I’m starting to suspect that all of the hype surrounding Marvel’s reboot of ‘Fantastic Four’ is, and has always been, a Twitter thing. It just all sounds too good to be true. The hype-casting, the endless rumors, it’s just seems over-the-top. Do regular moviegoers actually care?
The latest casting rumor has Anya Taylor-Joy in talks to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in an undisclosed role. There’s chatter that the role might, allegedly, be a gender-swapped Silver Surfer.
Taylor-Joy portrayed another Marvel character — Illyana Rasputin, a.k.a. Magik — in Fox's 2020 X-Men spinoff “The New Mutants,” which ended up being a hot mess.
Why would such a talented actress want to join the floundering mess that is the MCU? I can only imagine how big her paycheck might be … Taylor-Joy’s credits include “The Witch”, “Last Night in Soho”, “The Northman”, and “The Menu.” She’ll next star in George Miller's Mad Max prequel “Furiosa” (which might have a first look next week).
Of course, with ‘Fantastic Four’ very much being a Twitter thing, there have also been rumors of Pedro Pascal — the most Twitter of current actors — playing Reed Richards. Oh, and Javier Bardem is reportedly in talks to play Galactus.
When I have doubts about such an immense project being pulled off, the budget will surely be over $200 million for this one, I take a simple look at who is directing the damn thing. Marvel boss Kevin Feige decided that it was best to give this responsibility to TV director Matt Shakman (“WandaVision,” “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”). Shakman has only directed one feature film in his career, 2014’s “Cut Bank,” which received terrible reviews.
That’s the thing about the current MCU, as long as they keep hiring second-string filmmakers, and refusing to give them an inch of creative freedom, then this ship will keep on sinking. The Fantastic Four was already turned into two disastrous movies, released in 2005 and 2007, and was again revived in the clunky 2015 ‘Fant4stic’ reboot.
‘Fantastic Four’ is supposed to start production in Spring 2024 at Pinewood Studios in London. Its theatrical release date is set for May 2, 2025, as part of Phase 5 of the MCU and the Multiverse Saga.