This week, Australia was just that much more fantastic as Sydney played host to Marvel’s First Family in the lead-up to the anticipated release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960’s inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/The Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god, Galactus (Ralph Ineson), and his enigmatic Herald, The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).
Before arriving in Australian theatres on July 24th, 2025, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach flew down under to launch the film in Sydney through the week, with The AU Review’s Peter Gray on the ground to survive the mania surrounding their arrival (it might’ve been very Pedro-centric) and chat with both Joseph and Ebon about their roles and how they put their personal stamp on them.
Joseph, we’ve obviously seen The Human Torch portrayed on screen before. When you took on this role, was there a moment where you knew that this was “your” Human Torch? How do you feel you injected yourself into it?
Joseph Quinn: Certainly, my interpretation is not in opposition to any others. It will just be different, because it’s coming from me. I love both those those (previous) interpretations. It was just very dependent on the family unit, and I just wanted to lean into that family unit. And thankfully, there were three incredibly talented, kind, inspiring family members for me to bounce off.
With the legacy of this character, have you had time to really process the responsibility that comes with such a role?
Joseph Quinn: The responsibility, as an actor, is to turn up and do my job. Outside of that, the responsibility is maybe a little vague. I think. I should say, more vague. Maybe I haven’t thought about it.
One of the fantastic things about Ben Grimm is his vulnerability. How did you find your way into the character and exploring that as a facet?
Ebon Moss-Bachrach: I mean, I’m a pretty vulnerable person. I’m kind of a sensitive dude (laughs). I felt that that was most of my job, was to bring the most kind of soft boiled, wobbly bits of me to this really soft dude. Hopefully the animators and I, in concept, were able to marry these two very different densities.
Do you feel like playing him made you think of personal strength differently in any way?
Ebon Moss-Bachrach: I don’t know. For a long time I’ve always believed that strength, like inner strength, is the more important strength. Maybe. O say it as somebody who’s not particularly strong on the outside though (laughs).
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is screening in Australian theatres from July 24th, 2025, before opening in the United States on July 25th.
