UPDATE: Looks like our suspicions may have been correct. The twitter account originally posted has now been deleted. Details at bottom.
Fantastic Four fans got a surprise yesterday when Josh Trank, director of the upcoming franchise reboot, posted our first look at The Thing (A.K.A. Ben Grimm) via his Twitter account.
Well, it’s out. There’s your first look at Ben. #FantasticFour pic.twitter.com/0xqHAtfn1l
— Josh Trank (@josh_trank) August 23, 2014
A nice, grittier look at the superhero than in previous installments, for sure, and one that will hopefully garner more praise and viewership than previous installments. For comparison, take a look at the original 2005 version of The Thing below:
The new version appears to be a much more modern take the character, though admittedly it is still hard to get excited.
While the design of The Thing looks pretty cool, the source of this is a bit suspicious. Yes, the Twitter account appears to be his, but it’s not marked with a “verified” seal indicating its legitimacy. There are also only 1,000 followers on the account as of this writing, and while the Fantastic Four director isn’t the most high profile of directors, 1,000 does seem like too few.
To top it all off, it seems that filming for Fantastic Four wrapped weeks ago , so why did this account only show as it having wrapped yesterday? Granted it is more than possible that only certain actors were wrapped weeks ago, and the full production was only just recently wrapped, but it all doesn’t seem to add up too nicely. Fox seems to be keeping a tight lid on the Fantastic Four production, and it’s leaving fans with far more questions than they’d like. After the racist backlash of casting of Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch (An African American playing a character that is traditionally portrayed as caucasian), perhaps they feel it’s the best way to keep this fragile property under control.
Fantastic Four is no stranger to criticism, but try as they might, fans can’t seem to keep Fantastic Four down. The original film in 2005 was one of the final casualties of the old-school pre- Iron Man era of comic book movies–opting for cheap camp more than realism. Fox hoped to turn thing around with the 2007 sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer , only to be met once again with lackluster critical and box office reception.
No doubt Fox hopes this will be the entry in the Fantastic Four film canon that will stick, for if this proves to be a successful film for the series, they can finally begin plans to cross over them over into the X-Men world.
Thoughts on the reveal of The Thing? Is it Real? Let us know what you think below!
UPDATE: Steven Weintraub at the Collider seems to think the account was fake (via Screen Rant )
someone I trust and would know tells me @josh_trank is not Josh. Do not follow or believe the tweets.
— Steven Weintraub (@colliderfrosty) August 24, 2014
So there you have it. Either the studio is hiding this, or it was a prank account. The plot thickens…