The heralds of Galactus, better known as industry insiders, have told TheWrap and Variety that Josh Trank’s highly anticipated Fantastic Four reboot has found its core cast at long last. Earlier this month, we reported on rumors of actors like Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Emmy Rossum, and Christian Cooke screen testing for the roles of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, et al, as well as the rumor that the film would feature a female version of Doctor Doom. While we won’t be seeing Victoria von Doom any time soon, it’s looking like we will be seeing several of the aforementioned faces donning the iconic costumes on June 19, 2015.
Inside sources close to the project have confirmed that Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now), Kate Mara (House of Cards), and Jamie Bell (The Adventures of Tintin) will be joining Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle) to form the titular Fantastic Four. Jordan has long been attached as Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, and Mara has closed a deal to play Sue Storm, better known as the Invisible Woman. Although Bell hasn’t received an official offer, the British actor is expected to yell “It’s clobberin’ time” as Ben Grimm, the Thing. Teller, evidently, has an offer to play Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, but the in-demand actor, who will appear as Peter in Divergent next month, has potential shooting conflicts with the Divergent sequel Insurgent. Although Teller is the top choice for the role, if Fox can’t work out an arrangement with Lionsgate/Summit, then it’s likely that they’ll have to look elsewhere for their stretchy supergenius.
Jordan has been connected with the project since Trank’s involvement was confirmed, and Fox has eyed Teller and Mara since they were first expected to test in November, an event which was delayed by Simon Kinberg coming in gussy up the script. The script is said to draw from the Ultimate Fantastic Four comics and is clearly going to follow a much younger version of the iconic superhero team. Personally, I think this is a terrific group of actors with tremendous potential and I’m eager to see what Trank will whip up. Now, the question remains: who will be the villain and who will play the villain? I’d like to see Danny DeVito as Mole Man or Benedict Cumberbatch as Galactus, but the chances of that happening are slim to none.
What do you think of the Fantastic Four cast? Who would you like the villain to be? Let us know in the comments below or expose your cosmic rays to me on Twitter.
Kate Mara as Sue Richards? Bad casting. This will be a flop I bet.
This is going to suck more then Rise of the Silver Surfer. Hell I see this bombing worse then any of the marvel movies have. It may even end up worse then even some of DC’s greatest flops.
are they trying to make the fantastic four movie suck?
The sad part is that no one will tale any notice of anything the fantastic Four fand have to say ,,, A Black Johnny Storm is Friggin stupid !!!! No one will go to see this movie ,,all the cast are un atractive no bodies !!! this movie is going to suck and i wont waste my money on it !! There was nothing wrong with the FF movies already made they just should of carried on with the cast they already had !! but looks like this idiot director is trying to do it on the cheap !!
They did screw up a lot with Rise of the Silver Surfer. Doom would not have been able to gain Surfer’s powers by getting on his board. Also they totally screwed up with Galactus. Worse then how they portrayed him in the Ultimate Universe which was pretty bad. Though I did enjoy seeing all the big teams work together on that. The movies need to stay true to their roots. I understand things need to be updated for modern times. But you should only modify it so much. Unless there is a basis in the comics to change say someones skin color, don’t do it. It’s just that simple.
Rufe, please see my above post and settle down. I think it’ll be ok if ONE hero in ONE movie is black when all of the other movies feature exclusively white people as their main characters/heroes.
um Blade much? There are plenty of black super heroes. A black electro is friggin stupid too.
A Black member of Fantastic Four? A new low in political correctness only exceeded by the idiocy of a black Nick Fury in the Avengers (when Nick Fury was originally the star of the Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos WWII comic). When will this diversity crap end? This is absurd and suggests a disaster in the making.
The thing is is that Marvel can practically pick anyone they like, they’re usually all hits and most stars are auditioning, so they picked these guys for a reason. I like Michael B Jordan as the Human Torch because he seems like he could handle it well. Miles Teller looks right but looks SO YOUNG! He’s only a couple years younger than Kate Mara/Invisible Woman but has such a baby face that he looks much much younger. I can’t picture The Thing being British or Jamie Bell in a giant rock suit but those are easy fixes. What I’m really worried about is the origin story they do. I read before the cast was announced that a rumored plot line was that Ben and Reed were childhood friends and got their powers through some unspecified event, later becoming weapons for the government and meet Sue and Johnny later, which is bizarre and would leave the company playing with fire, dangerous unless it’s done right. I was worried that Michael B. Jordan being Johnny meant this plot was true but there are ways to do the old story even with him, Sue and Johnny not being brother and sister, Sue and Johnny being adopted siblings, etc. But they were picked for a reason so I’m excited to see what they bring to the Marvel Universe.
They’re all too young. It’s The Amazing Spiderman movies all over again.
