Fantastic Four: Why Starting Casting with Sue Storm Is the Right Call

Hollywood needs to cast a new Fantastic Four. If you've been on certain corners of the Internet since Marvel's Fantastic Four reboot was announced in late 2020, that fact has become overwhelmingly apparent. In the years since, the new film has been at the center of tons of speculation — both because of the larger narrative significance it could have in projects like Avengers: Secret Wars, and because it will be the first foray of the team within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after several decades of middling or ill-fated movie reboots. The past few years have been chock-full of theories and rumors about who could play Fantastic Four's four main roles, and with the film reportedly on track to begin filming next year for an early 2025 release date, we might soon know the answer. 

Deadline's Justin Kroll recently reported that casting for Fantastic Four will be gearing up soon, and that Marvel Studios' "focus" will be filling the role of Sue Storm / Invisible Woman first, and then finding the subsequent members of the team and the supporting cast. While that detail might be surprising to some, it could very well be the perfect way to establish a foundation for Marvel's First Family.

Chemistry

For starters, building the Fantastic Four casting process around Sue could guarantee one key element of the team — the chemistry they have with each other. While the Fantastic Four have undeniably become a found family, it can be argued that their strongest relationships all tie back to Sue — she's married to Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, the older sister of Johnny Storm / Human Torch, and a close friend (and, in another universe, love interest) of Ben Grimm / The Thing. Rumors are also swirling that Reed and Sue might be parents in the film, so you could throw her mother-child relationship with Franklin and/or Valeria Richards into that mix as well. Reed might often be the group's leader, and (on paper, the first character you might cast when assembling the team), but Marvel Studios finding their Sue first and foremost ensures that it can find the best possible actors to play off of her in those various roles.

Beyond that — although Marvel Studios might not be thinking about this out of the gate — Sue also has some strong bonds with other characters that already exist in the MCU. In the comics, she's a close friend of Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) and has a romantic relationship with Namor (Tenoch Huerta), both of which are dynamics that fans would love to see happen, even for fleeting moments, in live-action.

Narrative

And on a larger level, casting Sue Storm as the first piece of the Fantastic Four ensemble ensures that her character will definitely matter in the story Marvel Studios is telling. Previous film incarnations of Sue — particularly those played by Jessica Alba and Kate Mara — only began to scratch the surface of her narrative potential, or just treated her as something of an afterthought. Granted, that can be seen as a reflection of how female superheroes had been treated writ large in superhero adaptations in the 2000s and early 2010s, with many projects either ignoring their potential heroines or casting them into the obvious "Smurfette" roles.

But, thankfully, the tide has started to change in that regard, and especially at Marvel Studios. In Phase 4, we've gotten a wide range of female-fronted stories in WandaVision, Black Widow, Eternals, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — and there are even more on the horizon with The Marvels, Ironheart, Echo, and Agatha: Coven of Chaos. While Marvel's Fantastic Four reboot will obviously be an ensemble piece, there's a chance that it could still strongly center Sue within its story. Here's hoping.

Are you excited for Marvel's Fantastic Four? Who do you think should play Sue Storm? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Fantastic Four is currently scheduled to be released on February 17, 2025.