What's Inside?
- Matt Shakman draws from personal life, portraying Reed and Sue as emotionally grounded parents facing cosmic challenges and inner struggles.
- Reed Richards and Sue Storm’s dynamic forms the heart of the story, balancing intellect, empathy, and emotional connection under pressure.
- Fantastic Four reboot explores love, parenthood, and legacy, redefining superhero storytelling through deeply personal themes and character-driven emotional depth.
In Marvel Studios’ upcoming film The Fantastic Four: First Steps, director Matt Shakman brings something more intimate than the usual superhero spectacle. As the cinematic spotlight shifts back to Marvel’s “First Family,” Shakman centers the emotional pulse of the film on the personal relationship between Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Played by Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby, the duo is not only at the heart of the world-saving team, but they are also new parents navigating love, pressure, and parenthood amid a looming cosmic-scale threat.
Matt Shakman Hints Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby’s Dynamic as Reed and Sue Drives the Emotional Core of Fantastic Four
Director Matt Shakman, best known for emotionally complex storytelling like in WandaVision, is tapping into his own life to tell the story of Reed and Sue. “I think when you do any project, you try to bring as much of yourself into it as possible,” Shakman shared in an interview with GamesRadar+. “As a husband, as a father, I had a lot to bring into this.”
Shakman’s approach reflects the very fabric of Marvel’s Fantastic Four origins — ordinary people with extraordinary challenges. As he puts it, “They are parents first. They are scientists and explorers second. And they’re superheroes only when they have to be.” The film doesn’t open with an explosion but with the vulnerability of new parenthood, fear, and love amid a universal crisis.
Reed Richards — the brilliant but emotionally isolated mind — and Sue Storm — the team’s emotional compass — are designed to counterbalance each other. Shakman explains, “Obviously their relationship is hugely important. They’re the first family of Marvel but also, sort of the first couple of Marvel. And they really complete each other, right?”
What Keeps the Fantastic Four Grounded?
The emotional weight of the movie is not just about raising a child while saving the world from Galactus. It’s about two people trying to stay connected in chaos. “He’s the smartest person in the universe,” Shakman says, “but I often say Reed Richards is great for all mankind, and struggles with individual men.”
That’s where Sue comes in. “Sue, in some ways, is the most emotionally intelligent person in the world and so she’s able to, I think, bring the everyday to his life, and he’s able to bring the universe to hers.” Shakman likens them to a familiar sci-fi pairing: “It’s a little bit like Kirk and Spock in Star Trek, right? The heart and mind coming together, completing each other.”
The film digs into how their partnership creates the foundation for their entire team. “It’s their unity that creates their strength,” he notes. “It’s true for all four of them, and it’s definitely true for them as a couple.”
Matt Shakman’s Most Personal Superhero Movie Yet…
Shakman’s connection to superheroes also has an emotional touch. He once went to kindergarten dressed as Superman every day, until his teacher asked his parents to intervene. “I was just fiercely devoted to my life of the imagination,” he laughs (via Variety).
Despite years of television success, this project is personal in a new way. Surrounded by Fantastic Four memorabilia in his Disney office, Shakman puts it plainly: “There would be no Marvel Studios, there would be no Marvel Comics, without the Fantastic Four.” That legacy, and the emotional vulnerability at its center, are what he’s bringing to the screen.
And in Reed and Sue, he’s telling a story not just of cosmic threats and world-ending stakes, but of love, parenting, and the impossible challenge of being everything for the people you care about. As Shakman sums it up: “Love is a mystery that you cannot write an equation for. Reed loves his wife but she’s the one thing he can never solve.”
The Fantastic Four: First Steps also stars Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/ The Thing, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/ Human Torch, Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal/ Silver Surfer, Ralph Ineson as Galactus, Paul Walter Hauser as Harvey Elder/ Mole Man and Natasha Lyonne.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is scheduled for release on July 25.