Off the top of my head the only black people to appear in any of the superhero movies thus far are: Halle Berry as Storm, a minor character, limited screen time (which I’m thankful for. Yikes, what a terrible performance), there is the character in X-Men First Class, another minor character (who even though it’s not a horror movie is the first to die), and Zoe Kravitz…another minor character who gets limited screen time and turns into a villain. There’s Samuel L. as Fury…an important character, sure, but decidedly still a supporting character.
The only main character I can think of in any of the comic-book movies that is played by a black person is Blade, an anti-hero of sorts in a Rated-R series…not a trilogy for kids.
To summate: if I’m not mistaken there hasn’t been a single main character in any of the many, many superhero flicks that has been played by a person of color that comic fans of all ages can enjoy. Not one.
So yeah…what some call “forcing diversity” I call addressing an embarrassing lack of it. Time to be a little more inclusive of fans of all races. And if you don’t like it? …I cordially invite you to watch any of the many, many, many other super hero movies that star white dudes (both versions of Spider-Man, all of the versions of Batman, Thor, Green Lantern, Capt America, Ironman, Bruce Banner, the Punisher, Daredevil, on and on…and on).
So ,since they haven’t rebooted blade or made a black panther movie (which would be awesome). We have to sit here and have “diversity” shoved down our throats and be quiet about it? Flip the script and lets make some black super heroes white and see how well that goes down.
Weird choices. I was really hoping the rumors about David Tennant being involved would be true.
This reboot is going to be a disater. Fox is never going to give the rights back unless they see that the franchises are doomed. i say the Movies should be boycotted until they give them back to Marvel. Fox is holding back so many beautiful storylines that Marvel can’t do unless they have the appropriate charcters. say goodbye to the Civil War, Secret Invasion, Avengers vs X-Men, and so many more potential movies. Boycott Fox.
The skin color of the Fantastic Four is irrelevant as their clothes, makeup, skin toner, and accessories are all made of Pym particles which can essentially create any appearance.
So Sue and Johnny use different skin products, big deal?
The racial difference is probably designed to generate buzz for the movie. Probably a good idea, since having even a mediocre script has never been in the cards for FF at Fox, the studio that gave us a Dr. Doom who had a voice like Rick Moranis and not a single decent line. Doom — the character who Lucas shamelessly modelled Darth Vader after!
Can’t wait for Guardians of the Galaxy!
They’re on the young side.
Sadly we’re going to be faced with a ton of racist memes from folks talking about the Human Torch being played by an African American then toss in some abstract Obama reference. 🙁
Then the whole question of “Did they select that actor for his ability or to pander?”
This looks pretty interesting , I know Fox would destroy the franchise again¡ Just wait and see
Wow… Once again, I get to watch another beloved aspect of my childhood get bent over the table and brutally raped without the common courtesy of a reach-around. Thanks a lot, Hollywood retards. May your souls burn in hell for the lame crap you pull.
Gotta love that at least the racism is slightly more intelligent sounding racism at least that is a step in the right direction.
1) it is possible for interracial couple to have one black child and one white child it depends on which genes make it into the mix from what I have seen it doesn’t take them being half siblings for that to work.
2) I don’t think casting someone for a traditionally caucasian role that isn’t is an artistic vision. I think it’s just going “Hey so the best person to audition happened to not be white so do we go with the best crappy actor cuz he is white or the best actor who might make people feel uncomfortable”
It’s simple really I want to see the best Fantastic Four movie we can see and that means casting the best people. Do you know why the characters were originally white in the comics? Look at when they were created and look at how many non white men or women were doing comic books.
Bitching about them not being white is as ridiculous as bitching that the Fantastic Four isn’t set in the 60s. Hey guess what somethings about them from their creation is incidental. There is no story based reason they have to be white. Anymore than there is a story based reason why the movie has to be set in the 60’s that just happens to be when they were created and those circumstances affected how the early stories look. Get over it.
I hate the casting, I will not be seeing this movie. I’m all on for making the group younger. Johnny Storm and Sue Storms are iconic parts of the marvel universe, you shouldn’t be changing their story just to add diversity to your casting. You wouldn’t change Professor X’s race or Wolverines to make your cast look more diverse. If they wanted to I could get behind them doing it to Ben Grimm, that would work for me. Very disappointed in this, I love the F4 but I just can’t bring myself to go see this with this cast.
Epic FAIL!!! I won’t even watch this when it gets to cable.
Johnny Storm is white. If they want to introduce some diversity into the whitest foursome since ABBA , that’s all fine and good. Black Human Torch? Go right ahead. But unless they come up with some ridiculous race changing radiation beam story, he’s not Johnny Storm. I don’t even care if he’s Rick Storm, the suddenly on-the-scene half/adopted brother of Sue. It’s a flaky plot point, but it’s better than just saying “Oh yeah, no. Johnny Storm’s just going to be black now.” It irks me.
