RUMOR: Is Mila Kunis Playing The Thing in Fantastic Four?
This is one of the strangest Marvel rumors to pop up in quite a while. It started when Grace Randolph tweeted about actresses being considered to play Sue Storm, The Invisible Woman, in Fantastic Four, one of the few announced Marvel movies that sounds like it could possibly be good. Among those she pictured was Mila Kunis, star of That 70s Show, Family Guy, Ted, and Black Swan:
— Grace Randolph (@GraceRandolph) April 19, 2023
In an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden, Kunis denied that she was in Fantastic Four, saying it stemmed from her being spotted having lunch with the film’s director, Matt Shakman. She does, however, reveal that she knows who is in the movie, but she’s not saying.
This is Mila's response in a new interview by the way: pic.twitter.com/wU4nRZuazH https://t.co/prVeri5vIN
— ay (@wandjuul) April 29, 2023
Then, a scooper who goes by MyTimeToShineHello tweeted that Kunis is indeed up to play one of the Four, but not Sue, for whom Marvel wants someone else; Kunis, he says, is being considered for Ben Grimm, The Thing:
They are looking at Jewish actors, both male AND female for The Thing in Fantastic Four. Mila Kunis is one of them
— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) April 28, 2023
Unlike their other Jewish character Matt Shakman INSISTED they actually cast someone Jewish to play The Thing https://t.co/nSlNfyD1Nk
— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) April 28, 2023
They have someone for Sue only reason I'm not saying who is because she already passed once so it's not final. I'm being very careful with this one
— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) April 28, 2023
His suggestion that Shakman wants a Jewish actor to play the part makes sense, as Grimm is supposed to be Jewish; he was modeled after co-creator and comic book legend Jack Kirby. It goes without saying that Kirby was a guy. It’s also worth remembering that actors have previously denied getting Marvel roles before officially being revealed as the character; Benedict Cumberbatch comes to mind.
When I saw this going around, my immediate thought was that it was probably not true, but I had to admit that I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. That’s what Marvel has done to itself: it’s made a rumor about Jackie Burkhart playing The Thing entirely believable. And it wouldn’t be the first time it gender-swapped a character for the big screen; Taskmaster, The Ancient One, original Captain Marvel Mar-Vell, Ghost, and three of the Eternals were all changed to women in their MCU appearances. And that’s not including characters who began as comics-accurate men but were eventually replaced with women, like Black Panther and The Mandarin. But Thing would be the most significant character to date to get a gender swap, and I don’t see how Marvel gets out of this with one of those Hollywood “We were just looking for the best person for the role” dodges. This would be an egregious switch, not just because The Thing is a man in the comics, but because he’s a tough, strong, masculine man, and Kunis is slight and feminine. And it falls in line with Bob Iger’s recent insistence that Disney will not shy away from forcing politics and social issues into its movies when investors raised concerns over it and the loss of money that follows.
But those are ifs; I still think this probably isn’t true. But would it surprise you if it is?
