It’s been a little over five months since the Fantastic Four reboot was released in theaters, but the sting of its failure is still fresh in many minds. Despite 20th Century Fox’s plans to kick off a new series featuring Marvel’s First Family, the movie was a critical and commercial failure. Now, the future of the new series is in question, and Michael B. Jordan, who played Johnny Storm / The Human Torch, wants fans to know the goal wasn’t for Fantastic Four to be mediocre.
While chatting about his Fantastic Four experience with IGN, Jordan said that it wasn’t the cast and crew’s intention to make a bad product. Though in the end, everyone has to make peace with the fact that not everything will turn out great, and Jordan expressed as much in the following remarks:
I look back at the film as a learning experience. Every film isn’t going to be a home run. Everybody involved didn’t set out to make a film that didn’t work...You can give 110% every day, and the movie still not work out. But that may or may not be on you and you’ve got to be OK with that.
Touted as a grittier reboot, in order to differentiate itself from 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, 2015’s Fantastic Four was intended to give the superhero team a fresh start in the vein of Batman Begins. Unfortunately for them, they did not earn the same success as the Christopher Nolan-directed movie. There was reportedly numerous issues during production and post-production, and a lengthy reshoot was eventually ordered. This led to director Josh Trank sending out a tweet shortly before release about how "his version" of Fantastic Four would have received great reviews, and although he quickly deleted it, the damage was done. The movie went on to gross only $168 million on a $120 budget, as well as finding itself nominated for five Razzie Awards.
When asked whether he would want to play Human Torch again, Jordan called Johnny Storm an incredible character and said "Why not?" However, as it stands now, the chances of Jordan reprising Johnny for a Fantastic Four 2 aren’t looking good. Although the sequel was originally set for a summer 2017 release date, Fox took the movie off the schedule in November, and Tim Blake Nelson, who played Dr. Harvey Allen, recently said he doesn’t believe it’s going to be made. Jordan reiterated how he’s a fan of the comics, but also reminded the world that he and his fellow actors have a "small say in what goes on behind closed doors."
Although the Fantastic Four’s cinematic future in question, moviegoers won’t have to worry about Jordan’s career, as he’s been doing quite well for himself. You can currently see him acting alongside Sylvester Stallone in the Ryan Coogler's Creed.
