‘Fantastic Four’: Ralph Ineson to Play Galactus!!

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has found its next big villain. Ralph Ineson has been cast as the planet-destroying Galactus in the MCU‘s upcoming film The Fantastic Four, according to The Hollywood Reporter, confirming the long-rumored foe that the quartet of heroes will face off against. Ineson will join the previously announced cast of Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/the Thing.

Details on how Galactus will come up against the Fantastic Four are unclear. The character first appeared in the Marvel comic books in 1966, created by Marvel legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Galactus is a cosmic entity who gains strength by consuming planets. While plot details for The Fantastic Four remain slim, it can likely be assumed that Galactus will head to Earth in the film. The character made his on-screen debut in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer for 20th Century Fox, but while Galactus normally appears in the comics as a humanoid figure, that film depicted him as a planet-consuming dark cloud. This means The Fantastic Four will likely be the first time that the character is brought to true live-action.

The Fantastic Four is now heating up with an ensemble cast. Beyond the aforementioned actors, the film will also star Julia Garner as a version of the Silver Surfer alongside Paul Walter Hauser and John Malkovich, who was cast just hours ago in an undisclosed role. The film will be directed by WandaVision’s Matt Shakman from a screenplay by Jeff Kaplan, Ian Springer, Eric Pearson and Josh Friedman. WandaVision’s Peter Cameron has also contributed to the script. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will produce The Fantastic Four alongside Nick Pepin and Grant Curtis.

Ineson Is a Widely Revered Actor

The search for a villain for The Fantastic Four has been chock-full of rumors as the casting announcements came in, and Marvel seems to have found a perfect fit in Ineson. The English actor rose to fame on the BBC‘s original version of The Office before launching a career in dramatic roles. He portrayed the Death Eater Amycus Carrow in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, before continuing to make a name for himself starring in Robert Eggers’ 2015 Puritan horror film The Witch alongside a then-unknown Anya Taylor-Joy.

More recently, Ineson was seen in 2019’s HBO series Chernobyl and reunited with Eggers and Taylor-Joy for The Northman in 2022. He will be teaming up with Eggers again for Nosferatu, set to be released later this year, and recently starred alongside Nell Tiger Free in the horror film The First Omen, a prequel to the classic horror film The Omen. He is also set for a role in Guillermo del Toro‘s upcoming adaptation of Frankenstein for Netflix.