Empire Magazine Reveals “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” Covers and More Details on Galactus

Kevin Feige and Ralph Ineson discuss the film’s Giant-Size antagonist.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the cover story for the new issue of Empire Magazine, complete with two different cover variations focused on both the FF and their enemies.

What’s Happening:

As revealed by Empire, the cover to their next issue, coming out June 5, is for The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
The main newsstand cover features the film’s core cast – Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing – inside the Baxter Building, with the Fantasticar glimpsed outside the window.

In addition, there is a second subscriber-only cover featuring the film’s titanic threat, Galactus (Ralph Ineson), and his herald Shalla-Bal, the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner), as illustrated by the artist Doaly.

Empire has also released some excerpts from interviews conducted for the cover story, including with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. Feige tells Empire that in previous FF films, done under the control of 20th Century Fox, “There was still a bit of fear of being silly."
Now though, Marvel Studios was embracing all of the, well, fantastical elements of Fantastic Four, including depicting Galactus as a giant humanoid alien, complete with a massive and ornate helmet, rather than the cloud he was infamously turned into for 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Said Feige,“In another time, some might consider the notion of somebody with a big, angular helmet walking through a city goofy. I consider it awesome."
Ralph Ineson meanwhile tells Empire that Galactus is “A cosmic force. He’s a god, of sorts."
He also explained that to prep to play a character of this size, that while driving through the tunnels of Mont Blanc, he was “just imagining that [tunnel] as his windpipe and his trachea. I also went to a lot of tall buildings. We went to a wedding at the top of the Gherkin building in London, and I spent most of the afternoon just staring out, ruminating. I got in trouble with my wife — she was like, ‘You’ve got to say hello to the bride and groom at some point!’"
Directed by Matt Shakman (WandaVision), The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in theaters on July 25, 2025.