This might be one of the most anticipated movies of 2025.
With Thunderbolts* hitting cinemas in May and the new Superman making more than $300 million from the worldwide box office opening, it’s safe to say that superhero films are officially back.
The next on the line-up is Fantastic Four: First Steps, which fans around the globe are already going wild over, mainly because of the cast.
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The new Fantastic Four film is led by none other than 2025’s favourite celebrity Pedro Pascal, along with stars Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn.
But these stars have some big shoes to fill.
While Fantastic Four: First Steps isn’t a direct remake of the 2005 film Fantastic Four, the four key characters remain the same.
Twenty years ago it was Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans who took on the role, along with late Aussie star Julian McMahon as villain Dr. Doom.
So, lets take a look back at the role that each of these stars played and the new cast that are stepping into their shoes as the Fantastic Four family finally joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
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Reed Richards: Mr Fantastic
Reed Richards is the leader of the Fantastic Four, a highly intelligent scientist with the ability to stretch his body.
2005: Ioan Gruffudd
Ioan Gruffudd took on the role back in 2005 at 32 years old.
At the time, he said he hadn’t realised just how big of an existing fanbase the comics already had, sayin that being on set was a bit of a “pinch me” moment.
“You have to remind yourself that you’re like a child again, playing in your back garden pretending that you’re doing all these things again,” he told BBC.
“And it works out fine.”
2025: Pedro Pascal
In the upcoming 2025 remake, it’s Pedro Pascal, 50, who will lead the team as Reed Richards.
While the actor is no stranger when it comes to adapting a project with an existing fanbase (he’s had roles in both Game of Thrones and The Last of Us), he told Collider that this was definitely the most daunting role he’s taken on.
“Each time you step into one, and you feel like this can’t be scarier, you find out, oh, this is scarier,” he said.
“That’s why the lucky thing is to anchor yourself so completely to a partnership, to your colleagues, to the original kind of authorship of this particular telling of the Fantastic Four – under, you know, basically the best in the business.
“It holds you and really, really can be the perfect antidote to the fear and to the pressure and stuff like that. You just wrap yourself around that.”
Sue Storm: Invisible Woman
While Reed is the scientific brains behind the operation, his wife Sue Storm is the emotional intelligence.
She has the ability to turn invisible and generate force fields, and is also the older sister of Johnny Storm.
2005: Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba originated the role back in 2005 when she was just 23 years old.
Looking back on her time as Sue Storm in a 2024 interview with Geek Tyrant, Alba said she has nothing but “fond memories”.
”It was great and she was such a cool, inspiring character and ahead of her time, I would say, in the genre,” she said.
“And still, you still haven’t seen someone who is so nurturing and feminine, but then also a fearsome badass.
“I haven’t seen that combination again. And so I think she still fills this beautiful kind of space or void in the Marvel universe.”
2025: Vanessa Kirby
Speaking with Comic Book Resources in 2024, Alba passed on some words of wisdom to Vanessa Kirby, 37, who plays Sue Storm in the upcoming film.
“I’d tell her to just have fun and soak in the moments,” Alba said.
Kirby said that after landing the role she “started learning so much” about her character.
“I love that she’s the first mother in Marvel, she’s the first pregnant superhero, that she’s a working mother,” she told LRM Online.
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Ben Grimm: The Thing
Ben Grimm is Reed’s best friend, who’s skin is turned to rock, granting him super strength.
2005: Michael Chiklis
At the time of the original film, Michael Chiklis, 42, took on the role of The Thing.
In a 2005 interview with Radio Free Entertainment, Chiklis described his character as a ”reluctant hero”.
He’s the one in the Fantastic Four that doesn’t want these powers, doesn’t want to be the Thing,” he said.
“Certainly he can’t switch back and forth, so he’s really got the biggest problem of all of them. And he’s a curmudgeonly kind of a guy.
“I really admire the strength of character of this character, and that’s what sort of drew me to him. He’s the heart and soul of this group.”
2025: Ebon Moss-Bachrach
The Bear star Ebon Moss-Bachrach, 48, has now stepped into the role, telling Collider that he was given some advice from a Marvel veteran.
Moss-Bachrach shared that none other than Mark Ruffalo, who stars in the MCU as The Hulk, reached out to him to share some tips on playing a motion capture character.
“I got a really nice, very long, thorough text from Mark Ruffalo. My character is performance capture and I was a little anxious about that, it’s something I’ve never done before,” he said.
“Mark immediately, I don’t understand how he got wind of my insecurity about it. He was really generous and sort of went through the whole thing.”
