Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: The Fantastic Four

  • Marvel Studios Reshapes Its 2028 Release Slate

    Marvel Studios Reshapes Its 2028 Release Slate

    Under Bob Iger’s second tenure as the head of Disney, the big Marvel machine was instructed to scale back its production efforts, prioritizing quality over quantity. “We’ve also learned over time that quantity does not necessarily beget quality. And frankly, we’ve all admitted to ourselves that we lost a little focus by making too much,” Iger told investors in March. “By consolidating a bit and having Marvel focus much more on their films, we believe that will result in better quality.” As such, projects began to disappear from the release slate and the studio looked to schedule 2 or 3 films a year moving forward, starting in 2026. However, plans are always subject to change and it now looks as though Marvel may look to launch its next saga with a more aggressive approach.

    Disney has added a fourth Marvel Studios film to its 2028 release slate, reserving December 15th for an untitled film. Should the studio hold to the current plan, fans can also count on being in theaters on February 18th, May 5th and November 10th.

    Marvel has yet to officially announce any of its 2028 projects, though its X-Men reboot and a third Black Panther film are expected to land in theaters that year. In an interesting development, Variety reports that a sequel to this summer’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps is also in development and may be on track for a 2028 release. In addition, Thor, Doctor Strange and Shang-Chi sequels could be on the docket, as well as the studio’s long-awaited Blade reboot or the Midnight Sons ensemble film or Ryan Reynolds X-Men team up film. Whatever the case, it’s clear that the studio has options and may feel comfortable about moving forward with releasing four films because four good scripts have been turned in.

    Source: Variety

  • First Trailer for ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Shows Off the Team’s Astonishing Powers

    First Trailer for ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Shows Off the Team’s Astonishing Powers

    Six years after it was announced to be in development at SDCC ’19, Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps will debut this summer. After months of rumors surrounding the cast, Marvel revealed that Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach were locked in to fill the roles of Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm, respectively. After an hour-long social media countdown that was designed in the mold of NASA’s televised launches, the first public trailer for the film put the All-Star cast on center stage with each member of Marvel’s First Family showing off their astonishing powers…with th very notable except of Mister Fantastic.

    The trailer also provides a first look at the film’s villain, Galactus, played by Ralph Ineson. It’s safe to say this take is far more comic accurate than the cosmic fart cloud seen in 2005’s Fantastic Four.

    Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. 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 (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald,Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

    -Official Synopsis for The Fantastic: Four First Steps

    The film also stars John Malkovich as the Red Ghost, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser and Sarah Niles.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to debut in theaters on July 25, 2025.

  • Marvel Studio Rolls Out a Cryptic New Synopsis for ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

    Marvel Studio Rolls Out a Cryptic New Synopsis for ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

    By the time Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters next July, it will have been almost a decade since the last time Marvel’s first family was seen on the big screen. Fox’s Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank, was an abject disaster that not even social media revisionist history has managed to salvage and so Disney smartly displayed patience in bringing the super-team back to the screen after acquiring the live-action rights to them in the 2019 Fox merger. From the footage seen of the film so far, director Matt Shakman‘s new film couldn’t look and feel any different than its most recent predecessor, seemingly embracing the original vibe of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby‘s creations rather than seeking to distance itself from them.

    Though the new film will introduce the characters into the MCU, it is set in the 1960s in a parallel universe yet to be revealed where Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben have already been established as heroes. As was the case with Spider-Man: Homecoming, the origin story of the heroes will be referenced but won’t take up the entire first act of the film, allowing the story to progress a bit more quickly and it sounds as though it may need all that space as the team will be facing its biggest threat: Galactus. The presence of the Devourer, played by Ralph Ineson, has been public knowledge for some time but now a cryptic, new official synopsis released by Disney may hint at a major twist that involves He Who Hungers.

    Though it has yet to be made official by Disney, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is expected to introduce Franklin Richards, the son of Reed and Sue. In the comics, Franklin is an incredibly powerful reality warper and while he’s still a teen in Marvel Comics’ present day, some possible futures of his have been revealed over the years and the new synopsis may be teasing one of the most inspired possibilities. Though it doesn’t give much away, the new synopsis teases that Galactus’ plans get “very personal” and while that’s certainly vague it’s also very intentional and will lead fans of the comics down a very particular path.

    Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. 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 (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

    -Official Synopsis for Marvel Studios The Fantastic Four: First Steps

    In 1999, Marvel published the limited series Earth-X which explored what was originally created as the dystopian future of Earth-616. In Earth-X #2, it was revealed that Franklin had become Galactus. This idea has been explored a few other times over the years and has been rumored to be a potential plot point in The Fantastic Four: First Steps with the inclusion of one very cool twist: the film’s Galactus will be an older Franklin who demands that his family deliver his younger self to him! Again, it’s simply a rumor at this point and an old one at that; however, with the official synopsis dangling that bait, it does seem plausible at this point.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps lands in theaters on July 25, 2025.

  • What I Heard This Week: John Malkovich’s ‘Fantastic’ Role

    What I Heard This Week: John Malkovich’s ‘Fantastic’ Role

    At 70 years old, John Malkovich has shown no interest in pumping the brakes on what has been a prodigious acting career. With a film career that began in earnest 40 years and over 70 projects ago on his resume, the actor has remained as busy as ever, starring in 14 movies in the 2020s as well as taking on recurring roles in 4 streaming series including The New Pope, Space Force and Billions. However, despite his very full plate, the eccentric actor made the decision to jump into one of Hollywood’s most popular franchises.

    In May 2024, a Hollywood trade report broke the news that Malkovich had joined the very impressive cast of Marvel Studios The Fantastic Four: First Steps in an unknown role. Speculation around Malkovich’s role had the actor filling in as anyone from Phillip Masters, aka the Puppet Master to Reed Richards’ time-traveling father, Nathaniel, and many other interesting roles in between. As it turns out, Malkovich will be portraying one of the Fantastic Four’s oldest foes and one I speculated might end up in the film in February 2024.

    This week, I heard that Malkovich is playing Marvel Comics’ villain and twisted genius Ivan Kragoff. First introduced in January 1963’s Fantastic Four #13, Kragoff is better known as the Red Ghost, a recurring foe of Marvel’s First Family who often used his army of Super-Apes to aid him in his plans.

    A brilliant Russian scientist, Kragoff was fascinated with Cosmic Rays and, following the exposure of the Fantastic Four to them built his own spacecraft, loaded it up with primates and intentionally exposed himself to Cosmic Rays as well. He and his simian sidekicks were all mutated by the exposure and took on the Fantastic Four on the Blue Area of the Moon. Malkovich has a famously horrible Russian accent which he has shown off in both Rounders and Billions and given how sharp director Matt Shakman is, that’s almost certainly part of the reason Malkovich is playing Red Ghost.

    As speculated back in February, given that The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set in the 1960s and that Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben’s mission to space will be part of the film, the Space Race may well be included. If so, Malkovich’s role as Kragoff makes sense as he both fits the mold of many Marvel Studios villains in that his origins as a villain are uniquely tied to the heroes and he also has enough ties to other characters and potential storylines that he could be kept around and used again down the road.

    Once upon a time, Malkovich was set to play the Vulture in Sam Raimi‘s scuttled Spider-Man 4 and we once dreamt of the star joining other eccentric legends like Beneci del Toro and Jeff Goldblum as Elders of the Universe in the MCU. Alas, fate had its own plans and know we know who John Malkovich is being.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to hit theaters on July 26, 2024.

  • Marvel Studios Finalizes Its 2025 Theatrical Release Slate

    Marvel Studios Finalizes Its 2025 Theatrical Release Slate

    Following Marvel Studios’ Hall H presentation at 2022’s San Diego Comic-Con, 2025 was poised to be the most consequential year for any studio in the history of motion pictures. The studio’s One Above All, Kevin Feige, revealed an incredibly ambitious release schedule that included five streaming series and four films including Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. By October, the 2025 slate had already begun to change in the first of a series of cascading moves by the studio that have continued over the past two years. For myriad reasons, projects have shuffled in, out and around in 2025 leaving fans uncertain of what to expect even as time runs out on 2024.

    Avengers: Secret Wars was the first casualty, originally being moved to 2026 and then again to 2027. The Fantastic Four was moved from 2024 into 2025 and then moved later into 2025. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, originally scheduled for a May 2, 2025 release was moved into 2026 before being scrapped and reimagined as Avengers: Doomsday. And after a semi-disastrous 2023 for Marvel Studios, a Disney-mandated cutback on streaming series jettisoned the plans to have new episodes of MCU-set series releasing nearly year-round. Now, as the studio seems to be settling in following some rethinking, rescheduling and rebranding, the 2025 theatrical release slate has come into focus.

    Following the removal of Blade from its November 7, 2025 release date, Marvel Studios’ 2025 theatrical slate now consists of Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

    Captain America: Brave New World-February 14, 2025

    Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World stars Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez,
    Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake
    Nelson    , and Harrison Ford.

