Marvel Studios Announces 'The Fantastic 4' Cast And Release Date Switch With 'Thunderbolts'
Probably one of the industry’s worst kept secrets of recent months, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn have all been confirmed
Marvel Studios has wished fans a very happy Valentine’s Day by revealing the cast of The Fantastic 4. In probably some of the worst kept secrets in Hollywood, Pedro Pascal is confirmed as Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm aka the Thing.
Pascal’s casting was first reported in November but never quite confirmed until Wednesday, after some very odd cover-ups. First, his SAG Foundation biography mentioned the role and that was edited out. But news sources caught wind, including Pubity who made a whole graphic about it… that was shared by the film’s director Matt Shakman in his Instagram Stories. Then the account was nuked. In late January, TheWrap asked Moss-Bachrach about the rumors of his own casting as The Thing and he simply went, "Oh, I can't confirm, and I can't deny, I think." Kirby and Quinn were already considered frontrunners by August but were likely stuck as such because of the SAG-AFTRA strike freezing all casting deals.
Exposed to cosmic rays during a scientific outer space mission, Richards becomes able to stretch his body to great lengths. Storm, Reed’s girlfriend and eventual wife, can control light to become invisible and conjure forcefields. Johnny, Sue’s brother, can turn his body into fire and fly with it. And Grimm is Reed’s best friend, whose transformation turns him into a rock behemoth with super strength. Introduced as Marvel’s first family in the earliest days under the Marvel name in the 1960s, the reveal image with Ben reading the December 1963 issue of Life Magazine with President Lyndon B. Johnson on the cover. The aesthetic harkens back in a manner that grants fans the type of film oft-discussed following 20th Century Fox’s last attempt in 2015 with Miles Teller, Kate Mara and Michael B. Jordan. Whether the film has gone for a third attempt at Doctor Doom or a different villain is unknown.
As for this cast, Pascal’s star rose through Game of Thrones and Narcos before his true breakout as Din Djarin on The Mandalorian, which got him his first superhero period piece as Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman 1984 and has since landed HBO’s The Last of Us as Joel. Season 2 is expected to shoot before he goes off for the film. Starting off in British television, Quinn rose to prominence as Eddie Munson, a major highlight in the fourth season of Stranger Things. Moss-Bachrach has been playing Richard “Richie” Jerimovich on FX and Hulu’s The Bear, recently winning an Emmy for the role. Kirby first rose to prominence as Princess Margaret in The Crown and joined the Mission: Impossible franchise starting with Fallout before earning an Oscar nomination for her performance in Pieces of a Woman.
Shakman, who has produced WandaVision and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, will direct from Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer’s screenplay. The Fantastic Four, as announced with the casting, will now open on July 25, 2025. That date may be familiar as held by Thunderbolts, but it’s not being delayed any further than it already has been. They’re actually switching places so now Thunderbolts has the May 2 release date. That film stars Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier, David Harbour as Red Guardian Alexei Shostakov, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Wyatt Russell as John Walker the US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr aka Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov the Taskmaster, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Top Gun: Maverick’s Lewis Pullman, son of Bill, is still believed to be the top choice to play Sentry after Steven Yeun left, and Geraldine Viswanathan has been cast in a role vacated by another star of The Bear, Ayo Edebiri. Harrison Ford will continue playing (possible President) Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross following his debut in the role in Captain America: Brave New World. With this release date change, it is now The Fantastic Four that will be battling out with the new DC Universe’s first entry, Superman: Legacy, which opens two weeks earlier on July 11.
