This film franchise is utterly cursed. The Fantastic Four film, which is scheduled to release in 2025, has been plagued with serious casting issues as Marvel still has yet to cast key members of the famous superhero team.
Marvel and Disney really can’t get out of their own way.
Despite being one of the most popular and beloved comic-book superhero teams in the world, the Fantastic Four have been one of the most cursed and disastrous superhero movie franchises in Hollywood given how many times reboots of these films have failed. And, it seems like the MCU and Disney are about to follow in the footsteps of past Hollywood failures.
Now, there’s still a long way to go before we get the MCU version of The Fantastic Four on our local cinema screens, so I don’t want to sound like it’s all doom and gloom for the MCU and Disney just yet. But the recent failures and struggles Disney has had just CASTING the movie is really indicative as to the state this film is going to be released in.
As of today, The Fantastic Four, a movie that is destined to come out in two years, has not only NOT casted any of the main lead characters for the central roles of Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, and The Thing, but has also had MAJOR rejections for the central roles.
Of course, the Fantastic Four franchise has a lot of baggage given the three past failures (1994 film, 2005 & 2007 films, and the 2015 film) had with being a cinema franchise that can stand on its own two feet. So, you’d think Disney would be able to convince big time Hollywood actors to play the iconic roles, yet the exact opposite has happened.
Not only have they not been able to cast any major actor for the four main roles and the super villains, but they also have been getting rejected by “lesser known” actors.
Jack Quaid, best known for The Boys, The Hunger Games, and Oppenheimer, pretty loudly rejected the rumors that he was being cast/looked at for the role of Human Torch (aka: Johnny Storm), Adam Driver and Matt Smith have seemingly passed on playing Mr. Fantastic (aka: Reed Richards), Dev Patel might be in line to play Richards, Disney have fired John Krasinski as playing Reed Richards after just a single cameo appearance, Vanessa Kirby might be in line to play Invisible Woman (aka: Sue Storm), Paul Walter Hauser has rejected The Thing (Ben Grimm), and Joseph Quinn is also being rumored as playing Johnny Storm.
Honestly, this is really an uninspiring list of actors who are in line to suit up for the roles of the Fantastic Four compared against the actors who rejected/were fired from them. I’ll happily grant Vanessa Kirby as the Invisible Woman as she’s a phenomenal actress who can make nearly all of her roles work, but who else is there?
Joseph Quinn is going to be Johnny Storm after just a single (albeit very good) role in Stranger Things? Dev Patel as Reed Richards? He was great in The Green Knight, but can he really lead both a legendary superhero group AND a film franchise? And why are so many big-name actors, such as Adam Driver, Matt Smith, and John Krasinski been fired/passed up on the roles?
Oh, and forget about the rest of the characters as its completely up in the air over who will portray them. Doctor Doom, The Thing, the Silver Surfer, etc. have nobody even remotely lined up to portray them, let alone take on the role for the next ten or so years. And then when you factor in the MCU taint of recent years, the bleakness of the situation becomes pretty dark.
It’s still very early in the production cycle, but it’s not looking good for the MCU’s The Fantastic Four…to no one’s great surprise. I guess this franchise is just doomed to be dysfunctional forever.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Disney/Marvel) (THE RETURN OF THE FANTASTIC FOUR — Teaser Trailer – YouTube)
