Miles Teller is doing the press rounds to promote his new genre-mashup, The Gorge, and with the first trailer for Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four: First Steps hitting last week, questions inevitably turned to the actor's role as Reed Richards in 20th Century Fox's Fant4stic.
Josh Trank's FF movie was a notorious bomb, and not something the director or cast have been particularly enthusiastic to discuss over the years.
As you might expect, Teller wasn't too eager to talk about his brief tenure as Mr. Fantastic while chatting to THR, but he did reveal that he watched the trailer for the MCU reboot, and is excited to see the movie later this year.
“I don’t wish anybody to be a part of a bomb … I just wish them the best," Teller said. "I saw the little trailer and I thought it looked fantastic, I’m very excited for them."
According to a 2015 report from EW, Trank actually campaigned heavily to get Teller cast as Richards, but things went bad between the two during the shoot.
It's said that Trank's withdrawn, uncommunicative demeanour did not sit right with Teller (reportedly not the easiest guy to get along with himself), and his sarcastic responses to the situation finally brought the two into conflict. At one point, both men were apparently "chest to chest", each daring the other to throw the first punch!
Fists were never thrown, but as you can imagine, it was not the most positive working environment to be in afterwards.
By all accounts, the cast of First Steps had a much better time working on the movie!
Check out the IMAX trailer along with some hi-res screenshots below.
The Fantastic Four reboot stars Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning) as Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things, A Quiet Place Day One) as Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Punisher, The Bear) as Ben Grimm, aka the Thing.
Galactus has been confirmed as the main villain, and the Eater of Worlds will be played by Ralph Ineson (The Witch, Game of Thrones). Julia Garner (Ozark, Wolf Man) will play Silver Surfer. Natasha Lyonne, John Malkovich and Paul Walter Houser are also on board in undisclosed roles.
Kevin Feige recently confirmed that the movie will take place in an alternate universe, but we know that Marvel's First Family will appear in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, so we wouldn't be surprised if they find their way into the main MCU timeline by the end of this movie.
"Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal."
Matt Shakman directs The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which is set to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.