Who is Natasha Lyonne playing in The Fantastic Four: First Steps? Speculations explored

The Fantastic Four: First Steps teaser has dropped, and it has generated a lot of excitement among the fans. It will be the second in line of the reboots of the namesake franchise, and it is also a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film boasts an interesting set of actors to play the four leading superheroes. Pedro Pascal is Reed Richards, while Vanessa Kirby is Sue Storm; Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach are playing Johny Storm and Ben Grimm, respectively. Amid all this, there are also speculations going ripe about which character Natasha Lyonne is playing in the film. So let's find out.

Who is Natasha Lyonne playing in The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

In early 2024, it was reported that Natasha Lyonne had joined the cast of Marvel's The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The makers have not revealed the details about the character she is playing. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the Russian Doll actress dropped a hint at the character she might be playing in the superhero film.

She spoke about doing The Fantastic Four: First Steps and Smurfs.

"It is all very interstellar-type stuff, coming at it from different directions. I’m also in the Smurfs movie, and actually some stuff does happen that’s… I don’t want to get into it, because I’ll get in trouble. But assuming that I’m dead by 8:45 p.m. tonight and they have to cut the movies together in a mash-up, it will all marry well, I think."

Lyonne was referring to the Marvel film as the Interstellar type of stuff since the film explores space and a force coming to Earth to wreak destruction. That character is Galactus (played by Ralph Ineson), the film's villain and accompanied by The Silver Surfer (Julia Garner).

She also mentioned Smurfs, which might indicate she could have a voiceover role in the film. The character of H.E.R.B.I.E. is a strong contender for Lyonne's voiceover role. It is a robot who works as a companion for the Fantastic Four superheroes.

What is the plot of The Fantastic Four: First Steps?

The Fantastic Four: First Steps follows the titular superheroes who must save the earth from Galactus. Here's the official synopsis of the film:

"Marvel's First Family face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus and his herald, Silver Surfer."

Peter Cameron, Jeff Kaplan, Eric Pearson, Ian Springer, Cameron Squires, and Josh Friedman are the writers of the film, while Matt Shakman is the director. This is the second collaboration between Shakman and Marvel after the 2021 television series WandaVision.

Besides the four leading actors, The Fantastic Four: First Steps also has several other actors in supporting roles. Here's the entire list.

Ralph Ineson as Galactus:
Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal, aka Silver Surfer
Paul Walter Hauser
John Malkovich
Natasha Lyonne
Sarah Nile

Besides them, there were also reports that Robert Downey Jr. might make an appearance as Victor von Doom, aka Doctor Doom, in the film's post-credit sequence to hint at the sequences of the upcoming films in MCU's next phase. It would be interesting to witness all these events once the film is released across theatres.