Digital artist Bobby_Art recently took to Instagram to show us what Stranger Things star Dacre Montgomery could look like as the Human Torch. It’s a simple image of the actor dawning the suit with his arms beginning to turn to fire, but it’s certainly effective.
Of course, with Disney acquiring Fox last year, Marvel can now incorporate the Fantastic Four into the MCU and reports have been swirling for some time now that John Krasinski and Emily Blunt are the frontrunners to play Reed Richards AKA Mr. Fantastic and Susan Storm AKA the Invisible Woman. As for the other two members of the team, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will snag those roles, but Montgomery certainly showcased his cockiness on Stranger Things playing Billy Hargrove and he does have some experience in the action genre having been in the Power Rangers reboot from 2017. In other words, the poor man’s Zac Efron is more than capable of playing the Human Torch and this awesome fan art is another reminder of that.
During Marvel Studios’ Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con last year, Fantastic Four was not included in the Phase 4 slate, but president Kevin Feige did confirm that the project is in development. They need to take their time with the franchise though as if you include the horrible early ‘90s movie, Fantastic Four is 0 for 3. The Tim Story-directed films from the mid ‘00s had a couple of redeeming qualities, sure, but they were largely disposable and goofy superhero movies that failed to leave an impression.
Then there was the doomed 2015 reboot from director Josh Trank. The trailers teased a darker, more grounded take on Marvel’s First Family, but what we got was a slow and boring flick full of choppy editing, bad wigs and an uninspired ending. Kevin Feige and co. know what they’re doing at this point, though. Twelve years, 23 movies and more than $22 billion later, I trust that they can finally get this right. They already turned around Spider-Man, and I bet you that Fantastic Four is next.
