Having cast Julia Garner as his herald the Silver Surfer last month, fans had a pretty safe suspicion that the Devourer of Worlds was heading to Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four, and now The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Ralph Ineson (The Witch, Harry Potter) has been cast as the iconic villain Galactus in the upcoming reboot.
Ineson, who first came to attention in the UK with his role as Finchy in The Office, is coming off a role in The First Omen and has Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein upcoming. He’ll become the first actor to portray Marvel’s god-like Galactus in live-action, with the cosmic entities only other big screen appearance coming in the guise of a controversial swirling cloud in 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
The character’s inclusion in The Fantastic Four will presumably be more faithful to the comic source material, although its unclear at this point whether Ineson will be physically portraying the character, or simply lending Galactus his distinctive voice. There’s also no word whether he’ll appear in any other Marvel movies, such as the currently villain-less Avengers 4, f.k.a. Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
Along with Ineson’s casting, Variety has also revealed that John Malkovich has also signed on for a role in the film, although as with fellow recent addition Paul Walter Hauser, his role is being kept under wraps for the time being. Variety mentions The Beyonder – a major character in the Secret Wars storyline of the comic books – as a possibility, although that appears to be speculation on the outlet’s part.
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The Fantastic Four is being directed by Matt Shakman (WandaVision) and will star Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, along with Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer, Ralph Ineson as Galactus, and Paul Walter Hauser and John Malkovich in as yet-unrevealed roles.
The Fantastic Four will be released on July 25th, 2025.
