The Fantastic Four: First Steps | 2025
Set in 'New York City' in a parallel universe, the film was made in the UK largely on sets built at Pinewood Studios – with forays into the Derbyshire Peak District and the city of Oviedo in Spain.
There've been several attempts to bring Marvel's Fantastic Four to the screen but none of them have really set the box office alight.
Matt Shakman's film wisely skips the origins story and assumes that by now we all know how the Four got their powers.
Set in a parallel universe on Earth-828, in a 'New York' of the 1960s, which makes for a refreshing retro-futurist look, the film was made in the UK at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire and the real Manhattan is only seen as background plates.
Two large exterior sets were used, one for 'Times Square' and the other 'Yancy Street', modelled on Delancey Street, in a predominantly Jewish area of Manhattan's Lower East Side, which is where Fantastic Four co-creator Jack Kirby grew up. In fact, this latter set was repurposed from the 'Vancouver' street set seen in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Likewise, the 'Baxter Building' is a huge multi-level set. So allowing for the action off-earth, there's not too much in the way of practical locations – although one site is quite spectacular.
The auditorium of the 'United Nations' building is the Main Hall of the Palacio de Expositions y Congresos (Exhibition and Congress Centre) in Oviedo, Spain. Built in 2011, the centre was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, famous for his dazzling white, ribbed constructions and sleekly elegant lines.
His work seems to be popular for filmmakers – his Galleria in Toronto was used for George A Romero's 2005 Land Of the Dead, Milwaukee Art Museum was seen in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and the Oculus of the World Trade Center Hub in New York in John Wick: Chapter Two.
Oviedo, not far from the coast in northwest Spain, is the capital and major city of the Asturias region. It's also famed for its traditional architecture, dating back to the medieval age, and is the setting for part of Woody Allen's 2008 Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Asturias Airport is 30 miles from the city centre
Another real location is 'Subterranea', the underground realm of Harvey Elder aka Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser), into which the inhabitants of Manhattan are evacuated to avoid the climactic Times Square confrontation with the monstrous Galactus (Ralph Ineson).
This is the Middleton Mine in the Derbyshire Dales, four miles south-west of Matlock, Derbyshire, in the Peak District National Park, dug in the late 1950s to extract Hopton-Wood Limestone found beneath Middleton Moor. There are around 30 miles of tunnels over 3 levels, with multiple access points though they're usually blocked so it's not generally accessible to the public.
Its tunnels were also used for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
If you're waiting for some mention of Dorset, sad to say the publicised filming at the spectacular rock arch of Durdle Door hasn't made it into the Final Cut of the film. Maybe it'll be a deleted scene in the home entertainment release?
