After five solid years of floundering their way through uninspiring phases comprised of even worse movies, is it finally time for jaded fans to get excited about the Marvel Cinematic Universe again? The branches of the Fox acquisition, as tainted as their roots may be, are finally starting to produce fruit — Deadpool and Wolverine just blew out the record for the most-watched trailer on YouTube, so that’s a definite marker of interest — and in a surprise move, Marvel finally announced the long-rumored cast for Matt Shakman’s The Fantastic Four as well as a new release date, and did so by using a piece of actually pretty-well-done concept art. Happy Valentine’s Day, nerds.
Here’s the image:
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In case you need a who’s who, we’ve got Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal, who attracts heavy cash because his game’s centrifugal), The Invisible Woman/Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), The Human Torch/Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ebon Moss-Bacharach as The Thing/Ben Grimm. Eagle-eyed nerds will notice that Moss-Bacharach shows up twice here (that’s not just Neil Armstrong’s portrait in the background). We’ve also got H.E.R.B.I.E., the robot, who replaced Johnny Storm in the ’70s cartoon either because of rights issues or because suits were worried that kids would set themselves on fire. You decide.
Anyhow — most folks in gossip circles knew this for a while, but honestly, it’s cool to see it confirmed, and it’s even better that Marvel’s going back to using relatively unknown actors in some of their biggest roles. Chris Hemsworth should have been the blueprint for most of these heroes, but once you start making enough money to get anyone, it’s hard not to become intoxicated by that power. Another cool confirmation is that this will be set in the ’60s, and the design choices look pretty on-point and… colorful? At least for Marvel, that is. We’re just kind of stunned they’re not decked out in police armor. Who knows if this’ll be any good, but it’s not like they have a massive bar to clear compared to the Fox Fantastic Four movies. We’re cautiously excited!
The Fantastic Four will hit theaters on July 25, 2025, and it’s clearly been made a priority to get this movie out there to try to save the MCU from itself.