After Fox’s dreadful first attempt at a Fantastic Four franchise, everyone was ready for the inevitable reboot, whether it be through Fox or after the rights slipped back to Marvel. Not willing to give up these characters quite yet, Fox has been trying to get a reboot off the ground for a while now but no concrete progress has been made. The last solid bit of news we heard was that Josh Trank would direct, but other than that it’s been speculation and supposed shortlists.
Today, we have a new set of shortlists for Reed Richards and Sue Storm, though there are still no names for Ben Grimm, aka the Thing, or any sort of villain. Unnamed sources bring the news to Variety, who say that Kit Harington, Jack O’Connell and Miles Teller will read for Reed Richards and Saoirse Ronan, Kate Mara and Margot Robbie are in consideration for Sue Storm. Michael B. Jordan is still the only actor mentioned as a possibility for Johnny Storm, but that doesn’t mean he has the role yet.
There was quite an outcry by some fans when Jordan was brought up as a frontrunner for the Human Torch due to the racial difference from the comic book character. You may notice that all the actresses brought up here to play his sister are white. That’ll likely cause some further outrage due to fans not wanting the siblings to be different races. While I don’t doubt Fox could come up with some way to explain the racial differences, it would be a deviation from the comics, and usually those don’t turn out for the better.
That being said, I’d love to see Kate Mara take on the role. Truth be told, I’d be excited to see her play any comic book character, but I could definitely see her as Sue Storm. In terms of the actors in contention to play Mr. Fantastic, I’m honestly not a huge fan of any of them. While none of them are bad actors, they just don’t strike me as Reed Richards types. Hopefully Fox keeps on looking.
What do you think of these picks for the Fantastic Four? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
