No, Jennifer Lawrence Won’t Play Sue Storm in Marvel’s ‘Fantastic Four’ Reboot

Ever since Marvel CEO Kevin Feige announced a reboot of the Fantastic Four, fans have been wondering who would be cast as Marvel’s First Family. The character rights to Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Deadpool are now back with Marvel thanks to the Disney-Fox merger, so naturally fans are waiting for those properties to be integrated into the MCU. And now, rumors are swirling that Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence will be playing Sue Storm.

RUMOR: Jennifer Lawrence has been cast in Marvel Studios’ ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ 🚨

(via @DailyMailUK) pic.twitter.com/Ke0ZaHSoly

— cosmic (@cosmic_marvel) February 20, 2021

The rumor started via the Daily Mail, which reported that Lawrence would be filming in Australia.

But so far the rumor is just that: a rumor. First off, Fantastic Four has yet to hire a screenwriter, so they’re still very early in development. And the film’s director, Jon Watts, is still shooting Spider-Man 3, so production is a long ways away.

All I’m gonna say is this, Marvel just started meeting with writers on FANTASTIC FOUR, there is no script and it will be awhile before this film starts shooting

— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) February 21, 2021

Then, there’s the fact that Jennifer Lawrence has already played a major character for Marvel. Lawrence was Mystique in four X-Men films for Fox, including First Class, Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix. And while being a Fantastic Four alum doesn’t necessarily preclude you from future MCU roles (Chris Evans and Michael B. Jordan both played Johnny Storm before being cast as Captain America and Erik Killmonger, respectively), it seems unlikely that Lawrence wants to suit up for another mega franchise. After working in both X-Men and The Hunger Games series, Lawrence has taken on smaller, more character-driven films.

This may come as a relief to online fandom, which did not respond favorably to Lawrence’s rumored casting. In fact, the rumor kicked off a trending topic for another actress fans would like to see as the Invisible Woman: Emily Blunt. Fans have been clamoring for Blunt and her husband John Krasinski to play Reed Richards and Sue Storm.

Jennifer Lawrence= 0% Sue Strom
Emily Blunt=100% Sue Storm pic.twitter.com/kJLUQGFp13

— Spdr Parker (@SpdrParker_) February 20, 2021

John Krasinski and Emily Blunt would be a FANTASTIC cast for Reed and Sue!
#KrasinskiBluntForFantastic4 #FantasticFour #MCU pic.twitter.com/onbNW00ExY

— Oscar Cabagné (@OCabagne) February 20, 2021

I hate ridiculous fans that complain about a movie cast, because it’s just a fantasy story…
But when it comes to #FantasticFour, the whole world knows there is only one correct casting choice…
Emily Blunt is my Sue Storm.
John Krasinski is my Reed Richards. pic.twitter.com/MPUtjpYakD

— Aarón Moya (@aaron_maverick) February 20, 2021

Blunt was originally cast as Black Widow in Iron Man 2, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Similarly, Krasinski was a finalist for Captain America, but lost out to Chris Evans. Krasinski has already expressed interest in playing Mr. Fantastic, saying “I love the Marvel movies, I love everything Kevin Feige does. The dude’s a genius so in him I trust and if he wants me to do something like that, I would love it.”

While Krasinski and Blunt would be an inspired choice for Richards and Storm, we’re still carrying a torch for Rahul Kohli as Mr. Fantastic:

Fantastic https://t.co/YEar4lY11z

— Rahul Kohli (@RahulKohli13) December 13, 2020

In the meantime, all this talk of Fantastic Four has fans reminiscing about the first two films, and especially Jessica Alba’s performance as Sue Storm.

reminder that jessica alba as susan storm is always the blueprint pic.twitter.com/ZudHprLvDG

— alma (@filmjolnir) February 21, 2021

they were actually great as the Fantastic 4 but y’all ain’t ready for that conversation pic.twitter.com/TgIefmwVdh

— tyler ✪⧗ (@twhenneke) February 20, 2021