Fantastic Four 2 has a release date, a cast... but no real hope of happening any time soon. The date, for the record, is June 9, 2017, but since there has been no movement on the sequel, we expect that to fade away very soon. That doesn't mean, however, that the stars of the recent Four reboot aren't entertaining the option of doing Fantastic Four 2 at some point in the near future. However, when Kate Mara -- who played Sue Storm in the reboot -- is asked about the sequel, her answer is On Message, but her body language says, "Stop asking me about this, please." Mara said:
Oh yeah, I mean, I'd love to be a part of a Fantastic Four sequel, or whatever they may or may not have in store for us. And I know all of the guys feel the same way. We love working with each other and yeah, we would love to actually play these characters in another way, somehow in the future. I have no idea if that's actually true. If that will happen. But I'd be really happy to do it.
Perfect. That is the textbook response, and exactly what Kate Mara should say when asked by an outlet about a possible Fantastic Four 2. We know that the origin story didn't work. She knows that the origin story didn't work out. But, because she's under contract, she's required to leave that door open to any possible follow up. However it's more HOW Kate Mara answered the question on camera. She's not great at hiding her indifference to the possibility of Fantastic Four 2. Watch her body language in this IGN interview, and decide for yourselves.
Not quite gung ho. Not exactly, "Where do I sign on the dotted line?" And yet, who can blame Kate Mara. The experience of making -- and especially of promoting -- Fantastic Four was a draining and soul-sucking process because of the behind-the-scenes muckraking that reportedly ruined the version of the film that she and her director, Josh Trank, tried to make. Several people involved with the production have gone on record to talk about too many cook being in the Fantastic Four kitchen, and I can totally understand why Mara'd be hesitant to go through that grind one more time.
However, I think that her words suggest something else, entirely. When she uses phrasing like "whatever they may or may not have in store for us," or "we would love to actually play these characters in another way," is she implying that The Fantastic Four could make the leap over to Marvel? Normally, that would be crazy talk. Fox has a hold on the rights to the characters. But as we recently saw with Spider-Man, studios can figure out how to play nicely, and it could lead to a new translation of some classic characters.
Now, if that were to happen, would Marvel maintain the same team? Would Mara get bounced, the way Andrew Garfield got traded for Tom Holland? It's too soon to tell, but in the cutthroat world of superhero casting, anything is possible.
