New details about Marvel Studios’ upcoming The Fantastic Four prove that Fox’s 2015 attempt at bringing Marvel’s First Family to life actually got one thing right. Following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019, Marvel Studios acquired the rights to iconic Marvel Comics characters, including the X-Men and Fantastic Four. This allows these popular heroes to finally be integrated into the MCU, and while several mutants have already been introduced, the Fantastic Four are right around the corner. Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four will surely learn from Fox’s mistakes, but one aspect of 2015’s Fantastic Four actually worked perfectly.
After Fox developed 2005’s Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, the studio rebooted the franchise in 2015 with Fantastic Four, which starred Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell. The latter portrayed Ben Grimm’s Thing, who is set to be portrayed by Ebon Moss-Bachrach in The Fantastic Four’s cast, who will be joined by Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm. The Thing is perhaps the most difficult member of the team to get right, but new details regarding The Fantastic Four spell good news for the hero.
The MCU’s The Thing Actor Confirms No Practical Effects
Only days after Marvel Studios’ announcement of his casting in The Fantastic Four, Ebon Moss-Bachrach appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live to be pressed for more information about his MCU debut. As well as revealing that he, Pascal, Kirby and Quinn, are members of a Fantastic Four group text, and stating that he’d been cast since August, Moss-Bachrach noted that the Thing in the MCU would be created with motion capture, rather than practical effects. Michael Chiklis previously wore a practical suit as the Thing in 2005’s Fantastic Four, but Marvel Studios will be taking the character in a different direction.
2015’s Thing Was A Rare High-Point Of The $168m Flop
While Michael Chiklis sported a practical suit for his portrayal of Ben Grimm’s Thing in 2005 and 2007, Jamie Bell’s iteration of the hero in 2015’s Fantastic Four reboot was different. Directed by Josh Trank, 2015’s Fantastic Four is widely regarded as one of the worst superhero movies of all time, with particular criticism falling on the project’s script, acting, aesthetic and glaring continuity errors, though Trank blames studio interference for its failure. Garnering $167.9 million at the global box office, Fantastic Four was a monumental flop in 2015, but Trank’s adaptation of the team did get one thing right.
Despite being almost universally hated, 2015’s Fantastic Four showed the benefits of using CGI to create the Thing. While this design wasn’t exactly comic-accurate, Jamie Bell’s iteration of the Thing looked incredibly realistic, which worked well to make him seem less outlandish than Chiklis’ goofy and uncanny version of the Thing. By avoiding practical effects and instead employing motion capture and CGI to create the Thing, Marvel Studios will avoid the mistakes of Fox’s previous Fantastic Four projects, while taking one of the few good elements of 2015’s reboot, giving Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Thing the best chance possible in the MCU.
The MCU Has Already Mastered The Things CGI Look
The news that The Fantastic Four will be using motion capture to bring the Thing to life post-transformation comes as no surprise, as Marvel Studios has already demonstrated the brilliance of using motion capture and CGI to build powerful and fantastical characters. Most notably, Mark Ruffalo has used motion capture throughout his MCU career to portray the Hulk persona of Bruce Banner, and this has only become more realistic over the years. Josh Brolin, Tatiana Maslany, David Dastmalchian and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, have all also used motion capture in the MCU as Thanos, She-Hulk, Veb and Ebony Maw, respectively, among others.
However, one pre-established character in the MCU resembles Ben Grimm’s Thing massively, and that is Korg, who has been played by director Taika Waititi since 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok. Korg is a being composed entirely of rocks, and is therefore created with motion capture and CGI, yet is remarkably realistic and believable as a character in the MCU. The fact that Marvel Studios has already mastered this rocky design spells good news for Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Thing in The Fantastic Four, though it’s possible Marvel Studios may want to differentiate Korg and the Thing’s designs, so viewers won’t confuse the two heroes.
