In 2015's Fantastic Four, Johnny Storm was played by Michael B. Jordan, while his father, Franklin, was brought to the big screen by the late, great Reg E. Cathey. That meant Kate Mara's Sue Storm was adopted, but the biggest "controversy" surrounding the film was the fact that the Human Torch was being portrayed by a black man.
Stan Lee even issued a statement reminding fans that the Marvel Universe was supposed to be a diverse place, and that characters should not be defined by their race.
During a recent interview, director Josh Trank revealed that he wanted to cast a black woman as Sue Storm, but the studio's desire for a "star" meant that he received a significant amount of pushback.
"There was a lot of controversial conversations that were had behind the scenes on that," he explains in the video below. "I was mostly interested in a black Sue Storm and a black Johnny Storm and a black Franklin Storm. When you're dealing with the studio on a massive movie like that, everyone wants to keep an open mind to who the big stars are going to be," he said, using Margot Robbie as an example.
"When it came down to it, I found a lot of pretty heavy pushback on casting a black woman in that role. When I look back on that, I should have just walked when that realisation hit me, just out of principal. Those aren't the values I stand for in my own life."
The filmmaker went on to share his regrets about not pushing harder for a black actress, but it was clearly out of his hands.
You can check out Trank's Fantastic Four comments at the 55:00 mark in the player below: