Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four is gearing up to begin shooting any week now and we're all hoping that they get this thing right and finally do right by Marvel's First Family on screen.
20th Century Fox dropped the ball three times, but a compelling sign that the heroes are finally being taken seriously is what's shaping up to be one of the MCU's best casts to date.
Andor and The Bear star Ebon Moss-Bachrach is playing Ben Grimm/The Thing, a role which will largely rely on motion capture. As you might expect, there's not much the actor can say about the role right now, but he did share some tongue-in-cheek details about his preparation during a recent interview.
"I'm playing Ben Grimm, who becomes The Thing, who is a man encased in rock. So, yeah, I don't know, I've just been looking at rocks," Moss-Bachrach joked. "I've been reading a lot of comics."
"It's really nice," he continued. "They gave me this Marvel Unlimited thing, so I can just go on my iPad, and go to any comic book that Marvel's ever released."
All jokes aside, it sounds like Moss-Bachrach is taking the role seriously and a deep dive into the comics sounds like a great way to tap into what makes Ben so great. The expectation among fans is that The Thing will go down alongside Thanos and The Hulk as one of the all-time great mo-cap characters, so the pressure is on.
"I found out in the beginning of August," the actor previously said of being cast in The Fantastic Four. "I was taking a walk in the city...this was in the middle of the writer's strike and I got a call from my agent. I wasn't thinking about work at all. They said, 'They asked you to play The Thing.' I was so shocked."
"I don't think it's the suit. Michael Chiklis wore a suit. Apparently, the suit was really uncomfortable," he explained. "We're past that I think. It's a little cosplay and amateur now with the technology. It's mostly performance capture."
You can hear more from Moss-Bachrach in the player below.
Marvel Studios has announced that Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing) will lead The Fantastic Four cast. Julia Garner has also joined the reboot as Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer.
Recent additions to the cast include Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne in mystery roles, along with Ralph Ineson as the villainous Galactus.
Director Matt Shakman worked with both Avatar: The Way of Water co-writer Josh Friedman and WandaVision's Cam Squires on The Fantastic Four's screenplay, with Eric Pearson (Black Widow) recently coming on board for a final polish.
The movie is set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.