Michael B. Jordan

The show is different from the script currently being written by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

In Cinemautopsy, we look back at a recent, high-profile failure and ask a simple question: What the hell happened? In this installment... the comic that launched Marvel Comics. A cast of beloved up-and-comers. One of the hottest young directors in Hollywood. A bold attempt to reinvent the superhero genre. What could possibly go wrong?

When Marvel announced Ryan Coogler as the director of Black Panther, it seemed like only a matter of time before he cast his lucky charm: Creed and Fruitvale Station star Michael B. Jordan. That time has come, as Jordan has officially joined Chadwick Boseman in the Wakandan hero’s solo outing, which hits theaters in 2018.

We can all agree that Fantastic Four was far from great, a CG-saturated mess with a few good character moments eclipsed by all those rumors about Josh Trank. And while Fox has taken the sequel off the table (for now), there’s at least one person who’d be down to return for Fantastic Four 2: Michael B. Jordan.

As of this writing, Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four has made $25.6 million. Improbably, that’s less than half of either of the previous big-budget Fantastic Four movies, which are widely disliked by comics fan and cinephiles alike. There’s a chance Trank’s FF could wind up grossing less in theaters than Blade: Trinity, or even Trank’s own surprise debut hit, Chronicle (which cost about a tenth of his follow-up). In Hollywood parlance, those are ungood numbers. In most cases, they would almost mean certain doom (har dee har har) for any chance of a sequel.

As skeptical as many fans rightfully have been about Josh Trank’s reboot of Fantastic Four, there’s something sort of appealing about the film’s aesthetic and tone from the various teasers and trailers. In keeping with 20th Century Fox’s recent X-Men films, Fantastic Four looks as though it walks the line between the fun, vibrant world of the MCU and the grittier, stylized approach of Zack Snyder’s DCU.

We’re just a few weeks out from the release of Fantastic Four, one of our last blockbusters of the summer movie season, and our last superhero film of the year. Although general response to Josh Trank’s reboot has been tepid so far, there’s plenty of appeal in some of these TV spots and trailers, like the latest, which is made up of almost entirely new footage and gives us another look at Dr. Doom.

“What do you do when you wake up in the hospital bed and you’re made of rocks?” Jamie Bell gives us just one of the questions that will be answered in Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot. The new featurette for the upcoming film explores the origins of our four superheroes and hits on their humanity and relatable qualities, which is something 20th Century Fox has been pushing a lot.

“Shall I alert the fire department?” The latest TV spot for Fantastic Four has arrived, and it’s brought along a sense of humor, finally. So far, the trailers we’ve seen for Josh Trank’s reboot have been a bit gloomy and severe, with only tiny hints of a lighter tone in the chemistry between the four leading stars. To be fair, Ben Grimm still looks a bit, well, grim.

A new international trailer for Fantastic Four has arrived online, giving us another proper introduction to the team and another good look at the villainous Dr. Doom, who — you had to admit — looks much better than the version from the previous Fantastic Four movies.