There are a few rumors churning about the casting of the new Fantastic Four movie that’s due out next summer, but one of the most interesting is the rumor that the filmmakers are looking at possibly casting an actress to play a female Doctor Doom rather than the character being male as portrayed in the comics. You can take that rumor with a grain of salt, though, as reports are pretty conflicted. Everything we know so far is after the jump!
The Hollywood Reporter has said, “Dr. Doom is said to be the villain of the reboot (the character appeared in Fox’s two previous movies and was played by Julian McMahon). The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision is hearing that the studio is likely to go for a big name and isn’t ruling out switching genders for the role.” Director Josh Trank, however, says “The THR gender speculation is also bullshit.” But is he trying to throw people off the scent? After all, it’d be odd of such a rumor was completely unfounded. Is there something interesting to be done with a female Doctor Doom? Maybe, if done well, but does that change the dynamic between Doom and Reed Richards?
Speaking of Reed, apparently actor Miles Teller, often rumored to be a candidate for the role, has tested for the part of Mr. Richards. Kate Mara and Emmy Rossum have both tested for the part of Sue Storm as well, causing racists across the internet to scream “how can there be a white sister and black brother in one family?!?!?!” The super-talented Michael B. Jordan is apparently officially attached to the film at this point in the role of Sue Storm’s impetuous brother Johnny, AKA the Human Torch. Previous rumors tying Saoirse Ronan, Elizabeth Olsen, and Kit Harington to the film are no longer accurate due to changing schedules and interest.
It’s hard to say at this point if this new Fantastic Four will be any better than the previous two films from Fox. Certainly they’re looking at a lot of great actors but how many times do we need to see an origin story of the same super heroes before we all lose our minds? It’d be nice to see film studios branching out beyond origin stories and the very biggest villains to tell more unique or creative stories. After all, sure it’d be interesting to see what they could do with a female Doctor Doom, but why make yet another Fantastic Four movie with Doctor Doom as the villain? At very least get some Namor action in there – sure he’s arguably not a villain but he could certainly be positioned as one given some of the stories they’ve done with him in the comics! Anyway, Slashfilm speculates we’ll get the complete cast rundown sometime around San Diego ComicCon this July, especially given the fast-approaching release date. Hopefully that will help fans figure out if this is going to be worth their hard-earned dollars.
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Published: Feb 8, 2014 01:00 pm