It’s not surprising that we haven’t found out which actors will be playing the roles of the Fantastic Four in their 2025 movie, but there has been quite a bit of speculation, at least for two of the characters. Those being Invisible Woman, and Mr. Fantastic. The movie is scheduled to come out in less than two years in February of 2025, and not much is known about it.
Mila Kunis (That 70’s Show, Black Swan), and Jodie Comer (Free Guy) have been rumored for Invisible Woman (Sue Storm), and Adam Driver has been rumored for Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards). These two may be the most important roles partially because they are a couple, and will eventually be parents. And in the comics, they are the “parents” of the team, in a sense. Invisible Woman has been known to strengthen the bond in the family, and Mr. Fantastic is responsible for largely leading the team as well as inventing and engineering many of the things that get the team in and out of trouble.
Not much has been said about casting for Sue’s brother, the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), or for The Thing (Ben Grimm). The Human Torch is sort of a daredevil, adrenaline junkie who could potentially be portrayed well by a Zac Efron type, and The Thing is a gentle giant who has a temper, but always looks out for his friends. Someone that might be good for that role is a Matt Damon type. I’ll probably make another post or video about casting in the coming months.
The standing title for this upcoming MCU movie is simply Fantastic Four which is a good enough title, but it doesn’t give any hint or reveal as to how this new iteration of Marvel’s first superhero team will be different than its predecessors. There have been four live action movies made about the Fantastic Four team, but one was really low budget, and the other is a sequel. They are titled (in order of release) The Fantastic Four (1994), Fantastic Four (2005) Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and Fantastic Four (2015). There is not a lot of variety to these titles. Of course, the title isn’t that important, but it sometimes can be telling of what is to come.
As you may know, the two movies in the middle of that list are the connected ones, and in my opinion, they were actually entertaining. While they don’t reach the level of exception as most of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they are at least on par with flicks like Thor: The Dark World, and Thor: Love and Thunder (sorry Thor). However, that’s just my opinion. The fact still remains, those two movies weren’t received well enough across audiences, and/or critics to warrant another sequel.
The very first movie for the team, The Fantastic Four (1994) had a lot of heart, but it seems that the time wasn’t right for a Fantastic Four movie to be made. They did what they could with the budget, but it appears that the budget given wasn’t anything near what is available for most superhero movies these days.
After the 2007 movie featuring the introduction of the Silver Surfer didn’t yield the results that Fox was looking for, they decided to take a break on the franchise. There were probably many discussions about when and if to do a reboot, but it wasn’t until 2015 when they went for it again. On paper, it made sense. The superhero movie world was flourishing around this time. Iron Man got things rolling in 2008, of course, but 2012’s Avengers really sealed the deal. People were really starting to like superhero movies again, and Fox didn’t want to give up their franchises.
Unfortunately, they still didn’t quite know what to do with the Fantastic Four. While their other property, the X-men was having ups and downs with a good amount of success, Fox just couldn’t get the Fantastic Four up and running. The first Act of the 2015 Fantastic Four movie seemed promising, and they had a strong cast, but those two things weren’t able to carry the rest of the movie.
Fast forward to today, and the MCU has the rights to Marvel’s first family of superheroes, and the man in charge, Kevin Feige appears to be excited to get them integrated into his vast universe of heroes. The only things that we have heard for certain are that this won’t be an origin story, and that this team of the Fantastic Four won’t have their traditional origin story. The MCU aims to present a different Fantastic Four.
There have been many many theories and speculations about how this team will be different than the others. With it not being an origin story, this movie stands to reveal where the Fantastic Four have been during all of the other events of the other movies and shows within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While many stories don’t include many of the characters, it would seem reasonable to assume that the Fantastic Four would have been involved on some level.
For example, if they were an operational team during the events of the Infinity War, it would make sense for them to join the fight in Wakanda. Of course, they may have been otherwise occupied by being trapped in space or another dimension. Another theory is that the Fantastic Four will come from another timeline, and after the events of Avengers: Secret Wars, a new main timeline will be formed that includes the Fantastic Four as well as the X-men, the Avengers, and all of the other heroes and even misfits like Deadpool as well.
However, they are introduced, it’s reasonable to believe that many people will like it, and many won’t. There are many things that could make or break this upcoming movie. Casting will no doubt affect the movie, but Marvel Studios has a tremendously good track record for casting even in the midst of the somewhat disappointing Phase 4, and now the beginning of Phase 5.
How the Fantastic Four are introduced is important, casting is important, and many other aspects as well, but the actual story for the movie will be the most crucial element in deciding the success of Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie. Once it makes sense that the team has been preoccupied in some way or another, it’s time to really get to know these characters, and to see them in a set of circumstances that is compelling to watch. Even in the current state of the MCU, if any studio can pull off this movie, it’s them.
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