FOX Zeroes In On Main Stars For THE FANTASTIC FOUR Reboot

The Internet was abuzz last night with the announcement of which actors Fox Studios is looking at to wear the blue spandex uniforms in the upcoming The Fantastic Four reboot. Marvel’s First Family will ideally be comprised of Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm (The Human Torch), Kate Mara as Susan Storm (The Invisible Woman), Miles Teller as Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic) and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm (The Thing).Directed by Josh Trank, the film is scheduled for release on June 19, 2015 and will be set in the same universe as Fox’s X-Men films.

While Jordan’s role has been finalized and Mara’s deal is in final negotiations, what keeps this casting official is Teller and Bell. While Bell is only in early negotiations to play The Thing, Teller is in fact eager to play Mister Fantastic, his schedule could present problems. Teller will be reprising his role as Peter in the sequel to the upcoming film Divergent, and production on the sequel would be at the same time as The Fantastic Four. Unless Teller is able to work something out between the two films, Fox will have to recast the role.

I haven’t seen Teller in anything, but judging by his age, it looks like this reboot will definitely be going the Ultimate Fantastic Four route by having a younger Reed Richards. I don’t mind that except that in most continuities, Reed is usually older than Johnny, so it would be odd to have them be the same age. Bell seems like a good choice for Ben Grimm. Not only does he have experience with voice acting and motion capture from The Adventures of Tintin, I’m sure he’ll be able to pull of Ben’s Lower East Side demeanor quite well. After all, Brits usually do a good job portraying Americans on film.

Look, I’m going to address the elephant in the room: Jordan and Mara. I don’t care in the slightest that a black actor is playing Johnny Storm, but frankly he and Mara don’t look anything alike. This most likely means they’ll be either adoptive or step-siblings in the film, which I don’t have a problem with, but I’m eager to hear officially what their relationship will be like in the film. As for the actors themselves, Jordan is killing it as a rising star, and I liked what I saw of Mara in 24 and Iron Man 2. While pairing the two of them up is a little weird, they seem like okay choices for now, but time will tell.

Now we wait for the roles to be finalized, and then we can start casting the supporting characters and villain(s). I swear, if that Doctor Doom being a female rumor ends up being true, I’m gonna punch someone!

SOURCE: The Wrap