Earlier this evening, a major rumor hit the interwebs which claimed that Academy Award-winner Jennifer Lawrence (X-Men: Days of Future Past; X-Men: Apocalypse) had been cast in Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four, and that she was set to arrive in Australia next month to begin filming.
Now, while no official source has debunked the report just yet, Deadline ace Justin Kroll has commented on the rumor. He reveals that there's no script in place for the film and that Marvel Studios only just began meeting with writers this month, meaning that it's going to be a while before they actually start filming. Plus, director Jon Watts is currently busy shooting Marvel Studios/Sony Pictures' Spider-Man 3 and will be deep into post-production on that for the majority of this year.
However, curiously enough, the always-reliable Kroll doesn't outright deny The Daily Telegraph report, which might suggest that there could be some validity to this potential blockbuster story.
Lawrence, fresh off wrapping Adam McKay's Don't Look Up, isn't expected to begin filming either Mob Girl or Bad Blood imminently, so she does have an opening in her schedule at the moment, and while she's unlikely to be heading anywhere to film Fantastic Four next month, there is another major Marvel blockbuster busy filming Down Under right now: Taika Waititi's Thor: Love and Thunder - is there a chance she has a role in that?
While Sue Storm has been the prevailing theory, she also fits the bill for Enchantress, although since that character has been rumored to appear in Loki, we should be able to rule out that possibility in just a few months.
Regardless, if there's truth to any of this and she is playing a member of Marvel's First Family, the most probable outcome is that Marvel Studios might be filming a top-secret post-credits tag, which would make the most sense. It should also be noted that this wouldn't be the first time Marvel Studios has secured an Academy Award-winning star before finalizing a script, something they previously did with Brie Larson for Captain Marvel and more recently with Mahershala Ali for their upcoming Blade reboot.