The Marvel Cinematic Universe has found its Galactus. The planet-eating villain will make his MCU debut in the upcoming Fantastic Four film, premiering next year. Final Fantasy XVI fans will immediately recognize his voice, because Ralph Ineson, the actor behind Cidolfus “Cid” Telamon, has officially secured the role.
The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the casting on May 9, revealing Ineson will play opposite Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in The Fantastic Four when the film arrives on July 25, 2025. Ineson tweeted about joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying, “World devouring cosmic villain, is it? I’ll see what I can do.” So, it sounds like he’s up for the challenge.
Ineson has a decades-long career, but most recently, people will likely recognize him for his role as Cid in FFXVI, which was considered a standout in a game full of excellent performances. He also voiced Lorath Nahr in Diablo IV last year.
What’s unclear is what severity of villain Galactus will be in The Fantastic Four. Given the planet-wide threat he inherently poses, I’m curious to see how the film scales him down to the point where the rest of the heroes in the MCU don’t jump in to help the titular quartet, allowing them to have their own movie. But that’s an exposition problem the series has been having for years as it introduces new heroes who didn’t help fight Thanos during Infinity War and Endgame. Or indeed why no one else showed up to save the Earth in The Eternals. So we’ll see how they reckon with that when the movie comes out next year.
The next movie in the MCU is Deadpool & Wolverine, which will bring Hugh Jackman back as Wolverine after he’d walked away from the X-Men series in 2017, following Logan. Marvel suits were iffy about him returning at all, given the high note he left the character on seven years ago. But now he and Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds are getting to play a better team-up between the characters than X-Men Origins: Wolverine.