Fantastic Four Costumes: 60s Style You Won’t Believe

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Costume designer Alexandra Byrne has outfitted a wide range of interstellar and terrestrial beings over the years. These include the gods of Asgard (in 2011’s Thor), the powerful Avengers team (in 2012’s The Avengers), a unique, space-exploring family (in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy) and characters who can bend time and space (in 2016’s Doctor Strange). In Matt Shakman’s upcoming film, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, set in a 1960s-inspired world with a futuristic twist known as Earth-828, Byrne is tasked with designing costumes for all four characters.

In a nutshell, the Oscar-winning actress from Elizabeth: The Golden Age collaborated with her crew to design the costumes for Marvel’s First Family – a group made up of Reed Richards (played by Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Their wardrobes encompass space suits, stylish ’60s clothing, and superhero uniforms that harmonize with the Thing’s distinctive blue eyes.

For hours on end, we immersed ourselves in the dye vats, perfecting the different hues and shades within a spectrum of blues. It’s a laborious task, but it’s thrilling,” Byrne shares in the summer 2025 edition of Disney Rewards Insider magazine. “The experience is like a heart-pounding pursuit to embody the soul of the movie.

The foundation, as Byrne points out, lies within the script – a collaborative effort by Josh Friedman and Eric Pearson, Jeff Kaplan & Ian Springer, built upon the Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Moreover, Shakman, who previously infused a retro aesthetic into a ’70s TV-inspired episode of Marvel’s WandaVision, was adamant about his depiction of 1960s New York City in an alternate reality. This city is the backdrop for the visit by the Shalla-Bal Silver Surfer, portrayed by Julia Garner, who signals the upcoming appearance of Galactus, played by Ralph Ineson.

In an alternate universe known as Earth-828, the ’60s were a far cry from what I’m used to in the main timeline – Earth-616. This divergence is largely attributed to the groundbreaking advancements made by Dr. Reed Richards and Dr. Susan Storm, two brilliant minds working together in the Future Foundation and S.T.O.R.M (Science, Technology, Organizing, Reading, Mathematics). They’ve been transforming this era with their innovations, painting a picture of a world I can barely imagine.

Initially, Byrne began creating mood boards. He subsequently collaborated with artists such as Ryan Meinerding from Marvel Studios (known for his work on Deadpool and Wolverine), Matt Allsopp (Jurassic World Rebirth), George Hull (Tron: Ares), Richard Thomas Burns (Silo), and Pablo Domínguez (Avengers: Endgame). To refine the costumes, Byrne studied 60’s fashion trends in both America and Europe, while also considering technical influences.

She remarked that the progress made on designing space suits and life support systems represents a significant milestone, blending the nostalgic aesthetic of the past with modern ambitions. In her words, it’s a harmonious fusion of vintage engineering elegance and gleaming contemporary dreams. The future, she added, appears truly captivating.

Featuring Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles, the movie “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” will be shown exclusively in cinemas and FantasiVision on July 25th.

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2025-07-15 03:39