Marvel Casts Ralph Ineson In ‘The Fantastic Four’ As Galactus

Marvel has found its villain in the upcoming The Fantastic Four remake.

Marvel casts Ralph Ineson, the British actor known for his roles in horror films The First Omen and The Witch, to portray the world-devouring cosmic villain Galactus.

As we previously reported, Pedro Pascal is starring as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/the Thing. The upcoming film will also feature John Malkovich and Paul Walter Hauser, both in undisclosed roles.

Another actor whose role has been announced is Julia Garner, who will play Shalla-Bal, a version of the Silver Surfer. It is believed the film will take place in an alternate universe within the MCU, as Garner's Shalla-Bal is a different version of the classic Silver Surfer.

The Silver Surfer was introduced in Fantastic Four No. 48 as the herald of Galactus, a planet-eating entity, though that version of the Surfer was an alien astronomer known as Norrin Radd. Garner is said to be playing a different surfer known as Shalla-Bal, who was the lover of Norrin Radd.

First introduced in Fantastic Four No. 66, Galactus is a god-like entity and is perhaps the most feared being in Marvel. He was born the humanoid Galan on the planet Taa. As a space explorer, he discovered a radiation plague threatening his home planet. With no cure to be found, Galan convinced the remaining survivors to die gloriously by flying a starship into the blazing cosmic cauldron. The others were killed by the intense radiation, but Galan was filled with new energy and saved by the Phoenix Force of the dying universe.

He was reborn and went centuries between feedings, seeking out uninhabited worlds that could support life, but he gradually hungered more frequently and began consuming inhabited worlds if he could find no others. He rationalized his actions by deeming himself a higher being, a belief made easier after learning of a prophecy that he would eventually compensate for all his destruction. In addition, he eventually encountered Eternity and Death, and the three beings hypothesized that Galactus represented a balancing force between the two opposites.

Galactus was persuaded by Norrin Radd to spare his home planet of Zenn-La in exchange for becoming a new herald. Galactus transformed Radd into the Silver Surfer, suppressing his morals so that he would lead Galactus to inhabited worlds when necessary. In the comics, Galactus had easily overpowered the Fantastic Four, but the Surfer turned on him and delayed Galactus' meal long enough for Reed Richards to be the first person to defeat him.

The Fantastic Four arrives in theaters July 25, 2025, and is rumored to take place in the 1960s. This is the era in which writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby first introduced the Fantastic Four, the super team that launched the Marvel Universe in comics.