Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot is finally settling into form. Following the official casting of Michael B. Jordan (That Awkward Moment) as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, Kate Mara (Transcendence) as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Jamie Bell (Nymphomaniac) as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, it’s being reported that Toby Kebbell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) will be portraying the Fantastic Four‘s arch-nemesis, Victor Van Damme/Doctor Doom.
The Fantastic Four reboot will be primarily based on the Ultimate Fantastic Four line of books that re-imagined the staple Marvel 616 heroes as teenagers modernized for the current generation of fans. In the Ultimate FF universe, Sue, Reed, and Victor are young adult prodigies part of the Baxter Building’s think tank devoted to the advancement of science and technology. After the cosmic event that give Sue, Reed, Ben, and Johnny their powers, the arc eschews away from the standard Marvel 616 continuity. Your Dad’s Fantastic Four, this is not.
With Simon Kinberg’s (X-Men: Days of Future Past) rewrites of the film’s script, Trank’s Fantastic Four should be infinitely better than 2005’s Fantastic Four and its abysmal 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. With such a young cast at the core of the reboot, Fox has flexibility (and incentive) to re-build a Fantastic Four trilogy around them, furthering the Fox/Marvel film universe with a more cohesive, unified universe that could also see the X-Men sharing the same space. Let’s just hope Fox doesn’t go overboard with their plans in a desperate attempt to match the Disney/Marvel universe.
[via /Film]