Another day, another Fantastic Four casting rumor, but this time it's not for Sue Storm or Reed Richards.
According to insider Daniel Richtman, recent Academy Award nominee Paul Mescal (Aftersun) has been offered the role of Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. We have no idea if he's accepted or not, but the highly in-demand actor is set to play the lead in Ridley Scott's Gladiator sequel, which is scheduled to begin filming soon, so there could be some overlap.
No cast members have been announced for Marvel Studios' reboot, but Mila Kunis (That '70s Show, Black Swan) recently revealed that she knows who is going to appear in the movie (possibly just as Invisible Woman), so we may get official word fairly soon.
Adam Driver is said to be in final talks to play Mr. Fantastic (again, nothing official), and both Galactus (possibly Antonio Banderas) and Silver Surfer are expected to appear.
Matt Shakman in on board as director, with Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer currently working on the script. Plot details are still a mystery, but Kevin Feige has confirmed that this will not be another origin story for the super-team.
“A lot of people know this origin story. A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before?” he said in a 2022 interview, comparing this new take on the heroes to Marvel Studios' pact with Sony to bring Spider-Man into the MCU. “We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen.”
Fantastic Four is currently set to hit theaters in 2025.
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Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.