 hours ago, Ghost said:

I’ve always thought it should have rebooted after Endgame.

 

IMO they should have announce “Forget everything you’ve seen before.  That does not exist here”.  Then built a new universe around a different team - XMen, Alpha Flight, etc.

I think by not doing that, they essentially eliminated any real threat in standalone movies for the average movie goer “The Avengers can save the day” or “Time travel”.

They also are now falling into what I call “The Batman Issue”.  
Instead of building up new characters over time, they are now recycling ones that were successful in the past - such as wanting to bring back Downey and Evans again, instead of letting their respective stories stay done.

 

Weird to me how people say that, when comics have time travel all the time.

 

Also, they can easily make some reason time travel won't work on the next big bad.

[Glacier Peak]

22 minutes ago, BrandX said:

Weird to me how people say that, when comics have time travel all the time.

Comics do this all the time. It is a one trick pony and once a writer makes that part of the story, every character developing moment is meaningless to the audience because it can be retconned or undone thanks to timey wimey.

Edited July 21 by Glacier Peak

[Ghost]

46 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

Weird to me how people say that, when comics have time travel all the time.

 

Also, they can easily make some reason time travel won't work on the next big bad.

I mention it as being a negative for the general audience.  Comic fans will see the movies regardless, but they aren’t enough to sustain the types of movies put out by Marvel.

If the GA doesn’t feel the stakes or threat are “real”, then it’s no longer must see.

The GA will just assume everything will be fixed by time travel.

[BrandX]

42 minutes ago, Ghost said:

I mention it as being a negative for the general audience.  Comic fans will see the movies regardless, but they aren’t enough to sustain the types of movies put out by Marvel.

If the GA doesn’t feel the stakes or threat are “real”, then it’s no longer must see.

The GA will just assume everything will be fixed by time travel.

 

Which just adds to my going "What?  Why?"  I watch a movie about two buddy cops, I don't actually believe any are going to die.

 

Jackie Chan does a movie?  I'm at no point thinking he was going to die in Rumble in the Bronx for instance.

 

I didn't think the Karate Kid (Kung Fu edition) was going to lose his last fight.

 

Never once thought J and K were going to die in MiB3.

 

The stakes are never as there as people seem to think they are for most movies.

[Ghost]

49 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

Which just adds to my going "What?  Why?"  I watch a movie about two buddy cops, I don't actually believe any are going to die.

 

Jackie Chan does a movie?  I'm at no point thinking he was going to die in Rumble in the Bronx for instance.

 

I didn't think the Karate Kid (Kung Fu edition) was going to lose his last fight.

 

Never once thought J and K were going to die in MiB3.

 

The stakes are never as there as people seem to think they are for most movies.

Guess the ending of Infinity War shocked the hell outta you then 🙂 

[Ghost]

55 minutes ago, BrandX said:

 

Which just adds to my going "What?  Why?"  I watch a movie about two buddy cops, I don't actually believe any are going to die.

 

Jackie Chan does a movie?  I'm at no point thinking he was going to die in Rumble in the Bronx for instance.

 

I didn't think the Karate Kid (Kung Fu edition) was going to lose his last fight.

 

Never once thought J and K were going to die in MiB3.

 

The stakes are never as there as people seem to think they are for most movies.

Nobody goes into a movie thinking “I hope the leads don’t die this time”

But they still want a feeling of pending doom.  They still want to wonder “how will they get out of this one” or “how they gonna beat this baddie”.

IMO that’s taken away when you immediately know - “no biggie.  They can just time travel and try again”

 

Then it goes from “I gotta go see how they deal with this situation” to “nah, I’ll wait for it to come out on video.  I’m sure they’ll just call the rest of the Avengers or pull some kinda time travel nonsense”

Edited July 21 by Ghost

[Triumphant]

I am weary of and exhausted by time travel tropes in science fiction shows and movies as a whole.  There's a glut of it in the genre and it lends itself to lazy writing and hackneyed plots.  The Star Trek franchise is perhaps the worst offender in this regard.  The Umbrella Academy is the only example I can think of that I have actually enjoyed in recent days, but that is mostly in spite of the time travel stuff (and really it's perhaps more dimension travel than time travel, for the most part), as opposed to because of it.

[BrandX]

6 hours ago, Ghost said:

Guess the ending of Infinity War shocked the hell outta you then 🙂 

 

I was not seeing that coming!

 

Endgame was a different story.

 

GotG3 and them all living surprised me too, as I expected one of them to die.