As Marvel gives Fantastic Four a (barely) different name, it finally casts its heroic quartet

After months of rumours, speculation, and hopes from fans, Marvel has cast its Fantastic Four film, with Reed Richards being played by none other than Pedro Pascal.

Considering this is the third iteration of the Fantastic Four, it's long been wondered who will play the four superheroes, especially because we've already seen a version of Reed Richards in the MCU played by John Krasinski in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Now, Marvel Studio has finally announced the full casting for the four heroes, including the long-rumoured Pascal, alongside Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm/ the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) as Johnny Storm/ the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) as Ben Grimm/ the Thing.

On top of this, instead of just Fantastic Four, Marvel has renamed the film to "The Fantastic Four" which just feels like a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other, but I haven't made a multi-billion dollar superhero franchise, so what do I know? Its release date has also been pushed back a bit, now releasing July 25, 2025, which is when Thunderbolts was originally expected to release (Thunderbolts has taken The Fantastic Four's original release date of May 2, 2025, despite all the casting troubles).

You won't be surprised to hear that basically no story details have been revealed, though a piece of art was released with the four of them in some lightly campy but classic-looking Fantastic Four outfits, so it is possible that the film will be set after their origin story. It wouldn't be the first time that the MCU skipped over how its heroes got their start, as the same thing happened with Tom Holland's Spider-Man, who was also the third incarnation of the character.

In the meantime, Marvel recently gave a first look at the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, which is apparently positioning the merc with a mouth to become Marvel Jesus.