Marvel Studios has only revealed a few exciting glimpses of The Fantastic Four: First Steps' Galactus, but the villain has finally been revealed (in low-res) thanks to some new promo art.
The gigantic baddie looks like he's stepped straight out of the pages of the comic books, and we can just about make out Ralph Ineson's likeness. His armour looks a little Celestian in nature, though it's hard to pick out the finer details given the poor quality of the image.
It's still a little hard to believe that we're getting a comic-accurate Galactus, especially after Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer infamously transformed him into a dust cloud back in 2007 (even though the movie featured a perfect take on the Surfer).
Also of note is a new look at the Baxter Building. As you can see, it's emblazoned with the "4" logo and promises to dominate the skyline in the alternate reality New York City we'll see in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
During a recent interview, filmmaker Matt Shakman explained why Galactus was prioritised over Doctor Doom as the lead villain in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
"Doom's a great character, but he takes up a lot of air," the director shared. "Other film adaptations have done both an origin story and Doom. We're doing neither, and that allows us to look at them from a fresh perspective."
Galactus is a very different type of villain, and Shakman set out to avoid heading down the expected route with Ralph Ineson's Devourer of Worlds.
"I didn't want to just use motion-capture for Galactus. I wanted to actually have someone there embodying the part," Shakman confirmed. "So we've built an entire costume for him, and we've done a lot of photography testing to figure out, How do you make sure that the scale is correct? How do you film Mount Rushmore?"
As for what Reed Richards makes of this new threat, Pedro Pascal teased, "It is definitely a scale of threat which Reed has never experienced. Even the smartest man in the world is awestruck by a being that outdates his understanding of time."
Check out this new promo art for The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the X post below.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne have been cast in mystery roles. Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom is rumoured to appear, though that's surely a given with Avengers: Doomsday on the way.
Director Matt Shakman worked with both Avatar: The Way of Water co-writer Josh Friedman and WandaVision's Cam Squires on The Fantastic Four: First Steps' screenplay, with Eric Pearson (Black Widow) later coming on board for a final polish.
The movie is set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.