Fantastic Four: Michael B. Jordan Responds To Criticism

 There has been a lot of negative reaction to the news that Michael B. Jordan has been cast as The Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four film reboot. While at an event in Rome, Cinefilos asked Jordan was a how he felt about the criticism. Jordan, responding through a translator, seemed to be taking things in stride:

“It was expected. You kind of know going into it that people are used to seeing something one way. It’s a continuity thing more than anything. People don’t like change too much. But annoyed? Eh, just kind of accept it. It is what it is. You can’t make everybody happy. You just got to accept that and know. I’m an actor. I have to do my job. I’m going to do my job the best I can and the way I’ve been doing it my entire life, my entire career. I grew up a comic book guy. I read comic books as a kid growing up, and the Fantastic Four/Human Torch is one of my favorite characters so I’m going to give it my everything. I can’t wait. I don’t really let it bother me at all. I just kind of go into it and do the best job I can and walk away from it. We’ll see what happens March 2015 [March 2015 was original release month for Fantastic Four, but it has been moved to June 2015].”

Jordan also spoke about why he took such a controversial role:

“The Human Torch is, you know, that’s fun. That’s going to be a good time. That’s what everybody…to play a superhero? That’s dreams coming true. It’s not going to be hard. It’s going to be fun to kind of show a side of me that I don’t really get a chance to show on screen, to be a little bit lighter, funnier, just more personality. It’s going to be fun.”

Jordan will be joined, in the film, by Miles Teller as Mr. Fantastic, Kate Mara as Sue Storm and Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm. Josh Trank is directing from a screenplay by Simon Kinberg. The Fantastic Four is scheduled for theatrical release June 19, 2015​.