Even though the Fantastic Four reboot isn’t part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it still features characters that are major players in the comics. Actually, without Marvel’s First Family, we arguably wouldn’t have most of the famous characters seen on and off the pages in the modern era. That boosts the actors playing these heroes to newfound levels of fame, and with that prestige came an added perk for Miles Teller, who plays Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic.
During his appearance last night on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Teller recounted to the host how, not long ago, he found himself in a customs line at a U.S. airport. The Whiplash star thought he was going to be stuck in the line for approximately an hour, but one of the customs guards tapped him on the shoulder and beckoned him to follow. Teller understandably grew worried and wondered what was in his bag that aroused suspicion, but after being taken aside to a kiosk, the security guard said this to the actor:
You really think Mr. Fantastic has to wait in line?
The guard then welcomed Teller to the Marvel universe, which I imagine is nice to hear from both people connected directly to these movies and normal folks. Meyers jokingly mentioned he heard that guard was later fired, but Teller did muse that maybe playing the Fantastic Four’s leader would help him at the DMV (which I doubt, considering that the employees there aren’t impressed by much of anything). During the interview, Teller also admitted he wasn’t a comic book fan growing up, but after he scored the role, he learned that Fantastic Four was one of the comic books his father read as a child, so that was an added bonus.
In Fantastic Four, Teller’s Reed Richards is recruited by Dr. Franklin Storm to help crack inter dimensional travel because he's brilliant and “knows the answers to questions we don’t even know to ask yet.” He will travel to this alternate dimension with his teammates Susan Storm (played by Kate Mara), Ben Grimm (played by Jamie Bell), and Johnny Storn (played by Michael B. Jordan), as well as their future nemesis, Doctor Doom (played by Toby Kebbell). The mission doesn't go quite as planned, and the main characters find themselves imbued with strange superpowers. In Reed’s case, he gains the ability to stretch his body to various lengths and sizes.
Check out Teller’s full story in the clip below.
You can catch Fantastic Four in theaters starting this Friday.
