‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Stars Reveal the Ugly Side of Becoming MCU Supervillains: “It’s a Really Strange Sight”

In Matt Shakman and Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps, an ensemble cast brings the MCU’s First Family to life on screen in a retro-futuristic ’60s Earth, where The Fantastic Four protect citizens from supervillains, long before the Avengers — all in time to make it to Sunday dinner.

In First Steps, Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal) and Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby) are welcoming their first child soon, and uncles Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) couldn’t be prouder. Unfortunately, before the big day, a mysterious entity, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), arrives with a message: a planet-devouring cosmic entity known as Galactus (Ralph Ineson) has set his sights on Earth.

In this interview, Collider’s Steve Weintraub sits down with the stars behind First Steps‘ otherworldly antagonists, Ineson and Garner, to find out what it takes to bring Marvel villains to life on set. The pair discuss what they were sad to see go from the final cut, the unexpected, distinctly unglamorous aspects of becoming their characters, and what it’s like to see themselves as toys.

There’s Nothing Glamorous About Playing a Cosmic Being

“I’m like a Formula One car.”

COLLIDER: I loved this movie. I loved it. It’s just fantastic, not to use the term “fantastic.” But I did have a complaint, and I wanted to address it with the two of you. At some point, the movie ends, and I needed it to be longer.

JULIA GARNER: Amazing.

RALPH INESON: I’m sure there’s some stuff we can reinsert. I’m sure we can get that done for you.

GARNER: We can get that done, for sure.

INESON: I’m a cosmic being. Of course I can sort that out.

I actually have a real question. Obviously, every movie has things that are cut out of it, so I’m curious for the two of you, was there something that was cut out that you were a little sad to see go?

INESON: From my point of view, there’s no kind of sections, but there were various versions, dialogue-wise, of certain speeches, and there were a couple of phrases that I particularly liked that I would have liked to have stayed in that were replaced by other ones. But that’s not my job. I don’t do those things. That’s Matt and editors.

When was the last time you recorded lines? Because the thing about your character is that you could be recording, like, two weeks ago, and it could end up in the finished film?

INESON: Yeah. It wasn’t that long ago. Probably a month and a half ago, I suppose, I probably did my last bit of ADR.

That’s what I mean. Really recent.

GARNER: Same. Movie magic.

Was there something that was lost that you were sad to see go?

GARNER: No, nothing got cut out, but there was a similar thing. There was a bit of rewriting. The same scene, but different versions of the same scene. But everything seemed good, so I wasn’t too mad about anything.

Except that it’s under three hours.

So one of the things I’m curious about, and I think fans will be curious about, is what do you think would surprise them to learn about what goes on behind the scenes when you’re playing a character like Silver Surfer or Galactus?

INESON: Well, I think if they were to watch my experience of driving the suit, essentially is kind of what the job becomes at some point, you do the preparation and the the shareable acting work before you get to work, but the actual job on the day is putting on this absolutely enormous suit and being shot like a miniature. So, flooded with loads of white light so that that image could be blown up, and the focus is maintained. That’s how you shoot a miniature, which is great. But obviously for the actor, it’s like working in a huge rubber suit in a sauna, but you’re not allowed to sweat. [Laughs] So, I have a whole pit crew around me — I’m like a Formula One car — with people taking off bits of my costume in between takes to bring my body temperature down, and then bring it back on for the next take. People are shoving air conditioning units up the back of my armor to keep my body temperature down. So, it’s a really strange sight. There are eight people buzzing around me like a Formula One pit crew.

So you’re saying that being an actor is a glamorous job.

INESON: Very glamorous. Just basically trying not to sweat.

For people who are curious about what it’s like to play Silver Surfer behind the scenes, what do you think would surprise them?

GARNER: There’s a lot of tennis ball acting and tape acting and green screen stuff for these kind of movies, but that’s why the prep work is so important, because you have to do as much as possible emotionally so you can stay grounded in a way, because you’re going to be acting maybe with a tennis ball.

I’ve seen that behind-the-scenes footage.

Related

OK… So Why Exactly Does the Silver Surfer Use a Surfboard?

Why not a silver jetski, for example?

The Duo Reveal the “Maddest” Part of Playing an MCU Villain

“It’s very strange.”

One of the things about these two characters that you play is that they are huge parts of the Marvel Universe. When you got cast, and you’re making this movie, how much did Kevin or the people at Marvel say, “So, in the future you might be doing this or this,” and how much do they tell you nothing?

INESON: Very much the latter. [Laughs] Very much the latter. I mean, I think we are genuinely, as actors, probably the last people to know about what’s going on for the characters. There are so many more people on a much higher pay grade than us that know that kind of thing. We wouldn’t know.

Did they tell you anything?

GARNER: No, not much. They tell us what we need to know.

Sure. I understand that.

GARNER: To everybody so they get the job done, but not anything crazy.

One of the things that happens when you’re in a movie like this is they make toys and they make merch. I’m sure when you started your career, the dream was, “I will be an action figure.” I’m joking around, but maybe it was. So what has it been like? Have you seen any versions of your toys, and what the hell is it like seeing yourself as a toy?

INESON: It’s really crazy. The maddest one for this, for me, is the popcorn bucket of Galactus’ head, which is about this big. It’s enormous! That’s kind of surreal. I saw a picture of a toy that’s being released, which is kind of to scale to the normal toys, so the Galactus one is about two and a half feet tall. So, yeah, it’s very strange to see yourself in toy form.

GARNER: It’s really cool. I would never think in a million years, never as a kid. I didn’t even really know that this was like a real job, so I would never think, like, “Oh my god, am I going to be an action figure?” But it’s really cool.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in theaters on July 24.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Release Date

July 25, 2025

Runtime

115 minutes

Director

Matt Shakman

Writers

Jeff Kaplan, Josh Friedman, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson

Get Tickets