The Fantastic Four: First Steps features four fantastic cameos you probably missed

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set on Earth-828, meaning there’s no cameos from MCU characters that we know and love, but hardcore fans might recognise four faces that very briefly appear.

Fantastic Four: First Stepsplays out in analternate Earththat’s different to the planet depicted in previousMarvel movies.

The Fantastic Four posing on a 1994 poster.

This is a retro-futuristic world where the only super-powered beings on the planet are the Fantastic Four, and in First Steps, they face their greatest challenge whenGalactusarrives with divine powers of his own, and plans to eat up Earth.

So there’s no crossover with other MCU characters, as that’s being saved for 2026 releaseAvengers: Doomsday. But actors from the F4’s controversial past do pop up throughout the movie if you know where to look.

The Fantastic Four smiling.

Old Fantastic Four actors appear in the new movie

Back in the early 1990s, Roger Corman made a Fantastic Four movie that never saw the light of day. We tell that story in an article about themovie Marvel doesn’t want you to see, during which everyone involved seems to cite a different reason for the film being buried.

But it’s clear that the actors who played Marvel’s First Family had no idea their efforts were doomed, making it a somewhat tragic tale for the very first Fantastic Four.

The cast of The Fantastic Four

But that sad story has a happy postscript this week, as the quartet all make surprise cameos in First Steps, so here’s who they played in the original, and how they cameo in the new movie.

Alex Hyde-White was Reed Richards in the 1994 movie, and in the new film plays ABC anchor William Russell, who announces the birth of Fantastic baby Franklin to the world. Rebecca Stab was Sue Storm in the original, and is Channel 9 newscaster Carolyn Haynes here.

The Fantastic Four posing together.

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Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm in The Fantastic Four: First Steps

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The cast of the 1994 unreleased ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ movie all attended the#FantasticFourblue carpet eventpic.twitter.com/z7fs8ql725

Jay Underwood was Johnny Storm and Michael Bailey Smith was Ben Grimm previously, and in First Steps the duo play Power Plant workers who salute the Human Torch early in proceedings.

And while the launch of their F4 movie was cancelled back in the day, all four actors attended the First Steps premiere earlier this week, and you can see them beaming on the blue carpet above.

Fantastic Four is in UK theaters now and US cinemas tomorrow. For more F4 action, find outwhy Fantastic Four takes place on Earth-828,when to take a bathroom breakduring the movie,how parenthood inspired First Steps, pluswhere to get the Fantastic popcorn buckets.

Alternatively you can learnwhy Marvel is skipping Comic-Con in 2025, or check out our breakdown ofevery upcoming MCU project, and list ofbest superhero moviesever.