How The Fantastic Four: First Steps Characters Should Really Look

Several iterations of the Fantastic Four have been put to film over the years, with each film giving Marvel's first family a unique visual style. "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" takes the team back to its roots by transplanting them into a retro-futuristic setting inspired by the 1960s. It's a reality separate from what we've primarily seen from the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, allowing the team to forge their own identity before getting caught up with whatever's happening on Earth-616 if one post-credits scene in "Thunderbolts*" is anything to go by. 

For now, the Fantastic Four have adopted old-school looks, but even though a lot of inspiration has been taken from the earlier comics, not everything is how it first appeared. Creative liberties were still needed, and we were curious about how the heroes and villains should look based on the comics. The likes of the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and Galactus have received various redesigns, upgrades, and downgrades over the decades, but for the purposes of this list, we mostly examined their looks from the 1960s when possible. Fidelity to the comics isn't always best or necessary, but here's what they could've looked like if they were one-to-one adaptations of their more iconic comic looks. 

Pedro Pascal definitely put in the work to get ripped for "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" as Mister Fantastic, aka Reed Richards. He has the superhero body, but how does he shape up against how Reed usually looks? Looking at the costume, "First Steps" already sets Reed apart from his teammates by not giving him a white collar. Instead, it's blue to blend in with the rest of his outfit. In the comics, Reed (and, usually, the other Fantastic Four members) have black collars.

It is nice to see how everything else in the team's superhero outfits is pretty much the same, especially the "4" logo on the chest. Pascal also has white hair on the sides of his head, just like Reed famously has in virtually all of his adaptations. The only major difference is that Pascal's hair is probably a shade darker than Reed's, a slightly deeper color than the light brown we've seen before.

Accuracy Man's Score: 7/10 —  Pascal's version of Reed Richards stands apart from his teammates without a white collar. Instead, he has a blue turtleneck, which was certainly popular in the 1960s, so while it's appropriate for the setting, it's not quite accurate to those early comics. What matters more than anything is getting Reed's personality right as one of the smartest men in the universe who cares deeply for his family. In that regard, Pascal knocked it out of the park. 

Reed's wife Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, is played by Vanessa Kirby. Her outfit largely has the same deviations as everyone else's, meaning there's a white collar as opposed to a black one. Of course, Sue Storm has had many costume changes over the decades, so that's a minor nitpick. 

The main thing that "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" didn't adapt is period-accurate hairstyles. In the '60s comics, Sue had a lot of volume in those locks. It was popular at the time, with a lot of women sporting beehives or bouffant hairdos. What's interesting is that other women throughout the film have such hairstyles. There's one scene where a group of reporters are trying to ask Reed a question, and you can see a woman with an incredibly period-accurate hairdo. It's super coiffed, which is what Sue should've had for this particular film. As it stands, it looks like she just walked off a Vanity Fair photoshoot in 2025 to film her scenes. 

Accuracy Man's Score: 8/10 — Vanessa Kirby makes a great Sue Storm; there's no doubt about that. She has the presence necessary to embody this powerful woman. The hair's really the only hang-up, and it only matters because so much of the marketing leaned into the retro aesthetic. Once the Fantastic Four enter the mainline MCU, there would be plenty of time to have contemporary hairstyles. This was a chance to do something different, but it's admittedly still a small quibble. 

Did the extras on the set of "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" use all of the AquaNet, leaving none for the main cast? Men's hair may not have been as big as women's during the '60s, but in the comics, Johnny's hair still has some volume in it. It's typically coiffed, whereas Joseph Quinn's version of Johnny Storm, who becomes the Human Torch, looks pretty flat. The costume itself is fairly accurate with the same changes everyone else has, but there's really two types of Johnny we should be examining. 

There's Johnny in his human form and then Johnny when he shouts "Flame on" and becomes a mannequin of fire. When he lights up, he becomes surrounded by flames, but you can still discern his human outline from underneath the fire. In those earlier comics, Johnny's human features pretty much disappeared. His body became engulfed by flames, and then there was a red mannequin behind it all. It almost looks like a purely muscular frame. As the comics went on, Johnny kept more human features when he lit up, but if we're going by the '60s, it's a big difference.

Accuracy Man's Score: 7/10 — Hair aside, Quinn looks pretty good when he's just Johnny Storm. His Human Torch mode is different, but that's kind of understandable. Adapting the old-school Human Torch look would've been fairly unsettling in a live-action movie. And seeing how he's trying to woo Silver Surfer throughout the film, he probably still needs to look somewhat charming even when he's flamed on. 

