“He was very generous”: Robert Downey Jr. Is Not the Best Part of ‘Fantastic Four’ After Ebon Moss-Bacharach Revealed Who Helped Him With The Thing

Robert Downey Jr. is all set to return to the MCU as Doctor Doom in the upcoming film Avengers: Doomsday. The actor, who played Tony Stark for eleven years in the MCU is about to make heads turn with his charismatic new role. He is rumored to have made his first appearance in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

However, rumors of a much-anticipated cameo are not the best part of the upcoming film. The Bear star Ebon Moss- Bachrach, who is set to play Ben Grimm a.k.a The Thing in the film recently revealed that the motion-capture work for his CGI character was being supervised by the god of mo-cap himself, Andy Serkis, and his company.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach had a surprise mentor for his scenes in The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach is best known for his role as Richie in the FX series The Bear. His performance earned him two Emmy Awards for Most Outstanding Supporting Actor and he also received a Golden Globe nomination. He was then cast as Ben Grimm a.k.a The Thing in Marvel’s upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The actor will be sharing the screen with Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, and Joseph Quinn. Moss-Bachrach will reportedly be also performing the motion-capture for the fully CGI character and he had previously mentioned that he had consulted actor Mark Ruffalo who plays the Hulk for advice (via Deadline). 

In a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the actor said he had help from one more source. Ebon Moss-Bachrach mentioned that he only saw a crude rendering of his final form as The Thing while filming and that he received guidance from the god of motion capture, Andy Serkis. He said,

[We had] Andy Serkis, who is sort of the…I don’t know the Godfather of motion capture in a way. He’s got this company called The Imaginarium which is out at Pinewood Studios where we shot The Fantastic Four and he was very generous.

Serkis has provided the motion-capture performance for some of the most iconic CGI characters in movie history such as Gollum, Caesar, and more. His inclusion gives fans hope that The Thing’s visualization and performance will not be like other CGI messes that the MCU is slowly becoming notorious for.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach stays mum about Robert Downey Jr. in The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark redefined the comic-book hero when he kickstarted the MCU with 2008’s Iron Man. The film was the beginning of a long ‘Infinity Saga’ where Downey Jr. became synonymous with Tony Stark and his death in Avengers: Endgame was the end of an era. But in 2024, it was announced that he would be returning as Doctor Doom.

While he is positioned as the main antagonist of Avengers: Doomsday and possibly Avengers: Secret Wars, it was rumored that Downey Jr. would be making his debut as Victor Von Doom in this year’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps (via GameRant). The rumor makes a lot of sense as Doctor Doom is primarily the nemesis of the Fantastic Four.

However, the film also has Ralph Ineson as Galactus, who is expected to be the main antagonist of the film. When Kimmel asked if Robert Downey Jr. was going to just appear in the post-credits scene of the film, Ebon Moss-Bachrach was only mum. Joking that he and Downey Jr. became good friends while filming, he said,

Oh yeah. We live together now. He asked me to move in with him…it’s not going to happen, I’ve been through rigorous media training.

The film would of course be the perfect opportunity to introduce Doom to the world but the MCU does sometimes surprise its fans and is perfectly capable of a bait-and-switch. Fans will have to wait till July to know for sure.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be released in cinemas on July 25, 2025.

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