Johnny Storm: Human Torch
Johnny Storm is the bad boy of the group with the ability to control fire and fly.
2005: Chris Evans
While Chris Evans is now a household name – even being a Marvel star himself these days – when he was just 24 years old he landed his breakthrough role as Johnny Storm.
Speaking with Comic Book Movie back in 2005, Evans said he felt a lot of pressure to get the role right.
“I just kind of went out and bought as many comic books as I could find,” he said of preparing for the job.
“You know, you’re just aware that we’re doing something that so many people are so passionate about, you don’t want to screw it up for them.
“I know what it’s like to love something and have it adapted to the screen and have it not work. So, none of us wanted to be a part of a disappointment.”
2025: Joseph Quinn
While Joseph Quinn, 31, grew up a fan of Evans’ version of Johnny, he wanted to make some changes before taking on the role in 2025.
“He’s a man that leads with a lot of bravado, which can be an affront sometimes,” he told Entertainment Weekly.
Quinn, along with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, decided that the 2005 version of Jonny wouldn’t work “culturally” in today’s society.
“He was branded as this womanising, devil-may-care guy, but is that sexy these days? I don’t think so,” he said.
“This version of Johnny is less callous with other people’s feelings, and hopefully there’s a self-awareness about what’s driving that attention-seeking behaviour.”
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Victor Von Doom: Dr. Doom
Victor Von Doom is a mad scientist turned super villain with a wide range of powers.
While he was the key villian in the 2005 film, he won’t be making an appearance in the 2025 rendition.
He will, however, be introduced to the MCU in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday.
2005: Julian McMahon
Late Aussie actor Julian McMahon starred in the original film a villain, Dr. Doom.
While some fans loved his take on the character, McMahon previously said that if he had the chance to do it again, he would have put a more “snivelling” and “conniving” spin on it.
“When we did the movies years ago, we were at the [precipice] of all that stuff happening. So, we were finding our way a lot, and we were trying to figure out what space the movie itself lived in,” he told Screenrant in a 2024 interview.
“Was it a kid’s movie? Was it a family movie? Was it more comedy-driven, or was it more trauma-driven? We were trying to find all that stuff as we were shooting.
“I think now that there are so many different realms of establishment of the way that you look at those pieces, you can pretty much do so many different things now.”
McMahon, the son of former Australian prime minister William McMahon, sadly died after a private battle with cancer in July 2025.
2025: Robert Downey Jr.
In 2024 it was announced that Robert Downey Jr would return to the MCU as Dr. Doom in Avengers: Doomsday set for release in 2026, a decision that McMahon said he was stoked about.
”It’s Robert, you know what I mean? What are you going to say? His body of work speaks for itself. He’s a super-talented guy. I love watching his work,” McMahon said in March 2025.
“If you’ve got Robert Downey Jr, who’s one of the great creatives of the last however many years we’ve been watching him for, mixed with the elements of how we can make movies these days? I think it’s going to be pretty extraordinary.”
Shalla-Bal/Norrin Radd: Silver Surfer
While the Silver Surfer wasn’t introduced until the 2007 sequel in the original film adaptations, the villain will be central to the upcoming movie.
The mysterious character is a henchman to an even more powerful being called Galactus who consumes the life force of other planets.
2007: Laurence Fishburne (voice) and Doug Jones (physicality)
In 2007, two people were cast to take on the role.
While Laurence Fishburne was the voice behind the villain, Doug Jones was the one who spent hours in heavy prosthetics to bring the character to life, saying he didn’t understand the following that Silver Surfer had until he took on the role.
“I’m not a comic book reader, so when these roles come to me I have to do some research. What’s the hoopla?…is there hoopla? I went to a comic book store in Burbank and talked to the pale faced kid behind the counter, and he ran through the store grabbing comics, action figures, all of it,” he said in a 2007 interview with Super Hero Hype.
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These stars returned to their iconic movie roles years later
“I went home with the Essentials volume with the first 18 issues of the Silver Surfer’s book, and also the Fantastic Four Essentials where he was introduced initially.
“I wanted to look at the original, see how he was born. And I fell in love with him, and I can see why he’s iconic. He’s a true gentleman, he has valor. He’s very Christ-like, very angelic.”
2025: Julia Garner
Julia Garner takes on the role in 2025, but she’s received a ton of backlash from comic book fans because of the gender swap.
When asked about the backlash by BBC, Garner said she isn’t too concerned about it.
“I said, ‘I’m just going to still do my job,'” she told the outlet.
“Also, it’s Shalla-Bal, so it’s different.”
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