Marvel’s ‘Fantastic Four’ Cast Announcement Delivers Exactly the Vibes We’ve Been Waiting For 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been an uninspired place as of late, looking like — I don’t know, the mud-filled, dreary realm in NeverEnding Story when the Nothing ruled and the Childlike Empress didn’t know her name or something? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that movie — but that’s the MCU’s vibe coming out of 2023, a year that gave us Marvel Studios’ biggest critical and commercial disappointments to date (stop sleeping on The Marvels). It was hard to see a path forward for the MCU after the next big bad, Kang, flopped on the big screen (Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania), small screen (Loki Season 2), and… uh, in real life. But let me tell you — the reveal of the new Fantastic Four cast via a vintage-y Valentine’s Day card has me feeling like I’m riding on Falcor, giving Atreyu a flyby as the floppy-haired hero gallops through green fields.

What I’m getting at is that it’s a good cast, and the vibes are very, very, very correct. Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm. These could very well be the saviors of the MCU. Well, them and Deadpool and Wolverine.

Now, I know what haters are thinking — and the MCU has a lot of haters right now. I’m a lifelong Marvel Comics fan, and even I can admit that Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Secret Invasion pushed my tolerance for middling Marvel fare to the limit. But the haters will think, “Why the hell do we need a third Fantastic Four franchise?” I get it! All the haters said the same thing when Marvel Studios made a strange deal with Sony that led to the introduction of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man… and also inadvertently kicked off a string of bizarre exec decisions that have led to the release of Madame Webb (in theaters now!). “Why do we need a third Spider-Man franchise?” Well, we all saw what happened there, and the billions of box office dollars proves it. The Fantastic Four deserve the same treatment.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe exists because of the Fantastic Four. Marvel Comics exists because of the Fantastic Four. Hell, the modern superhero as we know it exists because of the Fantastic Four. When this ragtag foursome hit newsstands in 1961, they changed how superhero comics were made. Jack Kirby and Stan Lee created heroes with flaws, who bickered like family, who faced imposing threats from the depths of Earth, the far reaches of space, and the outer range of other realms. After DC Comics’ pulpy origins in the ’30s and ’40s, Superman and Batman spent the 1950’s as kooky, slapstick characters meant to entertain children. The Fantastic Four, the following cavalcade of Marvel Comics characters, rejuvenated the genre and made superheroes cool.

So, that’s why we need a Fantastic Four. It’s like Kevin Feige & Co. are finally reaching back to the rusty old origins of Marvel and giving it the polish and pizzazz it deserves. And this cast is pretty darn perfect!

Vanessa Kirby has dazzled in thankless supporting roles in so many franchises, like Mission: Impossible and Fast & Furious. It’s way past time she hit the A-list, and becoming the First Lady of the MCU’s First Family feels right.

Johnny Quinn did the impossible when he introduced a breakout character — Hellfire Club metalhead Eddie — into the fourth season of Stranger Things, at a time when that show should have totally lost steam. Quinn’s just that charming and cool, and that right there is Johnny Storm.

And Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing? If there’s anyone on Earth that can play a character with a gruff and grumbly exterior and a soft, tragic yet endearing interior, it’s this guy. This feels like the most inspired of all the casting choices, a pairing of actor and character that feels so spot-on but one you’d never see coming. If it works, it could rank up there with Bradley Cooper as Rocket, James Brolin as Thanos, Paul Bettany as Vision, and Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man.

Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic is the only iffy choice, if only because Pascal — who I adore — is already everywhere. He’s already in so many franchises. But considering how many naysayers FF has to confront, this little-blockbuster-that-could needs to be led by someone that’s already a beloved household name. Pedro Pascal fits the bill — and if we get to see him in a blue spandex bodysuit, how can I argue with that?

But even more than the casting, the way that Marvel Studios announced this cast feels spot on: a retro style illustration of our new cast in their super suits.

This immediately makes this FF stand out, not only from FFs past but from the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. As Sean T. Collins wrote for this very site, Marvel needs a Barbie — it needs a movie that is going to take stylistic and tonal risks that set it apart from the slog of “high-stakes” CG slugfests that have become too integral to the Marvel machine. Marvel Studios chose to announce this cast not via a trade publication or press release, nor via an image of our new heroes bathed in turquoise and orange light, standing triumphantly atop a sleek, metallic logo. No, we get an image that looks it’s pulled from LIFE magazine circa 1962 — and that is what the Fantastic Four is all about. It’s sci-fi, it’s camp, it’s retro-futurism, it’s a hug, it’s peril — it’s fantastic.

This announcement raises a lot of questions about what this movie will be. Will it be a period piece? Will it be a modern movie with a sprinkle of that retro magic? Fantastic Four comes from WandaVision director Matt Shakman, so anything could happen. But one thing is for sure: this is what Marvel Studios does best. When the studio gets it right, it takes 70 years of continuity and distills it to its purest essence. It strips away all the stuff that doesn’t work and it gets to the heart of these characters and concepts. The past FF movies have not done this, not at all. By painting the FF in a retro light and giving us an inspired cast, Marvel Studios is announcing that they’re doing something new by doing something old. It’s a risk, but it feels like the right risk.