Fantastic Four Reboot Casting: Who Should Play Marvel's First Family?
The Human Torch
What went wrong last time... When the 00's Fantastic Four films were released, Chris Evans rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. He came off at first as obnoxious and douchey. Being one of his first major outings in film, there wasn't much of a public personality behind the one seen on screen to detract from that annoying persona. Now that we've seen him hold his own in other movies like Captain America and Scott Pilgrim, we can start to look at his Human Torch more as the performance it was, rather than just some douchebag being a jerk on camera. This results in Chris Evan's Johnny being pretty much the only thing from these movies that has improved with time. Going forward... In the original stories Johnny was just a teenager. To recapture the spirit that lies at the heart of the team, the reboot should hold as close to the characters' original appearances as possible. They should definitely shoot for a teen actor for this iteration's Johnny Storm, or at least a young actor who can pass as a teenager. In this instance, it may be better for Fox to go with a relative unknown. Find a young up-and-coming or previously-unseen young actor and give him this as a potential breakout role. However... just saying 'they should cast someone you've never heard of' doesn't make for a very good article, so... Dipping into the Twilight well for young actors, Jackson Rathbone exudes the teen cockiness Johnny should possess. And of course having someone with such a strong preexisting fan-base never hurts either, so long as he can play the role well. Ryan Kwanten of True blood looks perfect for the role, but is too old to play a teenager. If the studio decides to go a slightly older route with Johnny, closer to what they did with Chris Evans, he would be a great choice. Freddie Fox, a relative unknown in film, has a very 60's-innocence look that would fit the role well. Lastly, while Shawn Ashmore may not be the best man for the part, I get a laugh from the idea of having the same actor play Iceman and The Human Torch. Although it would certainly make crossovers more difficult.
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What went wrong last time... When the 00's Fantastic Four films were released, Chris Evans rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. He came off at first as obnoxious and douchey. Being one of his first major outings in film, there wasn't much of a public personality behind the one seen on screen to detract from that annoying persona. Now that we've seen him hold his own in other movies like Captain America and Scott Pilgrim, we can start to look at his Human Torch more as the performance it was, rather than just some douchebag being a jerk on camera. This results in Chris Evan's Johnny being pretty much the only thing from these movies that has improved with time. Going forward... In the original stories Johnny was just a teenager. To recapture the spirit that lies at the heart of the team, the reboot should hold as close to the characters' original appearances as possible. They should definitely shoot for a teen actor for this iteration's Johnny Storm, or at least a young actor who can pass as a teenager. In this instance, it may be better for Fox to go with a relative unknown. Find a young up-and-coming or previously-unseen young actor and give him this as a potential breakout role. However... just saying 'they should cast someone you've never heard of' doesn't make for a very good article, so... Dipping into the Twilight well for young actors, Jackson Rathbone exudes the teen cockiness Johnny should possess. And of course having someone with such a strong preexisting fan-base never hurts either, so long as he can play the role well. Ryan Kwanten of True blood looks perfect for the role, but is too old to play a teenager. If the studio decides to go a slightly older route with Johnny, closer to what they did with Chris Evans, he would be a great choice. Freddie Fox, a relative unknown in film, has a very 60's-innocence look that would fit the role well. Lastly, while Shawn Ashmore may not be the best man for the part, I get a laugh from the idea of having the same actor play Iceman and The Human Torch. Although it would certainly make crossovers more difficult. 