Before Marvel’s First Family gets their long-awaited MCU glow-up in the upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps, let’s take a moment (but only a brief one) to revisit the version that flamed out harder than Johnny Storm. We’re talking about Josh Trank's 2015 Fantastic Four reboot that bombed with critics, fans, and, if you can believe it, the film’s own director. Now, screenwriter Jeremy Slater has shared some insight into just how chaotic the creative process was behind the scenes, especially when it came to getting iconic villain Galactus into the picture.
In a recent interview with ComicBook.com, Slater reflected on his experience co-writing the doomed reboot and revealed that the studio’s mishandling of Galactus was just one more symptom of the larger behind-the-scenes problems. The Moon Knight executive producer recounted:
I’m excited. I like the fact that they are taking a big creative swing. They are telling a multiverse story, with a different world and a different set of heroes. It looks like they are bringing them in collision with our Marvel Cinematic Universe. I think that is a smart angle. I think they are getting Galactus right. I wanted to make him our big bad and there was some internal push back. First, he was our big bad. Then, he was just going to appear in one scene. Then, he was only appearing in the post-credits scene.
If that sounds like a creative game of telephone gone wrong, well, you’re not alone. Slater’s comments reveal how the movie’s original scope was chipped away until the story lost all sense of momentum. Galactus, a cosmic force of nature in the comics and a fan-favorite Jack Kirby creation, went from being the main villain to an afterthought, shuffled from scene to scene until he barely made it into the script at all.
It’s even more tragic when you consider Slater’s personal investment in the character. He admitted he was one of the many fanboys who raged online when Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) depicted Galactus as little more than a space cloud. He added:
Coming off the Galactus cloud from [2007’s Fantastic Four:] Rise of the Silver Surfer, which I was one of those fanboys probably bitching on Ain’t It Cool News back then about how he was a f-cking cloud, I was excited to bring back a classic Galactus and have that Jack Kirby design. It looked like they’ve accomplished that, so I can’t wait to see him in real life.
Like much of the 2015 Fantastic Four, that vision of Galactus never came to life. The final film felt stripped of personality, scope, and any real connection to its source material. What should’ve been a triumphant reimagining of Marvel’s first family instead became a cautionary tale of studio interference, creative misfires, and wasted potential.
Based on the first FF4 trailer and subsequent released clips, it appears that Fantastic Four: First Steps, under the Marvel Studios banner, is learning from past mistakes. We are finally getting the comic-accurate Galactus, complete with the helmet, hunger, and all, voiced by the iconic Ralph Ineson, best known for his roles in some of the best A24 horror movies, including The Witch and The Green Knight. So as they say, third time's the charm–especially when you’re trying to bring one of Marvel’s biggest and baddest villains to the big screen.
Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in theaters everywhere on July 25, 2025.
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