Marvel star has perfect, cheeky response to being asked how he’s preparing for his Fantastic Four role

Fantastic Four star Ebon Moss-Bachrach gave the perfect, cheeky response when asked how he’s preparing for his upcoming Marvel role. 

The Bear actor is playing Ben Grimm, AKA the Thing, in the Marvel Phase 6 movie, which is due out next year. 

“I’m playing Ben Grimm, who becomes the Thing, who is a man encased in rock. I don’t know, I’ve just been looking at rocks,” Moss-Bachrach joked on The Daily Show.

As for what he’s really been doing to prepare, he said: “I’ve been reading a lot of comics. It’s kind of nice. They gave me this Marvel Unlimited thing, so I can just go on my iPad and go to any comic book that Marvel’s ever released.” 

Along with Moss-Bachrach, the film stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm. Ralph Ineson will play Galactus, while Paul Walter Hauser and John Malkovich have mystery roles. Further details on the movie are scarce at the moment, but, judging by a clue in the first poster for the film, it seems to be set in the ’60s. 

“I think that with the story of the Fantastic Four, it feels like we want to get this right,” Quinn has said of the film. “There are aspects of it that are very different to other Marvel films. That felt very compelling to me. It’s really brilliant.”

Fantastic Four arrives in theaters on July 25, 2025. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows for everything else the MCU has in store.