By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | February 4, 2025 |
This morning, Marvel debuted its Fantastic Four trailer, giving us our first look at Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, and Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm.
It’s the latter we’re here to talk about today. Kirby has appeared in plenty of major films and TV shows, but for many — including me — she’s mostly been on the periphery. She’s perhaps best known for playing Princess Margaret in The Crown, though even fans of that show may not immediately recognize her in the Fantastic Four trailer due to the period styling.
She was fourth-billed in the Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, but by then, the franchise was already losing steam, and the spin-off underperformed, though it wasn’t an outright flop.
She also played Josephine Bonaparte in Apple TV+’s Napoleon opposite Joaquin Phoenix, but, again, almost no one saw that movie.
Personally, I haven’t seen any of those projects, nor The Son with Hugh Jackman, The World to Come with Casey Affleck, or even the film that earned her an Oscar nomination, Pieces of a Woman. Watching the trailer, I understand why: Pieces of a Woman is a heavy drama about a woman losing her baby in childbirth, co-starring Shia LaBeouf. It looks like one of those movies that no one watches but still gets nominated for an Oscar.
Truthfully, despite her Oscar nomination and upcoming Marvel role, the only time I’ve actually seen her on screen was in the Mission: Impossible franchise, where she played the White Widow in the last two films (and the upcoming final installment). She’s great with a knife, but I only have the vaguest recollection of her.
All of this is to say: Kirby has starred in several films that didn’t quite live up to expectations (including the last Mission: Impossible movie), which might make her a risky choice to lead the third attempt at launching a successful Fantastic Four franchise. Then again, she looks well suited to the role. Whether the film succeeds or not, she’s already booked for two Avengers films, so we’ll be seeing plenty more of her.
It’s also worth noting that she hosted the True Spies podcast alongside an impressive lineup: Hayley Atwell, Sophia Di Martino, and Daisy Ridley.