Marvel Studios has released a new featurette for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, revealing the huge amount of work that went into creating the world inhabited by Marvel's First Family. Most of that was done practically, not solely through the use of visual effects.
Along with some amazing real sets, filmmaker Matt Shakman wanted a real, scaled-down version of the team's Excelsior spaceship and a suit for Ralph Ineson to wear as Galactus. Both of those are revealed in this video, though Marvel Studios once again stops short of showing the villain's face (if you'd like to take a closer look at that, we'd suggest clicking here).
There are also new snippets of behind-the-scenes footage and shots from the movie itself, including a fresh look at Galactus rampaging through New York City.
As you might expect, Galactus' costume design was a unique challenge for costume designer Alexandra Byrne and her team, not only due to the size but also the complexity of the armour. The suit was designed at a normal human size, and later scaled up via movie magic for the enormous onscreen character.
Every detail needed to be meticulously crafted so that when it was enlarged, it still felt completely real. Ryan Meinerding, Marvel’s head of visual
development, envisioned Galactus and his armour resembling a spaceship itself. This idea helped shape the design — Galactus could be both a living being and a giant spaceship. The result was one of the most detailed and largest costumes ever built.
They filmed the character almost like a miniature, which required extensive lighting to ensure everything was perfectly focused. More lights meant more heat, so Ineson had a personal air conditioning unit in his costume between setups to keep his body temperature down.
You can watch this new featurette for The Fantastic Four: First Steps in the player 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, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles 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.