Meet The Fantastic Four

After months of speculation, it now seems that the line-up for The Fantastic Four - Marvel's latest weapon in its plans for world domination - is complete. And it's not what you'd expect. When news of the project - in which four intrepid astronauts are transformed by cosmic rays into super-powered beings - was announced, the Interweb was all aflurry with speculation over superstar casting. Would George Clooney play the elasticated Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic? Was John C. Reilly a shoo-in to play the super-strong, rock-skinned Ben Grimm aka The Thing? Surely Paul Walker would bring his unique blend of vacuity and surfer dude appeal to the role of the fiery Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch? All wrong. In a move similar to Marvel's approach on all its properties thus far (with the exception of Daredevil), the company - and backers, Fox - have steered clear of A-listers, keeping the budget down with a series of relatively unknown names. As Mr. Fantastic, the brainiest scientist on the planet... it's Welsh actor, Ioan Gruffudd. Yep, Hornblower himself, consolidating his co-starring role in King Arthur with his first big-budget lead. As The Thing... the long-rumoured Michael Chiklis, best known as scary bald cop Vic Macklin in The Shield. He'll play The Thing under a swathe of make-up, akin to Ron Perlman's turn as Hellboy. Now bear in mind these deals are still apparently yet to be ratified, which would still give time for the other frontrunner for the role - The Station Agent's Bobby Cannavale - to come up on the rails. The Human Torch? Why, that's Chris Evans. No, not the ginger berk of TFI Friday fame, but the hot young actor who can be seen as the lead in the upcoming Cellular. Anything's an improvement on Walker, we're saying. The two principal roles that have yet to be confirmed are bad guy Dr. Doom (with Tim Robbins and Jason Isaacs apparently in the running), and Sue Storm aka The Invisible Woman (a no-prize for guessing what her power is). There are three front-runners for the role, including blonde bombshells Rachel McAdams (the right choice), 24's Elisha Cuthbert (erm...) and, bizarrely, Jessica Alba. We say 'bizarrely' because Sue Storm is not just Reed Richards' love interest (icky age gap thing going on there), but also Johnny Storm's sister. And with her olive skin and dark hair, it's obvious that Alba and Evans don't come from the same gene pool. Even so, Marvel commendably altered the race of The Kingpin for Daredevil, and might be about to do it again - Alba is rumoured to be the front-runner. Filming will start soon in Vancouver on the $90 million flick, with a July 1, 2005 release in mind. The question is, though, with Barbershop's Tim Story attached to direct, and early word indicating that Fox and Marvel are intending to make a comedy, will it play to the masses? Stay tuned to Empire - we'll bring you all the news as it happens.