The Thing"s MCU CGI Addressed By Fantastic Four Actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach: "A Lot Of Motion Capture"

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The Fantastic Four: First Steps will seemingly be going for the CGI route for its version of The Thing. After two live-action movie franchises, the Fantastic Four will finally arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe next year. 2025"s The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be doing plenty of new things with the superhero franchise, but a new reveal from The Thing actor teases that the MCU will be pulling a page from one of the old Fantastic Four movies for its depiction of Ben Grimm.
Moss-Bachrach said that there are hundreds of animators working on The Thing"s CGI.
During an interview with Variety, MCU The Thing actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach talked about his character"s VFX process in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The actor revealed that the reason he has not been spotted sporting his traditional stubble seen in The Bear as of late is due to the need for a lot of motion capture work for the Fantastic Four reboot. Moss-Bachrach said that there are hundreds of animators working on The Thing"s CGI, and he still has not seen what the hero will look like in the upcoming MCU movie. Check out the full quote below:

"I’m doing a lot of motion capture on [‘Fantastic Four’]. So for maximum-data facial capture, I have to be clean-shaven.
They got so many amazing animators working on it, literally hundreds of people working on it. We’ve been shooting for about six weeks, and I haven’t been able to see anything yet. I don’t know exactly what the lead time is. I’m very excited to see something.”

How The Fantastic Four The Thing Set Photos Fit With Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Reveal The Fantastic Four Star's Comments Lead To A New Interpretation Of Set Photos Close Moss-Bachrach"s reveal might come as a shock to some, as previous The Fantastic Four: First Steps set photos featured a practical suit for The Thing. Notably, the actor was not the one behind the suit. With the confirmation that The Thing will be CGI in the MCU, as the actor is doing a lot of motion capture work for the Fantastic Four reboot, the set photos for the upcoming MCU film have a new meaning. Instead of being the physical suit that Moss-Bachrach will wear to transform into The Thing, the set photos reveal a look at the character"s stand-in.

Related Fantastic Four The Thing Costume Criticisms Ignore The Point - He Won’t Look Like That The first look at The Thing from the MCU"s upcoming Fantastic Four movie has leaked, but those complaining are missing a vital detail about the suit.
4 That means that the practical The Thing suit is merely being used by Marvel Studios to serve as reference for the hundreds of animators who are currently hard at work crafting the hero"s final look. The MCU has done the same with multiple characters in the past. A couple of cases include Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, with actor Josh Brolin wearing a cardboard cutout of his character"s head that provided a height-accurate reference for the animators and the other actors. There has also been a physical Rocket Raccoon puppet on set throughout his MCU appearances.
Based on Moss-Bachrach"s The Thing CGI comments, the MCU will be taking a route closer to the one used by the 2015 Fantastic Four movie, which brought Jamie Bell"s The Thing to life via VFX, instead of the 2000s movies for the team, which saw actor Michael Chiklis wear a physical suit. However, the MCU"s version of The Thing, even if it is CGI, should look better than the one from the team"s ill-fated 2015 reboot, as the set photos with the stand-in tease a better and more classic look for the hero in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) The Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first MCU movie to feature Marvel's First Family in the same live-action universe as the Avengers. It introduces the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm, and precedes Phase 6's Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Director Matt Shakman Release Date July 25, 2025 Writers Josh Friedman , Jeff Kaplan , Ian Springer Cast Pedro Pascal , Vanessa Kirby , Ebon Moss-Bachrach , Joseph Quinn Franchise(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe All Announced Upcoming MCU Movies