The part of this article I disagree with the most is “highly anticipated Fantastic Four reboot”
When the biggest news coming out of a project to start with is the stunt casting, you know the project is going to have a short shelf life. If they seriously want to redo the Fantastic Four and do it well, then they need to get someone who is serious and passionate about the source material – not use it as a vanity project for the stars of their TV series of the moment, (IE The Shield and Nip/Tuck in the first iteration), or to demonstrate how brave and groundbreaking the studio is by doing something that is done almost routinely these days. The Fantastic Four does have potential – but it doesn’t have so much potential that it can survive this sort of thing. The casting of Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm has already driven away a wedge of its audience. This isn’t racism or bigotry on my part. It is just acknowledgment that its happening because no matter whether people SHOULD be offended or not by it, some people are. Whether they are offended because they are racists or they are offended because they a truists to the literature or they are offended because it just seems so much like nothing more than a cheap stunt, they are offended, so they will not come. At a certain point, Fox just needs to ask itself what it wants out of this series. Does it want to make money? If it does, it’s going about this the wrong way.
I agree with the consensus of Jordan being a better fit as Reed in this group I’m honestly only excited (strong word choice) about him and Kate Mara. I’d rather Marvel get the contract back as well, so more of the same there as well. On a alternate note I rarely read the comment section of any website due to the standard bile content, but I must say this is the most well behaved group I’ve seen in a long time, if ever, well done people and Nerdist.
And what, exactly was wrong with Ioan Gruffydd? Why does this even need complete re-casting? This movie is doomed.
Its a fox/marvel production is there ever any possibility that its not going to suck just like everything else they do ?
This is going to be garbage, thanks again Fox. There is no reason to retcon existing characters just to make it seem “not racist”. The FF are Caucasians. The Storm siblings are related by blood. Thats how it is. You want a black superhero movie, make either Panther or Luke Cage happen. Bring Blade back. Ill go see all 3 of those movies…provided Marvel Studios does them. Fox and Sony dont get it…we dont want these crap interpretation/artistic visions of whatever property these people feel like taking a crap on. We want what Marvel Studio is doing. This movie will be worse than the last FF film and hopefully marks Trank officially as the c grade director he is.
No Tennant no me.
So what if they have to ‘rewrite ff history’? Even in films based directly on a specific story, there are alterations made. Would it really matter, like, at all if one or both are adopted, or maybe they’re half siblings? To say that it does is sort of insulting to families with adopted children, you are basically saying they aren’t REAL families. But for real, is the foundation of the ff mythos really shattered by slightly changing the family background of these characters?
Ok so lets take Shaft and remake it with a white guy for ‘retro fitting” sake. The director/studio trying to do this would be labeled bigots and racists before you could bat an eye. I won’t be seeing this garbage.
I can see making a few changes but this isn’t the FF, this is wiping your ass with every FF comic ever written.
Well, let’s start the countdown for the NEXT reboot…. *sigh* Just give Marvel the freakin license back, FOX! You’re stinkin’ up the place! I mean seriously, it doesn’t matter how well written the script might be or how special the special effects may be, the casting director has already f%@ked it up by messing with canon. Johnny Storm and Sue Storm are biological siblings. Please explain how Kate Mara and Michael Jordan look the SLIGHTEST bit related! Jamie Bell looks related. When I saw Michael Jordan I thought, “Oh, good, The Thing is finally going to be CGI/motion capture and he’ll provide the voice & facial acting.” THAT would make sense. This…. This is a one-way ticket back to the reboot pile.
Johnny and Sue are siblings by birth.. now you have to rewrite FF history to make them adopted. Make them both black if thats the case. at least youre not rewriting FF history to try and appear “not” racist, youre just changing their race entirely which im fine with. Enough with this artistic liberties crap…. secondly. Teller and Bell are just odd choices, is this a “teen titan” or “muppet babies” version?.. they dont fit.. this movie is shaping up to sound worse than Man of Steel 2. …… thought Mara was a good choice though
What if the casting is right but the roles are wrong? I could see Michael Jordan as Richards, or even Ben. Jamie Bell could be Johnny.
I could get behind the casting and am extremely down for them “reimagining” the races of characters, however, Jordan and Mara playing brother and sister seems like it could be a very rocky connection for the movie. Now, I am not saying that interracial siblings would make it the rocky connection…it’s the ineptitude that Fox has displayed throughout their comic book movie history at taking “difficult” plot points and displaying them intelligently that scares me away from that point.
My only sort of objection is Michael B Jordan, due to age. He’s got a more mature look than either of the other men. He might be a better choice for Reed.
The film’s villain has and always will be Fox. Please give the rights to FF back to Marvel – this movie is going to be a disaster
really!? jamie bell as the thing? i like him a lot but man that just seems odd. When i first saw this i thought he would be johnny storm. Michael Chiklis made more sense even though those films weren’t perfect.