Just last month we reported that Fox (Who owns the rights to Marvel's X-Men and Fantastic Four) were beginning plans to create their own cinematic universe managed by comic book writer Mark Millar, not dissimilar to the one Marvel Studios has created themselves. This new shared universe would be made up of the Bryan Singer's popular X-Men series which includes the upcoming X-Men: Days of Future Past, as well as Josh Trank's new Fantastic Four reboot. While we haven't heard much of the reboot, today we have to casting rumors circulating which are that of Allison Williams (The Girls) as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, and Michael B. Jordan (Chronicle) as Johnny Storm/Human Torch.
Both casting rumors support earlier theories that Josh Trank is looking for a younger adaption of the Fantastic Four characters unlike those in Tim Story's old FF series. Allison Williams has gone a long way from just being the daughter of
NBC Nightly New host Brian Williams as she's recently had a starring role int the critically acclaimed TV series
Girls. Williams is much younger then Jessica Alba was when she played the part of Sue Storm, but given Josh Trank's track record with younger superhero characters (See
Chronicle) this could be a positive change from the usual more motherly figure type
Invisible Woman of the comics.
Michael B. Jordan's casting rumors as Johnny Storm aka
The Human Torch come off much less surprising as he's already worked with Trank before on
Chronicle where he played a similar role, and he's recently been praised by numerous critics for his performance in the upcoming film
Fruitvale Station. Jordan's
Chronicle costar Dane DeHaan has already been casted in a blockbuster superhero movie as Harry Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, so it was only a matter of time before Jordan got his break as well. The casting choice though has already been met with controversy as Johnny Storm in the comics is a white blonde haired male and brother of Sue Storm, and Jordan being an African-American actor seems like an odd choice to be playing the brother of Allison Williams.
This definitely isn't the first time we've seen a characters race changed from what it originally was in the source material, such casting Samuel L. Jackson as S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury in
The Avengers, and more recently the casting of Jamie Foxx as villain
Maxwell Dillon/Electro in
The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I personally don't believe changing the race of the actor playing the part has a negative effect on the character's adaption as long as the person in the role fits them personality wise, and Jordan has proven time and time again that he's capable of bringing real intensity to his performances, as well as the humor and charisma needed for a character like Johnny Storm.
As many people may remember, the role of Johnny Storm was original played by Chris Evans in the Fantastic Four series, who is currently Marvel's
Captain America/Steve Rogers. While Evan's cocky attitude and banter with Michael Chiklis' Ben Grimm was a major highlight of the original Tim Story
FF series, it'll be very interesting to see a different variation of the character this time around through Jordan. The real question right now is if Williams and Jordan end up being casted, how will Trank explain the two being siblings of different races. Will one of them be adopted? Or maybe their parents are just a biracial couple? Only time will tell if Williams or Jordan even land the part, but it'll be very interesting to see how this plays out and just who they're eyeing to play the roles of
Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards and
The Thing/Ben Grimm.
So how would you feel about Allison Williams as Invisible Woman and Michael B. Jordan as Human Torch? The Fantastic Four reboot is set to hit theaters March 6, 2015
