Following months of speculation, Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has delivered a positive, and definitive, update on The Fantastic Four, confirming when it begins production, and also verifying fan speculation as to when the film would actually be set. Speaking with the new Official Marvel Podcast, Feige revealed a late summer production start date, the day after San Diego Comic Con finishes, so we can probably expect some big news from Marvel then too.

The Fantastic Four, which will be directed by Matt Shakman, stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards AKA Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm AKA The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm AKA The Human Torch, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm AKA The Thing, Julia Garner as The Silver Surfer, and Ralph Ineson as Galactus. John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Paul Walter Hauser have also been cast in unknown roles, in what is set to be one of the biggest steps the MCU has taken since the last Avengers film.

“We start shooting at the end of July,” revealed Feige in the first episode of Marvel’s new The Official Marvel Podcast. “The day after Comic-Con [International: San Diego] is the first day of filming on Fantastic Four.” Feige also lavished praise on the dedicated Marvel fanbase’s investigative skills, following their pinpointing of the era in question via a deep dive into the details featured on one of the promotional posters released for the film.

“Yes, yes, very much so. It is a period. There were a lot of smart people, who noticed that that cityscape didn’t look exactly like the New York that we know, or that existed in the ’60s in our world. Those are smart observations, I’ll say.”

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Feige has long been noted as adoring the Fantastic Four, considering them some of the most important characters in the history of Marvel that he’s never been able to use on-screen until now. The challenge of bringing them to the screen, following two less-than-satisfactory adaptations, is something he’s excited by, as he continued:

“I’m extremely excited by it because I think those characters are mainstays, are legendary pillars of the Marvel Universe that we’ve never gotten to play with or explore in a significant way outside of Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness and a few fun teases before, in the way that we’re doing it in that film. So I’m extremely excited for that.”

The Fantastic Four is due to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.

via Collider