Does Ebon Moss-Bachrach look like Ben Grimm pre-Thing transformation? Maybe a little, but let's be honest, that's not what you're here to look at. The truth is The Thing is probably the most comic-accurate adaptation the character's gotten in a live-action film. The movie fully leans into the hero's aesthetic, making him an unapologetic giant rock man. They even gave him the big brow that The Thing so often has, something that's largely been done away with in the past.

There's just the matter of his outfit, and honestly, it's understandable why the movie went the route it did. In his earliest appearances, The Thing wears blue trunks with a giant "4" in the middle. His full chest is out, but the movie gave him a full-body outfit like his other team members.

Accuracy Man's Score: 9/10 — Even if it's not what The Thing wore initially in the comics, Ben Grimm's outfit looks great in the film. Zero notes on the rocky body; it's the best the character has looked on film yet. We're just glad we never saw what The Thing looks like under the stone because it's super gross. 

Contrary to what some online might think, there have been female Silver Surfers in the past, and that's precisely what "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" gives us. Shalla-Bal was initially the lover of Norrin Radd, the first Silver Surfer, but she eventually took on the mantle of Galactus' herald herself in the comics. Looking at her Silver Surfer form, one thing becomes apparent that's been a problem with many of these redesigns — the hair. Shalla-Bal's Silver Surfer hair has a ton of volume whereas Julie Garner's character has slicked back hair, to the point where it's practically blending in with the rest of her body. 

During the close-up shots of Shalla-Bal in "First Steps," you can also distinctly make out her irises and pupils. Her eyes almost function as the last physical appendage of her humanity, but in the comics, her eyes are solid silver like the rest of her. Her eyes do allow her to be more expressive in the film, but she's the Silver Surfer, not Silver With a Little Bit of Blue Surfer.

Accuracy Man's Score: 8/10 — Shalla-Bal in "First Steps" is a naked silver person on a surfboard. That's kind of all you need for a solid Silver Surfer adaptation. We're willing to forgive her for not having voluminous hair since she probably doesn't have access to the same beauty products in space that they have on Earth. 

When you look at Mole Man's first appearance in the comics, there's no denying it: That is a man who lives among moles. His green suit looks more like a garbage bag than clothing. His cloak gives him a hint of menace, and, most importantly of all, he has special blue glasses that allow him to see on the surface since his eyes are extremely sensitive to sunlight. 

Paul Walter Hauser's Mole Man in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" has the glasses, which is nice to see, but that's about it. Instead of a nondescript green outfit, he wears a tracksuit complete with white lining. It looks less like he dug some junk out of the garbage and more that he picked something up from the Adidas store. He also has a tie underneath the tracksuit, so it's almost like we should refer to him as Mr. Mole Man or something.

Accuracy Man's Score: 4/10 — For some, the presence of the blue glasses will be enough to signify that Hauser is Mole Man, but the rest of his outfit makes him look more like a smart jogger than a supervillain. Given how much the film takes from the '60s comics, it's a shame that he doesn't look more like his original incarnation. Mole Man represents a missed opportunity for "First Steps."

Galactus is a villain more terrifying than Thanos, and it's great to see him in all his glory in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." He was previously seen in "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," but, famously, he was adapted to be a giant space cloud. You can at least see a comic-accurate shadow in some of the shots, but it was a major disappointment to the point where anything would've been better. Fortunately, we get something that's a massive improvement in "First Steps." 

Galactus is in all of his comic-accurate glory here. His traditional purple and blue look is a bit more muted than what you would see in a comic book, but that's par for the course with big screen adaptations. Crucially, he rocks his signature helmet with the antler-like protrusions coming out of the side. He is also utterly massive. It's so nice to see a live-action take that isn't afraid to lean into a slightly goofy aesthetic. Ultimately, Galactus is a giant entity who consumes planets. That's what we have here, and we couldn't be happier with it.

Accuracy Man's Score: 10/10 — Galactus is one of many cosmic creations from the minds of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. In fact, in an interview with Wizard Magazine, Kirby described Galactus as "a sort of god. He is beyond reproach, beyond anyone's opinion." That's definitely the vibe we get with his appearance in "First Steps." It's far superior to the weather event he was relegated to in "Rise of the Silver Surfer."

H.E.R.B.I.E. (voiced by Matthew Wood) is the Fantastic Four's cute robot friend. Though he wasn't conceived for the comics, making his debut in the 1978 animated series "The New Fantastic Four," H.E.R.B.I.E. (which stands for Humanoid Experimental Robot B-Type Integrated Electronics) is still a creation of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby — in fact, he was their final co-creation. The friendly robot would crop up in the comics soon enough, and now, he's leaped into live-action, with a few upgrades to boot.

