Marvel’s latest chapter in its cinematic universe takes on a quadruple team, and it’s one comic book fans have seen fly onto the big screen before.
‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ follows two previous feature adaptations (and one scrapped version that never made it to theaters) under the direction of Matt Shakman (‘WandaVision’.) Starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Joseph Quinn, the new film introduces the family through a completely different universe than the MCU — but it’s not long before the team enters into the comic universe’s mega timeline.
“Matt has been working very, very hard for years to bring Marvel’s first family to life in a way that, you know, we felt would fit within the world that we’ve created. Even though this film very much stands alone, and stands apart,” explains Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios and producer on the film. “The fact that Matt has created this standalone beautiful world for people to visit and be introduced to these characters is super-exciting.”
Marvel has used its popularity to launch 37 films and a slew of shows, some of which connect in characters and themes, but ultimately as of lately, the brand is trying to make each story stand out on its own.
“We had to put [The Fantastic Four] on a different universe and a different earth, which meant we had the chance to build this retro-future 1960s. And the same energy and effort that we put in ‘WandaVision‘ to build all these specific sitcom realities, we put into building this incredibly authentic 1960s retro-future world that was a combination of Jack Kirby and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001,” explains Shakman at a global press conference for the film.
The film’s look is intended to be unique, but the characters are ripped right from the comics: Aeronautical engineer Reed Richards who turns into the ever-stretching Mister Fantastic (Pascal), the strong and superpowered adventurer Sue Storm who turns into the Invisible Woman (Kirby), the former astronaut Ben Grimm whose skin has been transformed into a layer of orange rock, granting him superhuman strength and durability as The Thing (Moss-Bachrach), and the spitfire hero with a mischievous edge Johnny Storm who turns into the Human Torch (Quinn.)
Each actor was inspired by different aspects of their characters.
“It always seemed to me kind of revolutionary to have this mother at the center of this family, but also be absolutely part of the team, never left at home on her own,” says Kirby. “When I met Matt, and then Kevin for the first time and started talking about Sue, I was already so passionate about her. Even in the shooting of it, it was surreal, really, because I had this pregnancy bump. But I was so included in everything, and Matt and Kevin were such huge champions of having her be as complex and as fierce and as loving and warm and all the things that I think the feminine really is.”
Sue Storm is Johnny’s sister in the plot, but she’s also the wife of Mister Fantastic, which makes Marvel’s first family ever-growing.
“My favorite thing about it was actually that this person (Mister Fantastic) who is so brilliant and so comfortable with figuring out the most complex science equations to create solutions for absolutely everything, or to continue understanding how the world and beyond functions, [does it] without really knowing how to understand the much more complex equation of relationships,” explains Pascal.
“And family. And love. And growing in a relationship. And growing in a family. And as a partner, as a friend, and then of course, as a father. The only way he knows how to handle that is by starting to kind of baby-proof the world rather than just be present for the experience. And this is definitely something that Matt guided me through…. the emotional arc and the details, ’cause I am not a father.”
Audiences will also get to see new takes on these characters that have been brought to life more than once in the past 20 years.
“I think there’s something quite aspirational about this Johnny. The way he views space. He’s a bit of a searcher,” explains Quinn. “He’s looking for answers, I think. All of these four characters are kind of sentenced to this idea of responsibility and super power. And having this puppet-facing life. I think that he’s looking for answers outside of it. And in the script, there was just someone that was very fully rounded. And very not two-dimensional.”
“I’ve certainly never done any kind of performance capture work at all,” adds Moss-Bachrach. “And that was one of the main things that attracted me to doing the movie…I wanted to explore this way of acting and to play this incredibly strong, heavy character. And then I had some anxiety and nerves about it just because it was such a departure for me with the technology of it.”
“Within a couple of days, it melted away and I found it to be really, really freeing. I’m in all of the scenes with them. We’re looking in each other’s eyes. I’m right there. And there was an immediacy and a freedom to it that I always found really surprising. Matt is very wise and put the four of us together. And we just really hit it off from the very beginning.”
‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps‘ hits theaters July 25,
