After three previous ‘Fantastic Four’ movies, one of which was never even released, the Marvel superheroes are returning to the big screen with a new, younger cast.

‘Fruitvale Station’ star Michael B. Jordan was the first name confirmed for the new Four, slated for the role of Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, a role best known as played by current Captain America Chris Evans.  Since Jordan’s casting, rumors have circulated about the remaining three spots, with screen testing being rescheduled as script rewrites happened over the past few months.

Miles Teller from ‘Footloose’ and ’21 & Over’ has signed on to take the leadership role of the group as Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards.  ‘House of Cards’ and ‘American Horror Story’ star Kate Mara will be filling in the role of Johnny Storm’s sister and Reed’s love interest Sue, the Invisible Girl.  This isn’t Mara’s first role within the Marvel Universe, having a small role as a U.S. Marshal delivering a subpoena to Tony Stark in ‘Iron Man 2’.  Finishing off the cast as Ben Grimm who is turned into The Thing is ‘Billy Elliot’ star Jamie Bell.

Fantastic Four has previously been adapted into three films, the first in 1994 which was never released.  Though extremely campy and the worst of the three Fantastic Four films, the unreleased film has been rated higher than other comic book bombs ‘Batman & Robin’ and ‘Steel’.  A 2005 reboot starring Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, and Jessica Alba tripled its budget at the box office, but was a critical failure.  Its sequel, 2007’s ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’ received worse reviews and effectively shut down Fox’s plans to continue the series.

The new Fantastic Four will be based off the Ultimate Fantastic Four comic book line and is scheduled to be released June 19, 2015.  Though Fantastic Four is a Marvel product, the film adaptations belong to Fox, so don’t expect any cameos from the Avengers.

Fantastic Four (1994)

Fantastic Four (2005)

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

 

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