    After meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

    CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD. © 2024 MARVEL.

    Thunderbolts*-May 2, 2025

    Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts* stars Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Edward Pierce, with David Harbour, with Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus

    Marvel Studios and a crew of indie veterans who sold out present “Thunderbolts*,” an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova alongside the MCU’s least anticipated
    band of misfits.

    THUNDERBOLTS*. © 2024 MARVEL.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps-July 25, 2025

    Marvel Studios The Fantastic Four: First Steps stars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Julia Garner, Ralph Ineson, John Malkovich, Paul Walter-Hauser and Natasha Lyonne.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps sees Galactus and Silver Surfer target Earth for destruction.

    THE FANTASTIC FOUR. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.

  • New Marvel Logo Unveils First Look at Characters from Upcoming Projects, Confirms Additional 2025 D+ Series

    New Marvel Logo Unveils First Look at Characters from Upcoming Projects, Confirms Additional 2025 D+ Series

    For the next few days, New York City will be the center of the pop culture world as NYCC ’24 gets underway. Though it’s typically not been used to deliver major breaking news about upcoming Marvel or DC projects, both studios have certainly promoted films and series in the past and will do so again this year.

    In Marvel’s case, fans will be able to take visit a booth with a display of costumes from Marvel Television’s upcoming streaming series, Daredevil: Born Again. And while anything more may have seemed like wishful thinking, early arrivals at the event caught the first glimpse of a brand new Marvel logo that includes the first look at multiple characters expected to appear in upcoming projects.

    The new logo, which is starting to pop up all over social media, not only gives fans great, new looks at Harrison Ford‘s Red Hulk, Anthony Mackie‘s Captain America and a few characters from the 2025 film Thunderbolts* but also a great shot of H.E.R.B.I.E., Jeff the Shark and Galacta, the daughter of Galactus.

    Though it’s not been confirmed, it is incredibly likely that Jeff and Galacta are simply part of Marvel Comics’ presentation or their video game presentation. On the other hand, the logo also includes close up looks at Daredevil, Wilson Fisk from Daredevil: Born Again and the Human Torch who, along with H.E.R.B I.E., will be seen in 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Additionally, the inclusion of characters from What If…? in the logo all but guarantees the third season of the canonical animated adventure will hit Disney Plus in 2025. As it stands, the studio’s 2025 slate currently includes:

    • Captain America: Brave New World (February 14th)
    • Daredevil: Born Again (beginning in March)
    • Thunderbolts* (May 2nd)
    • Ironheart (expected in September)
    • The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 27th)
  • Latest ‘Fantastic Four’ Set Photo Includes a ‘WandaVision’ Easter Egg

    Latest ‘Fantastic Four’ Set Photo Includes a ‘WandaVision’ Easter Egg

    Principal photography on Marvel Studios The Fantastic Four: First Steps is underway in the UK and photos and videos of the set have steadily been making this way online. The studio is going to great lengths to bring a 1960s retro-futuristic New York City to life by constructing massive sets including Times Square, the Flatiron building and what looks to be either the Baxter Building of the Excelsior Launch Pad site. Progress on the set has been tracked on Twitter by user UnBoxPHD and now the latest update may have revealed a connection to one of Marvel’s most well-received streaming series.

    An updated photo of the set for the Matt Shakman film reveals that somewhere in the expansive set, a building named “Westview Appliances Television” has been built. Westview was, of course, featured in the D+ series WandaVision as the town was put under a hex by Wanda Maximoff while grieving the loss of Vision

    Whether or not the building is meant to simply be a reference to the series, which Shakman also directed, or if there’s a larger connection at play via multiversal hijinks is unclear. Given that Westview is located in New Jersey in the MCU, it is totally reasonable to wonder if it will pop back up in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, especially given the comic book connection between the Richards family and Agatha Harkness.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to hit theaters on July 26, 2025.

  • Set Photos Provide First Look at Key Locations from ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

    Set Photos Provide First Look at Key Locations from ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

    Marvel Studios 2025 film The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be the first MCU film set primarily in an alternate dimension. According to director Matt Shakman, the story takes place in “kind of a retro-future ’60s” which the studio has been keen to show off since the earliest promotional material for the project was released online. The setting serves both to set it apart from prior iterations of Marvel Comics First Family that made their way to the big screen and as an homage to the Space Race era in which Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four.

    The comic was created in the early ’60s, really at the same time that the space race was starting, so it is infused with that idea of looking to the stars and dreaming of a future where we would be space travelers.

