Fantastic Four: From release date to cast, everything we know about the film

One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most highly anticipated projects is the upcoming Fantastic Four film. Announced back in 2019 during San Diego Comic-Con, the film has gone through various delays and setbacks which have pushed the production further and further. With it almost having been half a decade since it was announced, we still don't know much about it.

This would be the third cinematic iteration of the Fantastic Four and the first that will be set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With fans of the comics and the characters being extremely excited about the upcoming Marvel romp, it looks like the gears might finally be shifting as some rumors have indicated what exactly the film might be about.

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Fantastic Four set to release in 2025 and reportedly stars Pedro Pascal

Marvel Studios originally wasn't able to make a Fantastic Four film as the rights to the characters were originally owned by 20th Century Fox. However, the studio was bought by Marvel Studios' parent company Disney and this allowed Kevin Feige to finally bring Marvel's First Family into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This was announced back in 2019 alongside the integration of the Mutants to take place in the MCU and then in December 2020, it was announced that the MCU's Spider-Man trilogy director, Jon Watts, would be helming the film. Unfortunately, in April 2022, Watts stepped down from the position, prompting Marvel to look for another director.

By August of the same year, Matt Shakman came aboard to direct the film. At the time, Shakman was best known for directing episodes of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and had even directed WandaVision for Marvel Studios. The script was later announced to be helmed by Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer and later on in 2023, Josh Friedman rewrote it.

As of now, nothing is known about the film's story. As for the cast, many big names were rumoured to come aboard. Mr. Fantastic made his MCU debut in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and was played by John Krasinski who had been a popular fan cast as the character. But since the character was a multiversal variant and not part of the main MCU universe, it wasn't confirmed that Krasinski would return to play the character in the Fantastic Four film.

Since then, many big names have been thrown in the ring to star in the film. However, it's Pedro Pascal who has been widely believed by the trades to be playing the role of Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic. Alongside him, many other rumors have also been mentioned about the remaining three members of the Fantastic Four.

Vanessa Kirby (Napoleon), Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) are reported to be the front runners for playing Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman), Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) and Ben Grimm (The Thing), respectively. Recently talking about Fantastic Four with The Wrap, Moss-Bachrach had this to say that only further fueled the rumours:

"Oh, I can’t confirm, and I can’t deny, I think."

As for the villains, Galactus and Dr. Doom are rumored to appear in the film, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Silver Surfer was also rumored to appear with Anya Taylor-Joy playing a female version of the character.

Currently, Fantastic Four is slated to release on May 2, 2025.