It’s official…a Fantastic Four reboot is happening and the casting is set. Reed Richards AKA Mr. Fantastic will be played by Miles Teller who is more recently known for That Awkward Moment. Also being cast from that film, Fruitvale Station star Michael B. Jordan will be taking on the role of Johnny Storm AKA Human Torch. Sue Storm AKA Invisible Woman will be played by Kate Mara (House of Cards) and Ben Grimm AKA The Thing will be played by Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot). While it is expected for any casting announcement, it’s still surprising to see how many fans in the social media universe disagree with the casting. Check out a few of these tweets below.
Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan are now in THE FANTASTIC FOUR? Why didn't they just add Zac Efron and Imogen Poots?
— Guy Lodge (@GuyLodge) February 20, 2014
Fantastic Four? More like Ecclesiastic Four, amirite?
— AmIRite Bot (@AmIRiteBot) February 20, 2014
Miles Teller cast in this new FANTASTIC FOUR picture. Get ready for the obnoxious, quick-talking Reed Richards you didn't know you wanted…
— Andrew (@jupin) February 20, 2014
Kate Mara is doing a FANTASTIC FOUR movie with a newer, younger cast! Because that worked out so well for her before. pic.twitter.com/GIOfdzGDU3
— Donnacha Kenny (@TheRealDonnacha) February 20, 2014
The fantastic four reboot budget better be extremely low. Looking at the cast it'll be a fantastic flop.
— Rocking_M (@Rocking_m) February 20, 2014
I can see why some may have problems with the casting. Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller both co-starred in That Awkward Moment alongside Zac Effron which is a cliche type of romantic comedy. While Michael B. Jordan is accredited with a great performance in Fruitvale Station, his association with Effron and Teller in this recent film is going to cause some backlash. Miles Teller on the other hand, has not broken free of his typecast role of “sarcastic college party guy” and I’m hoping he brings absolutely none of that persona to Reed Richards’ character. I believe many fans are worried about this as well. Kate Mara is gaining some momentum as an actress in the Netflix series House of Cards and I don’t necessarily see her as a bad choice for Sue Storm. She can pull off blonde and she can also be a strong female character as we’ve seen in House of Cards. Jamie Bell as The Thing…well…I honestly don’t know. He hasn’t been in the spotlight much but he definitely doesn’t meet the size requirements. Since he gets transformed into a giant monster, I’m sure that won’t be a hindrance but his ability to take on the role has yet to be determined based on his experience thus far. We’ll just have to hope for the best.
Now for the elephant in the room, Johnny Storm is black, Sue Storm is white. They are meant to be siblings, which is still possible, but in this film it’s going to require more explanation based on the obvious. Sure they could be adopted, their parents could be different races, or they could even be step siblings. I’m just speculating but this has got me curious because there’s so many interesting plot twists that could be introduced. If either or both are adopted then that brings forward a bunch of childhood issues and if they’re step siblings then we could see some bitter rivalry that we haven’t seen before. Either way it’s going to be something that hasn’t been done in the comics or on screen before. Unfortunately, there’s not much that we know about the plot of the film at this point, the only confirmation that Director Josh Trank has given is that their names will remain the same.
