Playing pregnant superhero in Fantastic Four was a great honour
The 37-year-old actress, who is currently expecting her first child, stars as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman in the 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic reboot in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
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The film follows Marvel's First Family as they defend Earth from the cosmic threat of Galactus and his mysterious herald, the Silver Surfer.
Pedro Pascal plays Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, alongside Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing.
(l to r) Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn, the cast of The Fantastic Four: First Steps Photo: PA/Ian West.
The film explores the team's origin story. Originally astronauts, the four are forever changed after an experimental space flight exposes them to cosmic rays, granting them extraordinary superhuman powers.
At its core, the story is rooted in family, with Sue and Reed preparing to welcome their first child.
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Kirby, who won a Bafta for portraying Princess Margaret in The Crown, said she found it 'revolutionary' to have a mother at the centre of the family who was also part of the superhero team.
'When I first started talking about Sue, I was already so passionate about her,' she told the PA news agency.
'It was so exciting to me, this idea of having a pregnant superhero, a working mother. Even in the shooting of it, it was surreal because I had this pregnancy bump, but I was so included in everything.
'It was very daunting. I really cared and it's been a great honour to play her. I know that I'm just one of many that's kind of got to know her over the years.'
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She added that she loved the blend of the ordinary and the extraordinary in the film: 'This was such a combination of domesticity where Reed was smelling Sue's socks, or Sue was brushing her teeth and then we'd be in the intergalactic, epic cosmos. That, in a way, was the experience we had.'
Pascal credited director Matt Shakman with helping him navigate the emotional journey of Reed Richards.
'As a father, the only way he (Reed) knows how to handle that is by trying to baby-proof the world rather than be present for the experience,' the 50-year-old American-Chilean actor said.
'Matt really guided me through that, especially since I'm not a father — I can only imagine what it's like.
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Pedro Pascal and Vanessa Kirby attending the UK launch of The Fantastic Four: The First Steps, at the BFI Imax in London Photo: Ian West/PA.
'My favourite thing about it (playing Reed) was that this person, so brilliant, so at ease solving the most complex scientific equations, still struggles to grasp the far more complicated equations of relationships, family and love.'
Shakman, known for directing WandaVision, said The Fantastic Four is a deeply personal film for him.
'It's about parenthood and marriage, it's about all these things so many of us relate to,' he said. 'Because we all come from families and that's what the Fantastic Four is.'
Shakman is encouraging even non-Marvel fans to see the film, noting that audiences do not need any prior knowledge of the franchise to enjoy it.
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'You don't need to have seen any other Marvel movies to come see this movie,' added Shakman.
'They're the only superheroes in this world. There are no Easter eggs to other Marvel movies.'
A previous Fantastic Four film came out in 1994, followed by a reboot in 2005 starring Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis.
They all returned in 2007 for Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer, in which they learned they were not the only superpowered beings in the universe.
In 2015, Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B Jordan and Jamie Bell starred in another Fantastic Four movie and animated TV series based on the comics have aired throughout the years.
Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in UK cinemas on July 24th.
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