Austin Butler has gathered many-a-praise for his turn as the King of Rock ‘N’ Roll, Elvis Presley, in Baz Luhrmann’s rock biopic, Elvis. Now the actor is looking to dip his toes in the waters of superhero movies as it has been rumored that he is actively being considered to be cast in the role of Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, for the Marvel Cinematic Universe in their planned in-universe reboot of The Fantastic Four.
The Direct has learned that Butler has feigned interest in becoming part of Marvel’s first family. Although, Marvel Studios head, Kevin Feige, has stated, “no cast [is] currently on board.” So far, the only piece of news that has been confirmed is WandaVision director Matt Shakman is stepping in as director when Spider-Man director, Jon Watts, decided not to take on the project after helming the web-slinger’s trilogy.
This also comes after the news of John Krasinski claiming he has not had any talks with Marvel about returning as Mr. Fantastic Reed Richards after he made a surprise cameo appearance in the parallel universe adventure Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. This will be the second (technically third) reboot of the comic property after two attempts at a franchise had crashed and burned. The 2005 Fantastic Four film starring Jessica Alba and Chris Evans would get a sequel, but the 2015 film, Fantastic 4, went through a notorious production of reshoots and flopped out of the gate.
There are a number of actors’ names being thrown around to fill the roles of the superhero team, and after Elvis, Butler is definitely in the running for headlining more movies, so it’s a career move that would make sense. Jeff Sneider, an insider who appeared on The Hot Mic podcast, has revealed that he had been told that Butler’s agents are even making a push for their star to play the fiery hero.
Marvel Studios had announced their intent to release Fantastic Four in 2025, so there is ample time for the pre-production stage. Sneider adds that the talk around tinsel town is that every actor is wanting to be a part of the two big upcoming MCU franchises, Fantastic Four and X-Men.
What do you think? Is he a good choice for the role?