There have been quite a few rumors relating to the main plot of The Fantastic Four: First Steps as it pertains to Galactus and his reasons for targeting the team's world (a recent teaser pretty much confirmed it, anyway), but just in case you haven't been keeping up with the marketing, spoilers will follow.
While speaking to Games Radar, director Matt Shakman confirmed that the story will revolve around the Devourer of Worlds being "put on a collision course" with Reed Richards and Sue Storm's infant son, Franklin.
"What was so charming about this movie is it's about the tiniest, youngest thing in the world and the oldest, biggest thing in the universe," he explains. "Galactus's scale is a big part of him and Ralph Ineson is an amazing actor; that voice, that presence. He felt 1000ft tall."
What exactly would a near-omnipotent planet-eating being want with a baby? That much has not been disclosed, but it might have something to do with little Franklin Richards going on to become one of the most powerful people in the Marvel Universe (in the comics, at least).
Ralph Ineson will bring life to the villain, and revealed how the immense scale of his character was achieved on film.
"They shot me like they were shooting miniature with massive amounts of light, so every nook and cranny of the costume was fully lit and it could be blown up in perfect focus. So yeah, it was a slightly different way of working but quite solo, just me and the crew. They showed me some kind of pre-vis things of how big he was going to look on the screen, obviously without the treatment. So I kind of knew that."
"To try and get your head around [how big he is, though], it was more thinking about what something of that size could do, you know?" he added. "The destruction that that could cause. So I watched lots of videos of landslides, tornadoes, tsunamis, just destructive things like that to imagine having that kind of power over the natural world."
First Steps stars Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, Freaky Tales) as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things, A Quiet Place Day One) as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Punisher, The Bear) as Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, and Julia Garner (Wolf Man, Ozark) as the Silver Surfer.
Ralph Ineson will play Galactus, and Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser and John Malkovich are also on board in undisclosed roles.
"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."
Matt Shakman directs The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is set to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.