Marvel’s Fantastic Four Casting Announcement Finally Breaks A 19 Year Old Casting Trend

The cast of Marvel’s Fantastic Four has finally been announced for the MCU, and with it comes the end of a casting trend for one member of Marvel’s first family. Although the Fantastic Four is arguably the property that jumpstarted Marvel’s popularity in the early 1960s, the iconic superhero team has struggled in the realm of live-action films, as previous attempts to adapt the Fantastic Four to film were received poorly among viewers and critics. Once Marvel Studios acquired their film right, however, the Fantastic Four could finally join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and with that, has come high hopes from viewers.

The MCU’s Fantastic Four was announced in 2019, but the cast was finally revealed on February 14th, 2024. In addition to listing the cast members for the titular team, Marvel’s announcement also reveals several fascinating details about the movie and its place in the MCU timeline. Fantastic Four appears to be set in the 1960s and will include the cinematic debut of H.E.R.B.I.E., a robot who initially took The Human Torch’s place on the team in The New Fantastic Four animated series. The Thing, also known as Ben Grimm, will be played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, breaking a years-long casting trend for the character.

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Ben Grimm Has Not Been Played By A Jewish Actor Before

Despite being one of Marvel’s few Jewish superheroes (and certainly one of their most iconic), Ben Grimm has not been played by a Jewish actor before. Ebon Moss-Bachrach will be the first Jewish actor to play The Thing in a live-action Fantastic Four adaptation, perhaps coincidentally after having portrayed another Jewish hero in the MCU: Micro (David Lieberman) in The Punisher. Not only will Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s casting improve the MCU’s Jewish representation, but it also implies that Fantastic Four will acknowledge an important part of Ben Grimm’s background.

Marvel’s Fantastic Four

Marvel’s Fantastic Four is the first MCU movie to feature Marvel’s First Family in the same live-action universe as the Avengers. It introduces the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s version of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, and Johnny Storm, and precedes Phase 6’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Why The Thing’s Jewish Background Is Important For The Character

The Thing has always been heavily coded as a Jewish character, having been based on co-creator Jack Kirby. Once Grimm’s Levantine ethnic heritage was acknowledged in the early 2000s, it became a prominent element of his character. Similar to the way that Jack Kirby changed his name from Jacob Kurtzberg to avoid discrimination in a publishing industry that often excluded Jewish writers and artists, The Thing initially hid his ethnic and religious background. Grimm, while proud of his Jewish identity, saw himself as a monster and hoped to avoid leading people to see all Jewish people as monsters like him.

Ben Grimm also hails from New York’s Lower East Side, a neighborhood with a historically large Jewish population that is considered one of New York’s centers of Jewish culture. The Thing’s size, considerable super strength, and rock-like appearance have also led readers to draw comparisons between him and the Golem of Jewish folklore. While the MCU’s Fantastic Four film will no doubt have a stronger focus on science fiction adventures and Marvel Comics lore than Ben Grimm’s ethnic background, his casting indicates that the film may be taking this famous aspect of character seriously.