Fox is injecting youth into its Fantastic Four reboot. Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell are reportedly the studio’s choices for Reed, Sue, Johnny and Ben.
Josh Trank (Chronicle) is directing what is likely to be a modern take that doesn’t remain completely faithful to the source.
Now that we know who is playing the heroic team of adventurers time to ask the bigger questions:
Which villains will Marvel’s First Family face in next film?
Here’s a humble geek’s suggestions of enemies and the actors to play them:
Matt Smith as Wizard Bentley Wittman has a genius level intellect he uses to invent powerful weapons to ruthless corporations. Wizard’s weapons include anti-gravity disks and power gloves with electrical blasts but his greatest threat is his assembling of the Frightful Four. Wittman was bored and picked a fight with Johnny Storm igniting the long feud with the FF. (As for the Frightful Four I say Wizard recruits Trapster, Titania and Klaw.) The former Doctor Who shown he can display bursts of cunning, charm, arrogance and ruthlessness as the Time Lord – perfect for the immoral genius.
Daniel Bruhl as Mad Thinker is a brilliant inventory of robotics and master strategist. He can project his mind into the body of his enforcer, Awesome Android, and other robot creations. The breakout star of Rush would be perfect as the mysterious (no one even knows his real name) as the inventor who bonds with machines in his battles with the Four.
Mad Thinker has worked for the Maggia, formed a Triumvirate of Terror and joined the Intelligencia – other criminal geniuses who fought against the Hulk.
In the image you can see (Diablo, Dr. Doom, Wizard and Mad Thinker in the bottom panel.)
Joel Kinnaman as Namor The Sub-Mariner was a hero of World War II but blood boiling (due to his human/Atlantean DNA) and fury over a constant assault of the pollution in his beloved ocean made the ruler attack the surface world with armies of Atlantean warriors and a menagerie of sea monsters under his control. Imagine the environmental message mixed with monstrous special effects and you have a comic book adventure with impact. Namor has formed strategic alliances with Doctor Doom over the years in a bid to protect his people. There’s no denying the romantic tension between Namor and Susan Storm. Namor is powerless against the Sue’s charms.
The one twist is that Namor has been allied with the X-Men and has an even longer, stronger connection to the Avengers so Marvel could also use the Sub-Mariner for The Avengers franchise. After seeing Kinnaman in The Killing and Robocop I can picture him as the Imperious Rex from down below.
And the greatest for last…
Luke Evans as Victor Von Doom Tortured by a tragic childhood in the tiny European nation of Latveria, Victor projects an arrogant superiority in his uneasy friendship and rivarly with Reed Richards. I say keep him young and handsome – even a rival for Susan’s attention – until a bizarre accident scars the young genius and he leaves for Latveria where he uses unethical science and dark magic to transform himself into Doctor Doom, ruler of Latveria.
I would introduce the character as a friend/rival of Reed in the first film then leave him off-stage (like Blofeld from the 007 films) but behind the scenes until a major showdown in a third film.
Do you have a favorite FF villain you’d like to see in the reboot? Share with us in a comment below or follow up on Twitter.
By Editor
