For an actor, I’d imagine that taking on a role in any major movie or TV show is a big commitment, but when you’re talking about debuting in a 2025 movie like The Fantastic Four: First Steps for your first outing in one of the upcoming Marvel movies, it’s probably an even bigger deal. This would be especially true for someone like Vanessa Kirby, who’s our new Sue Storm Richards/Invisible Woman and will also star in the 2026 movie release, the highly-anticipated Avengers: Doomsday. Now, she’s explained why she wasn’t hesitant to dedicate what will likely be a long period of time over the next several years to the MCU, and why that surprised her.
Why Fantastic Four Star Vanessa Kirby Wasn’t Worried About Joining The MCU
At this point, there might be thousands of actors who’ve been one-and-done when it comes to the films in the Marvel multiverse, but if you landed a major role like being one of the actors to finally bring Marvel’s First Family, The Fantastic Four, into the MCU, you will likely have a long road ahead working as that character.
Obviously, Vanessa Kirby is now among that group, along with her co-stars Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. During a recent chat with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, however, the Emmy and Oscar nominee revealed that she didn’t really have any fears about signing on and potentially dedicating many years to the franchise. After being asked if she had “trepidation” about making that kind of commitment, she said:
With this, I actually didn't have that, and I'm surprised to say that.
Though we can all see the many possible upsides of joining a giant franchise (like Pascal, who’s been part of several), which include increased visibility and future opportunities along with basically guaranteed, semi-regular pay days, there are also downsides, which is what led to the surprise on Kirby's part.
Former Black Widow Scarlett Johansson opened up about sometimes feeling “like you’re a device” being used just to move the plot along, while long-time Captain America Chris Evans revealed how weird it is to film Marvel movies and it being “exciting to get a change of pace” after dedicating many years to the franchise. So, why was The Crown star willing to jump in? She continued:
I think it was because I really liked her so much. And because I'd read so many of the comics and she goes through so many iterations, you know? She becomes Malice, this really dark version of herself for quite a long time. And then she renames herself Invisible Woman having been called Invisible Girl, and she goes off with Psycho Man. Her history is incredible. So, that was -- I felt like 'Oh there's so much there even psychologically.' I mean she has a stillborn and people don't know that. She's gone through a lot.
Despite the (generally) immense popularity of superhero movies, particularly over what is nearly two straight decades now, a lot of film fans still see them as less-than when it comes to story and things like character development. People who are in the know realize that the best of the genre works because when you take away the fantasy and/or sci-fi elements, these are stories about people fighting against great odds, never giving up, trying to find common ground to get to a better world and battling personal (and, yes, sometimes literal) demons to get it all done.
Kirby went further in her explanation, and added that knowing she’d be on this ride with her co-stars made it an even easier choice:
But most importantly, I knew I wouldn't be without these three actors. And these three actors have genuinely become family, and I admire them so much. And I knew that we were four, and the four in the comics are never separated so I assumed that we'd be together. And that really helped, because then you're not a lone ranger going into new daunting environments.
So true! Luckily, her fantastic cohorts are all going to be around for Doomsday, as well, so leaping into the larger Marvel-verse should continue to be a breeze for the actress.
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