Marvel Announces Fantastic 4 Cast

Movies

The Fantastic Four has officially been cast, and I think we’re all supposed to pretend to be shocked and amazed. Today, Marvel revealed the actors playing the Four in an Instagram post, and they are: Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bacharach as Ben Grimm/the Thing. In other words, it’s the exact same cast everyone has known about for months; Jeff Sneider reported on these actors playing Sue, Johnny, and Ben in August of 2023, and Pedro Pascal’s casting as Reed has been all but a given since Daniel Richtman broke the news in November. Marvel has also released a poster featuring drawings of the actors as the Four, which you can see below:

I like the poster. It’s got the familial vibe the Fantastic Four should have and the light, fun tone that goes with them. It’s clever to have the picture of Ben Grimm as an astronaut on the wall so we can see Ebon Moss-Bacharach’s face while still showing him as the Thing in the foreground. And that appears to be HERBIE the robot serving Thing his coffee; HERBIE was a silly character created for an animated Fantastic Four show to replace the Human Torch, who was tied up in licensing agreements with another studio. Again, this points to a fun tone, with HERBIE not doubt present mostly for some laughs. And eagle-eyed fans have spotted that the magazine Thing is reading is an issue of Life from 1963 with President Lyndon Johnson on the cover, indicating that the movie will be a period piece taking place in the 60s. Finally, the poster gives the film its official title: The Fantastic 4. It’s all good stuff, and if the movie follows up on the feel the poster creates, it could be a good time. As for the cast, I feel like I’ve talked about this ad nauseam because we’ve known about it for so long. None of them would’ve been my first choice, but they don’t bother me much, either. Nobody seems to care that Ebon Moss-Bacharach played Microchip on The Punisher, but I guess if you’re going to use someone again, he’s one of the better ones. Now, I guess it’s all about the villain reveals, but since they’re supposedly rewriting the script, that may be in flux at the moment.