Casting Call: FANTASTIC FOUR

Now that Marvel has purchased Fox, they have stated their intention to bring in the Fantastic Four into the MCU.  While some of the previous movie versions have had their charm, I don't think we've really seen a truly great FF movie (if you don't count The Incredibles).

Casting is always a very important part of this process.  Normally, I would go though and place a separate poll for each part.  But this time I am going to do something a little different.  I'm going to put four potential combinations of the First Family of Marvel, and you will vote on which combo you think is best.  Results will be posted next week.

Group A:

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Mr. Fantastic: John Krasinski
Invisible Woman: Emily Blunt
The Thing: Ving Rhames
The Human Torch: Joe Keery

Krasinski and Blunt have great chemistry as demonstrated by their work together on A Quiet Place, besides the fact that they are married in real life.  Krasinski can do comedy and action.  He also projects intelligence and has the body type for Reed Richards.  Blunt carries with her class and intelligence.  As I am assuming that the Thing will be mostly CGI like the Hulk, the most important thing for me is imagining the phrase "It's clobberin' time" being said with real believability, and I can just hear it so clearly with Rhames.  Keery is the wild card, but his ability to play loose and comedic and charismatic as Steve Harrington on Stranger Things tells me that he is ready for the next level.




Group B:

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Mr. Fantastic: Oscar Isaac
Invisible Woman: Blake Lively
The Thing: Mark Wahlberg
The Human Torch: Dave Franco

Isaac is one of the best actors in the Star Wars sequels with real charisma and intelligence.  He is definitely leading man material.  Lively has done already done a comic book movie when she played Carol Ferris in Green Lantern, but she has improved incredibly as an actress, showing poise and brains.  Wahlberg can bring a lot of fun to Ben Grimm, bring that strong working-class charm and ethic to the character.  And Franco can pull off the daredevil, cocky youth that is Johnny Storm.

Group C:

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Mr. Fantastic: Ewan McGregor
Invisible Woman: Kristen Bell
The Thing: David Harbour
The Human Torch: Jack Lowden (not pictured)

McGregor is a seasoned veteran of big franchise films and can easily pull off both the maturity and physicality of Richards.  Bell has been able to command the loyalty of several followers over the years, especially in Veronica Mars where she holds the complex narratives together through her skills as an actress.  Harbour has a sullen weariness that weighs on Ben Grimm that would be very interesting to explore.  Lowden was great in Fighting with My Family.  He could bring both dynamic arrogance and vulnerability to the Human Torch.

Group D:

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Mr. Fantastic: Rami Malek
Invisible Woman: Emma Stone
The Thing: John Cena
The Human Torch: Aiden Ehrenreich (not pictured)

Malek is a fantastic actor who could bring a very quirky take on Richards to the big screen.  Stone is now a seasoned, Oscar-winning actress who is great at the dramatic and comedic parts of the role.  Cena would be an over-the-top take on Grimm.  It may even be conceivable that they could use prosthetics with Cena rather than CGI.  Ehrenreich got a really tough break when Solo performed below expectations, but he did a decent job as the main character.  I think he deserves another crack at the big time.




I will put the poll up on my blog.

Unfortunately, Blogger discontinued the online poll widget.  So if you want to vote, you will have to hit this link to a google form.

You can vote for one each actor individually, so you can mix and match from each group or add your own suggestion.

I look forward to hearing from all of you!