    –The Fantastic Four: First Steps director, Matt Shakman via Entertainment Weekly

    Footage screened for the audience in attendance at SDCC ’24 showed off that ’60s vibe and leaned heavily into the theme of space exploration which, according to Shakman, is in part where the film’s subtitle originated. “It’s a lot about the space race and about voyaging out there,” Shakman said in an interview with EW. “So First Steps is partly to do with that idea about exploration. I really wanted to take all of that great stuff from Apollo 11 and just imagine that instead of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, it was the Storms and Ben Grimm and Reed Richards heading off into space.“

    Given how integral the team’s experiences in space are to the film, it wasn’t too surprising to learn that the site from which the team launched their first flight was set to appear in the film. An SDCC souvenir map of Manhattan indicated that the Excelsior Launch Pad, located just next to the team’s headquarters, the Baxter Building, was among many landmarks fans should expect to see on screen. Now, as production on The Fantastic Four: First Steps kicks off in the UK, photos and video from the set have revealed that construction is underway to bring the retro-futuristic ’60s Manhattan to life.

    In a series of photos shared on X by UnBoxPHD, key locations such as the Baxter Building, the Excelsior Launch Pad and Yancy Street, all seen on the SDCC souvenir map, can be seen taking shape.

    Yancy Street has always been an important location in the pages of Marvel Comics. The Lower East Side neighborhood is the home turf of Ben Grimm and analogous to the neighborhood in which Jack Kirby grew up.

    In addition to the Baxter Building and Yancy Street, the crew is also building a replica of the real-life RKO Palace Theater which is located on Broadway in Midtown Manhattan and is part of Times Square.

    Given that set construction is just getting underway, it will be worth following along over the next week or two to see not only what the completed sets look like but also what other buildings pop up and will be used in the film.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to launch in theaters on July 25, 2025.

    Sources: Entertainment Weekly, Twitter

  • SDCC Souvenir Confirms Second Major Villain for ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

    SDCC Souvenir Confirms Second Major Villain for ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

    As part of their Hall H presentation at SDCC ’24, Marvel Studios gave those in attendance a first look at The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Though production doesn’t begin in earnest until July 30th, enough test footage exists for the studio to put a sizzle reel or two together including the first look at the film’s primary antagonist, Galactus. Unsurprisingly, that footage has found its way online and is generating quite a bit of buzz; however, while the appearance of Galactus as something other than a cosmic fart cloud is something to celebrate, a piece of SDCC memorabilia handed out to fans in attendance includes some very interesting information about the 2025 film.

    Screen Rant’s Rob Keyes shared several images of a map of Manhattan which fans in attendance in Hall H could get in exchange for their ticket. The official souvenir map highlights “Points of Interest” from the Manhattan of whatever alternate Earth the characters of The Fantastic Four: First Steps inhabit. The map has plenty of interesting points, to be sure, but a closer look confirms the existence of one of the Fantastic Four’s longest-standing villains who has long been rumored to appear in the film.

    Just to the right of the Statue of Liberty, the map indicates that Subterranea exists in the world of this Fantastic Four. Furthermore, entrances to it can be found all across the map, including near the Baxter Building. The existence of the underground kingdom of Subterranea implies that its King, Harvey Elder, aka Mole Man, is set to appear in the film.

    Since Paul Walter Hauser was added to the cast in May, buzz about the inclusion of Mole Man has grown. The casting of Hauser, along with several other actors whose roles remain unknown, pointed towards some of the Fantastic Four’s best-known villains being included in the film; given that Galactus and the Silver Surfer will take up the majority of the team’s attention, it’s been suggested that perhaps the other villains, including Mole Man, will be part of a montage of flashbacks. While the how isn’t confirmed quite yet, the inclusion of Subterranea on the map all but confirms an appearance by Mole Man.

    Hints that Mole Man could appear in the film predate Hauser’s casting. On April 4th, Marvel launched a viral marketing campaign that led to a website created by the fictional Future Foundation. Included on that website were some comics that could be considered “essential reading” for the Marvel Studios film and among them was Fantastic Four #1, the first appearance of Mole Man in the pages of Marvel Comics. In it, Elder used Subterranea’s worldwide network of underground caverns to surface in Manhattan where he was met–and defeated by–the Fantastic Four in their first public appearance as a team of heroes. It seems likely that director Matt Shakman will pay homage to that appearance in the film and that Hauser’s Mole Man could make what amounts to an extended cameo.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps is targeting a theatrical launch of July 25, 2025.

