As long as they steer clear of Steve Ditko’s original design, it should be okay 
4 Likes
I like the casting. Ebon Moss-Bachrach is a smart choice. He’s a great actor, and he’s Jewish, as is Ben Grimm. Magneto, who’s Jewish heritage is an integral part of his character, has never been played by a Jewish actor, and I think that’s something Marvel should correct if and when they put him in the MCU. The Thing’s casting gives me a clue that they will. I’m good with Pedro Pascal in just about anything. I don’t know much about Vanessa Kirby. I only know Quinn from Stranger Things, but he’s great in that, so I’m excited to see him in something else.
Moss-Bachrach will also be added to the relatively small list of people who’ve played more than one character in the MCU, if the Netflix Punisher series is considered part of the MCU now.
And lastly, this cast is older than I was expecting, which tells me they’re not going to do an origin story, and I think that’s really smart. We’ve had two already, three if you include the Roger Corman film that never had a theatrical release. Their origin is fairly well known. Not as well known as Spider-Man’s, but people likely to watch this movie definitely know their origin. They can skip that, just like they did with Spider-Man.
5 Likes
Hopefully portrayed by:
5 Likes
4 Likes
Silver Surfer? I think Doug Jones could do just fine in a better movie. I mean, it worked for Ryan Reynolds.
Ok, here’s me also thinking Pedro Pascal could do wonders with a few extra roles thrown at him. I mean, it worked for Ryan Reynolds.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1 Like
I am deeply hoping that this is misdirection, and it turns out they kept John Krasinski as Richards, and Pascal is playing Doom.
Lots of people can play Reed Richards. Padro Pascal would seriously be able to pull off Doom.
1 Like
Fun fact - the co-creator of Squirrel Girl is a huge Shadow fan and historian, writing several books about him. He has also written several modern Doc Savage novels, including two with The Shadow.
Neato. I’ve not read any proper pulp Shadow; I just read the comics in the 1980’s (fun artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz). I’ve read a couple of Doc Savage reprints; but I mostly know about him from reading Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life is a fictional biography by Philip José Farmer.
1 Like
“Interestingly, the illustration also includes HERBIE the Robot, a character added to the team for “The New Fantastic Four,” a 1978 Saturday morning cartoon show because the rights to The Human Torch were unavailable for the show.”
Hm. My memory/assumption about not using the Torch in the 1978 cartoon was that it was a time of reduced violence in animated children’s television, and it was feared that kids might light themselves on fire after seeing Johnny burst into flames.
As long as I’m reminiscing – and seeing all the references to Squirrel Girl on this thread – am I the only one who remembers a Harvard Lampoon fake Sunday newspaper comics section from the mid to late 1970s that featured (among other strips) a parody of Spider-Man called Squirrel-Man (bitten by a radioactive squirrel, Squirrel-Man has the proportionate strength and abilities of a squirrel). I have always assumed this was the inspiration for Squirrel Girl, but have never heard anyone mention it.
1 Like
FWIW, I believe The Human Torch was exclusively licensed for a movie at the time, which never came out, and HERBIE was the replacement. John Byrne wrote the robot into the comic book series.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Squirrel Girl was inspired by a similar comic character (Pinterest) as it does resemble Steve Ditko’s creation and that kind of copying characters was rampant. The most obvious being Swamp Thing / Man-Thing (going all the way back to The Heap).
1 Like
Reminds me of that old Dan Akroyd SNL sketch about the consumer reports investigation into a company selling unsafe Halloween costumes to children, including a “Johnny Human Torch” costume that was just a bunch of oily rags and a lighter.
3 Likes
Thanks for the deets. I cannot imagine a live-action Human Torch working in the pre-CGI 1970s. Perhaps that’s why it never went into production.
And big thanks for the link to that parody strip! That’s the one I remember. I’m sure it predates Squirrel Girl by a few years, though it may be a complete coincidence that Ditko came up with a similar idea. And I remember reading that Byrne issue of FF with HERBIE when it came out, and admiring his chutzpah for introducing a character that FF comic fans hated. 
3 Likes
100% agree. i do wonder, if they’re older, then where is franklin? and does alfred not get to celebrate the holiday?!
( eta: if they were really bold, the whole movie would just be alfred and herbie solving crimes together. the ff proper would only show up post credits 
)
Maybe a hand-drawn cartoon effect like the Id monster from Forbidden Planet if they had the special effects budget for it.
Mr. Fantastic might be an even bigger challenge to do given the visual effects of the time.
1 Like
A lot of stuntmen were willing to do crazy dangerous shit back then:
Of course most of those fire effects were just for a dramatic few seconds. If the guy had to film scene after scene that way it could probably lead to some serious health consequences.
1 Like
Why not just have Timothée Chalamet play all four and be done with it.
3 Likes
Considering that most of Marvel’s movies prior to Raimi’s “Spider-Man” were done by the likes of the Cannon Group and New World Pictures, and not MGM at its height, I shudder to think what such animated flames would have looked like.
Most likely, Johnny Storm would have been a hot-headed, lone wolf biker, battling a gang of drug dealers who’ve taken over a small California desert town, by shooting animated (or maybe Otherbrother’s practical fx) flames out of his hands. Occasionally. As the budget allowed.
Then there’s the low-budget version of Ben Grimm…
4 Likes
You don’t really have to imagine. Just watch the unreleased Roger Corman F4 movie. Now, it was made in 1994, but there’s no CGI and it’s definitely not making use of any special effects not available in the 70s. Hell, it’s probably not using any special effects not available in the 1930s.
5 Likes
