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Kate Mara Says The Fantastic Four Reboot Won’t Be Based On Comics

Chronicle director Josh Trank's The Fantastic Four reboot is one of the most mysterious comic book movies coming down the pipeline. Outside of its cast - which includes Miles Teller as Reed Richards, Kata Mara as the Invisible Woman/Sue Storm, Michael B. Jordan as her brother Johnny/the Human Torch, Jamie Bell as The Thing, and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' Toby Kebbell as Doctor Doom - we know nothing about the plot or direction that the film will take. We've heard several rumblings that it will be "more grounded," akin to something like Batman Begins, and tell a coming-of-age story... but that could be said about almost any major reboot that's in development.

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Based on Mara’s comments, it seems like Trank is really placing his own stamp on the material here. That’s not all too surprising, especially considering 20th Century Fox has taken a similar approach to the X-Men franchise. Not until The Wolverine and Days of Future Past did the films really base themselves off of the previous source material. Sure, they mined bits and pieces from the comic books, but overall, their stories were completely separate entities.

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Whether or not that helped the films is up for debate, but it’s definitely not a new approach. Even Christopher Nolan’s critically lauded Dark Knight trilogy strayed away from the stories that came before. So, it can be done, and it can certainly be done well, so let’s not allow what Mara said to throw up any red flags just yet.

Economically, it also makes sense to stray away from the Fantastic Four books a bit. Not only is there a big, controversial shakedown happening at Marvel Comics right now concerning the FF, but their comics haven’t exactly been that lucrative. In fact, they’ve been some of the lowest-selling books for some time, so it’s debatable whether or not the material is that important to moviegoers anyway.

In any case, 20th Century Fox is expected to bring this new film to Comic-Con next week, so we should expect to hear a lot more about Trank’s ideas for the property soon. In the meantime, let us know how you feel about Mara’s comments below.

The Fantastic Four hits theaters on June 19th, 2015.