Marvel’s First Family is ready for action. In an interview with Collider, Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman said that the Four have been cast, and Marvel will announce the actors embodying Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm when the actors’ strike ends. Shakman also revealed that Fantastic Four will be filming next year, “[probably in] the spring,” at Pinewood Studios in London. And, for what it’s worth (which isn’t much), he says that Fantastic Four will be different from any other Marvel movie we’ve seen, which is what we’re told about every Marvel movie. Currently, Fantastic Four is scheduled to be released on May 2, 2025.
Stories about casting the Fantastic Four have been wild, with some crazy rumors making the rounds. (Remember when Mila Kunis was going to play the Thing?) The last time anything came out on the Four front was Jeff Sneider saying he’d been told that Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn were playing Sue and Johnny Storm. Adam Driver and Matt Smith supposedly turned down Reed, although that isn’t necessarily true; Benedict Cumberbatch said he couuldn’t be in Doctor Strange before being announced as the Sorcerer Supreme (though not anymore because Marvel is dumb now). Ebon Moss-Bachrach is supposedly in consideration for a role, or was at the time, but Sneider didn’t know which one. And he’d also heard Ben Grimm was cast as well, with “a fat white guy” set to portray the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing. I’m convinced that’s Josh Gad if it’s true, just because that sounds awful and he keeps popping up in movies for reasons I don’t understand. I want to be hopeful for Fantastic Four, but some of the rumors don’t sound all that great to me, from casting to making Sue the lead. If Disney is serious about righting the Marvel ship, Fantastic Four would be a great place to start. We’ll see if they’re on the right track when the cast is announced.