The rumor mill had been in overdrive trying to predict who Marvel would cast as Galactus, the World-Devourer, in The Fantastic Four, but it’s safe to say nobody guessed correctly.
Although Hollywood A-listers like Antonio Banderas and Javier Bardem kept swirling around the role (we were so certain the planet-muncher was going to be Hispanic, huh?), in actual fact English actor Ralph Ineson has been hired for the part in Marvel’s summer 2025 blockbuster.
Ineson may be a hugely prolific actor — even if you don’t know his name, you’ve seen his face in the likes of Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Office etc — but he’s not on the level of the rest of the star-studded ensemble cast for director Matt Shakman’s movie. That said, it’s not just Ineson’s relative anonymity that makes him such a left-choice to play a villain with the potential to become a big player in the MCU’s future.
The main reason it’s a surprise Disney has handed him such a lucrative role is that he only just sued the company a few months ago.
The Fantastic Four‘s Ralph Ineson sued Disney after an on-set injury
Ineson’s previous collaboration with Disney was on Willow, the ill-fated sequel series to the cult favorite Lucasfilm fantasy flick of the 1980s. The Mouse House must’ve regretted making this show as soon as it was in the can, as the series was infamously cancelled and ripped from Disney Plus not long after it released in 2022.
On top of that, the show saw the company hit with a lawsuit from one of its cast. In December 2023, Ineson sued Disney for a total of £150,000 (roughly $190,500) after he claimed to have suffered permanent shoulder damage during a night shoot for Willow.
The incident in question took place during production in South Wales in July 2021. The actor was dressed in a full suit of armor as his character, Commander Ballantine, as he filmed an action scene opposite Joonas Suatomo (playing an ogre called The Scourge) when he “fell awkwardly and dislocated his shoulder.”
Ineson’s suit claimed that the injury has permanently impaired his ability to pick up more physically active roles, such as those involving fighting or horse-riding. Ineson and his lawyers held producers liable for rushing filming through in order to hit a deadline and for not cleaning the steps where Ineson tripped and fell.
Disney never actually made any kind of public response to this suit, but given that less than $200,000 would be a drop in the ocean for the Mouse House the odds are good that Ineson either received, or will receive, the payment he was owed. And as for his Willow injury affecting his future action roles, now Disney has cast him as the most powerful being in the Marvel cosmos, so that’s not too shabby!
The Fantastic Four is primed to devour the competition once it hits theaters on July 25, 2025.
Published: May 10, 2024 12:38 pm