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Michael B. Jordan Answers The Critics As New Fantastic Four Footage Arrives

20th Century Fox and Josh Trank may have had their hands full with the purported creative clashes and reshoots, but on a personal level, filming on the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot presented its own challenges to Fruitvale Station and Chronicle star, Michael B. Jordan.

20th Century Fox and Josh Trank may have had their hands full with the purported creative clashes and reshoots, but on a personal level, filming on the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot presented its own challenges to Fruitvale Station and Chronicle star, Michael B. Jordan.

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In picking up the mantle from Chris Evans, the actor bore the brunt of fervent, wholly irrational Internet haters when he was cast as the new-fangled Johnny Storm – aka the Human Torch – with a small, vocal minority subscribing to the archaic notion that the character should be white just like Stan Lee’s original creation.

However, Michael B. Jordan himself had a few choice words to say about the matter in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.

“You’re not supposed to go on the Internet when you’re cast as a superhero. But after taking on Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four—a character originally written with blond hair and blue eyes—I wanted to check the pulse out there. I didn’t want to be ignorant about what people were saying. Turns out this is what they were saying: ‘A black guy? I don’t like it. They must be doing it because Obama’s president’ and ‘It’s not true to the comic.’ Or even, ‘They’ve destroyed it!'”

The up-and-coming actor goes into more detail over on EW, but the message remains crystal clear: there are little – if any – benefits of sticking to conventions from generations past in order to omit actors from any given role. As Jordan surmises, the star should be judged on talent and talent alone.

Fantastic Four opens in theaters on August 7.