One of the most anticipated panels at this year’s Comic-Con was the Marvel panel. It’s been a rough few years for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has struggled to find its footing since the epic Avengers: Endgame in 2019. Even so, there’s always a bit of anticipation to see what’s in store for us. This year’s Marvel panel was pretty action packed and it revealed new details from the more anticipated upcoming properties to officially enter the timeline: Fantastic Four. The last time the Four appeared on screens, it was the Chris Pine/Jessica Alba versions from 2005 and 2007. (Not counting the fan-demanded John Krasinski version in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, of course.)
After much anticipation, the Fantastic Four cast was revealed last year. It will star Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm), Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm) as the Four. Filming is set to begin this week and it has a July 25, 2025 release date. During the Marvel panel on Saturday evening, the entire cast was there. Each one had some really nice things to say about their experience joining the MCU family. Pascal and Kirby were particularly fun and flirty together backstage.
In San Diego Convention Center’s Hall H, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, 51, introduced the film’s director Matt Shakman. The cast, they said, were too busy preparing to being filming next week. However, after a sizzle reel offering glimpses of them in action, Pascal, Kirby, Moss-Bachrach and Quinn emerged to thunderous applause.
Pascal, 49, said he’s known Shakman for 25 years. His favorite part about joining this iconic cinematic universe: “New family.”
Kirby, 36, noted that she and Quinn, 30, bonded as onscreen siblings and the only Brits in the cast. “I don’t think I’ve laughed so much in a rehearsal period before,” she recalled. “When you read the comics, you feel a lot of joy… hopefully we can bring that into the movie.”
Moss-Bachrach, 47, said he received advice from an alumnus of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on how to act with its advanced technology. “I got a very nice text from Mark Ruffalo,” he revealed, “to just kind of demystify the process of motion capture, something I’ve never done before.”
Once off-stage, Pascal and Kirby caught up with PEOPLE and shared that they had yet to receive any advice about joining the MCU from those who’ve come before, but Kirby was looking forward to catching up with her “old friend” Sebastian Stan, who was supporting his next Marvel film Thunderbolts*, later.
“We’re the newbies,” Kirby tells PEOPLE.
“We’re the newbies and we’re in the newbie process,” adds Pascal. “We fly back tonight and start the movie.”
“Yeah, we are,” Kirby responded. “First day [is] in 24 hours.”
Centered around a group of astronauts who develop superheroic powers upon being exposed to cosmic rays in space, it was The Fantastic Four, from creators Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, that launched the Marvel Comics universe back in 1961.
The new film follows previous big-screen iterations of the iconic characters: a 2015 remake outside the Marvel Cinematic Universe starring Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell; plus films in 2005 and 2007 starring Chris Evans, Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Chiklis. (In addition, John Krasinski played a parallel version of Reed Richards in 2022 MCU installment Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.)
The Fantastic Four will come after Marvel Cinematic Universe installments Captain America: Brave New World (in theaters Feb. 14, 2025) and Thunderbolts* (in theaters May 2, 2025).
After watching the backstage videos of the two of them, I can buy Pedro and Vanessa as Reed and Sue! There’s chemistry, I’m here for it. They were so hot together that when I went to Google if they were actually dating, it autofilled in, “Pedro Pascal Vanessa Kirby…relationship.” Clearly, I’m not the only one watching and wondering!
That’s also pretty cool that Mark Ruffalo gave Ebon pointers on acting in motion capture. I may be in the minority here, but I actually liked the first (2005) Fantastic Four for what it was. Thinking back on how superhero movies used to be, it seems like such a simpler time, no? Maybe it’s the Chris Evans of it all, and he’s the key to the multiverse that brought us the actual MCU, ha. I’m looking forward to this movie because of its cast, not because any of the MCU movies or TV shows. I do hope that this movie is a success for Pedro’s sake, though. He was in DC’s Wonder Woman 1984 and although he and Gal Gadot did their campy best, that was not a good movie. To borrow from Marvel’s latest movie, Deadpool & Wolverine, “Let’s f-cking go.”
oh wow pic.twitter.com/cuo3sdIPqU
— Pedro Pascal Daily (@pascalarchive) July 28, 2024
vanessa kirby and pedro pascal talk about being newbies to the mcu the way they can’t stop giggling together is #SDCC pic.twitter.com/QtOuch9Anx
— vanoo storm era (@cedarstacks) July 28, 2024
Photos credit: IMAGO/Dave Starbuck / Avalon