After months of speculation, the cast for the upcoming Marvel film The Fantastic Four has been announced by way of adorable Valentine’s Day-themed art. The art also revealed a release date: July 25, 2025.
Not only did we finally get confirmation that The Last of Us actor Pedro Pascal is portraying the leader of the crew, Reed Richards (aka Mister Fantastic), but we also now know who is rounding out the rest of the foursome. Vanessa Kirby (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning) will play Sue Storm, or the Invisible Woman; Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn is her younger brother Johnny Storm, or the Human Torch; and The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach will portray Ben Grimm, or the Thing.
The cast announcement was made via a post on X (formerly Twitter) from the official Marvel Studios account. The retro-style artwork shows the four sitting in a living room with a Happy Valentine’s Day banner and heart balloons hanging over their heads. A robot butler is offering The Thing a cup of coffee. The colors, clothing, and font styling suggests that the rumors of a ‘60s-era setting could very well be true.
After all, the very first issue of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four comic series was released in 1961, and all of scientist Reed Richards’ experiments were very much of that time. Visually and tonally, setting The Fantastic Four in the ‘60s would be a lovely break from a very tired Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Plus, The Fantastic Four will be directed by Matt Shakman, who directed the very vibey Disney Plus WandaVision series, which was shot to mimic American sitcoms throughout history, starting with the 1950s.
This will mark the first Fantastic Four movie set in the MCU, as the rights of the other movies (the first series released in 2005 while a reboot dropped in 2015) belonged to 21st Century Fox until Disney acquired the production company in 2019. Here’s hoping The Fantastic Four won’t suck, because I myself am very much over superhero films. I am willing to allow Pedro Pascal to change my mind, however.