Marvel has been gobbling up all of the superhero-related headlines this week, teasing footage and character introductions from this summer’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Across town, however, another superpowered franchise tries to steal back some of the spotlight by dropping massive casting news… even if it paled, slightly, in comparison to the animated footage of a raccoon using a machine gun. 

 

Twentieth Century Fox finally pulled back the curtain on its planned Fantastic Four reboot, confirming a few names that we had been hearing for awhile, and surprising us with one name. The Fantastic Four is one of Marvel’s oldest hero “families,” four characters enhanced by cosmic radiation during an ill-fated space voyage. 

 

Variety went on record to reveal the foursome that will fill the roles of the new team, directed by Chronicle storyteller Josh Trank. Let’s run down who got cast, and who they are expected to play, staring with:  

    

Miles Teller/Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic)

 

 

Teller is on the verge of blowing up. He has earned raves for The Spectacular Now, and the recent Sundance drama Whiplash. He’s about to play a part in the new Divergent series. And according to reports, he will fit the part of Richards, a brilliant scientist who adopts the ability to stretch his body like rubber. Teller, up until this point, has played the sarcastic wiseass on-screen. (See That Awkward Moment for the latest example of this personality.) That might have led FF fans to assume he’d be perfect for Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch. But Teller is going to test his range with this reboot. Do you think it will work? 

 

Kate Mara/Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman)

 

 

Sue Storm – like the bulk of the Fantastic Four – is a difficult character to convey on-screen. Her power? She turns invisible… and can alter the state of things around her by “invisibly” shifting them, as well. It’s lame, yet it works on the pages of comic books and has for decades. Jessica Alba tried to make Sue interesting in two previous Four movies. Now the task falls to Mara, who is burning up small screens in the Netflix original series House of Cards, alongside Kevin Spacey. Mara’s a fine actress handed a thankless task. It’s likely she was hired to draw some of the Cards heat, and if that’s the purpose she serves this reboot, who are we to argue? 

 

Michael B. Jordan/Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) 

 

 

Here’s where things get interesting – and possibly controversial. Trank has tapped his Chronicle costar to play Johnny Storm, aka the flying fireball Human Torch. What we don’t know, yet, is how this changes the dynamic of the team… if it changes it, at all. Sue and Johnny are siblings in the original FF comics. Are Mara and Jordan playing adopted siblings? Children of different parents? Altering the makeup of the team alters the fact that it’s Fantastic Four at all. Why call it that if you are creating something different? There’s no question Jordan is an incredibly gifted performer. Rent Fruitvale Station to see him carry a powerful, contemporary drama. But I need to learn more about how Trank is going to explore the origin of this team before I decide that Jordan is the right choice. 

 

Jamie Bell/Ben Grimm (The Thing)

 

 

Finally, we get Bell as Ben Grimm. The 27-year-old actor is slight of frame and, yes, British. But the human side of Grimm is almost irrelevant, as the production likely will have to use some form of motion-capture or CGI to turn Bell into the rocky hero the Thing. From that perspective, Bell brings experience. He wore the mo-cap suit for Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin, and might give Trank a headstart on that process if that’s the direction Four ends up going. 

 

So the wheels officially are turning on this Fantastic Four reboot, and Trank has the cast he’ll use to bring Marvel’s family back to theaters. What do you think of the four young choices? Are they who you had in mind? Who did they overlook? Weigh in through the comments section below. The Fantastic Four is scheduled to open June 19, 2015.