The '70s iteration of H.E.R.B.I.E. is a far cry from the one seen in "The Fantastic Four: First Steps," most notably in the face. While the movie's H.E.R.B.I.E. almost has gears for eyes, most iterations — including the first one — feature a fully digital face, essentially a screen with dots for eyes and a line for a smile. As far as the rest of him, H.E.R.B.I.E. has had a rounder shape in the past. It's like there's a big belly with some kind of button interface on the chest with an array of colors. The film's H.E.R.B.I.E. definitely has a sleeker, trimmer design.

Accuracy Man's Score: 3/10 — In "First Steps," H.E.R.B.I.E. almost has the frame of a portable air conditioner. The interface on the chest is gone, replaced with a "4" logo, so there's no mistaking him as a member of the team. There's nothing wrong with the robot's new look. It definitely fits into the retro-futuristic design that permeates the rest of the film. It's just not accurate to what we've seen before. Even though the film leans more into comic-accurate aesthetics, clearly the production design team had limits.

If you look at the cover of "Fantastic Four" #1 from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, you'll see the subterranean monster Giganto in all its glory, bursting up through a street to terrorize the surface. Giganto's the first monster that Marvel's first family encountered, and it's a great tribute to the characters' lore to include it in "First Steps." For the most part, it's a stellar recreation, as Giganto in the movie is, indeed, a giant green monster who wreaks havoc on the city.

As tends to be the case with live-action adaptations, Giganto's colors are a bit subdued. It's more of a pale green than the bright colors used on the pages of the comic book. The movie's Giganto almost appears to have mud-inspired armor on its shoulders and arms as opposed to being a purely green monstrosity. Still, there's no denying that this is Giganto, giant mouth and all.

Accuracy Man's Score: 8/10 — One of the most appreciated aspects of the film's Giganto design is the fact it has pure white eyes. This is something that's been largely ignored in live-action comic book adaptations over the years. Since Giganto's a monster, it feels more natural and lends its scenes a pleasing comic book aesthetic. Because of this, the minor changes are easy to overlook.

We felt it was unnecessary to compare comic book Franklin Richards with the movie's version: He's a baby in the film, and he's a baby in the comics. 10 out of 10 — no notes there. But we thought we'd switch it up by throwing out some ideas for who could play older versions of Franklin in future MCU projects.

In case you need a quick Franklin Richards explainer, he becomes one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe, capable of manipulating matter on a molecular level and creating unique pocket universes. He could very well play a larger role going forward in the MCU, especially with the Multiverse Saga coming to a close with "Avengers: Secret Wars." Even if we don't see him again until the next "Fantastic Four" movie (assuming there is one), who would be a good pick for playing him?

Franklin is often portrayed as a teenager in the comics. Reality warping means he can age himself up fast, so the MCU doesn't have to wait that long to see Franklin go from a baby to a teenager. And one of the most talented young actors today who definitely has the chops to play Franklin is Jacob Tremblay, best known for roles in "Room" and "Wonder." 

Tremblay is 18 as of this writing but could definitely play a few years younger if Marvel wanted to go that route. All he'd need to do is dye his hair black, and he could be a spitting image of the character. Plus, Tremblay has enough experience in dramatic roles to play someone who's tantamount to a god with the weight of the universe on his shoulders.

Franklin Richards has also been known to age himself up to an adult, albeit still with the mind of a child. One such instance is in "Fantastic Four" #245 from John Byrne, Bob Sharen, and Jim Novak. He has wild golden locks and a full beard, all while throwing furniture around. We think it would be a lot of fun to see Dan Stevens in this type of role. He already played an all-powerful comic book character with psychic abilities in "Legion," so he's the perfect candidate for bringing Franklin into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

He's played menacing characters before in criminally underrated films like "The Guest" and "Cuckoo," so a powerful character with an unstable mind sounds like ripe territory for Stevens. But even if a future MCU flick wants to make him more stable in his adult form, Stevens could absolutely act alongside Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, and the rest of the family without missing a beat. He's a talented thesp who would fit right in with such esteemed company.

With a cataclysm of realities on the horizon, the MCU is venturing into unknown territory with characters more powerful than any we've seen before on the big screen. Franklin Richards has single-handedly defeated Galactus, after all, so if the Fantastic Four need some help, the son of Reed Richards and Sue Storm would make for a powerful ally.