    Source: Twitter

  • SDCC ’24: Marvel Studios Sets 3 Films for Theatrical Release in 2025

    SDCC ’24: Marvel Studios Sets 3 Films for Theatrical Release in 2025

    Though we’ll never see it here, somewhere on a parallel Earth, Marvel Studios’ fans just saw Thunderbolts at the theater are preparing to be treated to some version of Avengers: The Kang Dynasty next May. Scrapped in favor of the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is one of several projects revealed at comic-cons past as part of a future MCU slate that didn’t quite work out. During Marvel’s last trip to San Diego, they rolled out an ambitious plan for the Multiverse Saga; two years later, nine of the projects have seen their release dates shift significantly, including five projects that would have been released by now had the original plan been followed. While there are myriad reasons for the shifts, the fact remains the slate has changed several times over the last two years and now, it has again.

    As Marvel Studios took the stage in Hall H last night, its latest 2025 theatrical slate was the presentation’s focus. Recently the studio still had plans for four films to be released next year but work stoppages and difficulties locking down quality scripts have caused fans to call into question the pragmatism of that slate for some time and now it’s been made official: Marvel Studios will only release 3 films in 2025.

    With the studio still searching for yet another director to helm Mahershala Ali‘s Blade, the vampire hunter’s MCU debut has been delayed indefinitely. With Blade on the shelf, Marvel Studios’ 2025 theatrical slate will consist of Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

    February 14, 2025: Captain America: Brave New World

    Despite some significant issues behind the scenes, Captain America: Brave New World remains on track to hit its mid-February release date. After the events of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson takes center stage as the all-new, all-different Captain America.

    The story follows Sam Wilson, who after meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, finds himself in the middle of an international incident. Sam must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.

    -Official Synopsis, Captain America: Brave New World
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Rob Delaney, Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios, Harrison Ford, Tim Blake Nelson, Danny Ramirez, Giancarlo Esposito and Anthony Mackie speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Danny Ramirez, Tim Blake Nelson, Harrison Ford, Anthony Mackie and Giancarlo Esposito attend the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Harrison Ford and Anthony Mackie attend the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

    Harrison Ford will make his MCU debut as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross and Tim Blake Nelson returns to the role of Samuel Sterns, aka The Leader, after first appearing as the character in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. Danny Ramirez returns as Joaquin Torres, who will take over as The Falcon and Giancarlo Esposito will make his MCU debut as Serpent Society King, Sidewinder.

    May 2, 2025: Thunderbolts*

    Directed by Jake Schrier, Thunderbolts* boasts an impressive ensemble cast and serves as a sequel to multiple projects. Though the film’s true lead is Florence Pugh‘s Yelena Belova, it also stars MCU first-timers Geraldine Viswanathan and Lewis Pullman along with returnees Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Sebastian Stan, Olga Kurylenko and David Harbour, who showed up at SDCC in full Red Guardian garb.

    An irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.

    -Official Logline for Thunderbolts*
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Florence Pugh, Lewis Pullman, Geraldine Viswanathan, Hannah John-Kamen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jake Schreier, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour and Wyatt Russell attend the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Rob Delaney, Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios, Jake Schreier, Geraldine Viswanathan, Lewis Pullman, Hannah John-Kamen, Wyatt Russell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Jake Schreier, Geraldine Viswanathan and Lewis Pullman speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: David Harbour speaks during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

    Though details on Pullman’s character, Bob, were not revealed at SDCC, it’s widely accepted that he’ll be playing Robert Reynolds, aka The Sentry, one of the most powerful characters in the pages of Marvel Comics.

    July 25, 2025: The Fantastic Four: First Steps

    THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.

    One of the most anticipated Marvel Studios projects in quite some time, The Fantastic Four: First Steps is still set to land in theaters next July despite the fact that production has not yet gotten underway.

    The Fantastic Four: First Steps sees Galactus and Silver Surfer target Earth for destruction

    -Official Description of The Fantastic Four: First Steps
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal and Matt Shakman speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Rob Delaney, Matt Shakman, Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Vanessa Kirby and Pedro Pascal speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Matt Shakman, Kevin Feige, President, Marvel Studios, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Vanessa Kirby and Pedro Pascal speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
    SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 27: (L-R) Vanessa Kirby and Pedro Pascal speak onstage during the Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H at SDCC in San Diego, California on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

    Director Matt Shakman was joined on stage in San Diego by Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, who will play the MCU’s version of The First Family. Shakman described the film as retro-futuristic and explained that it will look both into the past and future of the Fantastic Four though it will not be an origin story.