Just... wow. If this isn't a daring choice, a bold departure from the source material, and fodder for nerd rage, we don't know what is.
In Fox and director Josh Trank's big screen reboot of Fantastic Four, one member of the team seems to decide that clothes are unnecessary. Once Jamie Bell's Ben Grimm undergoes his famous transformation into a rock-hide superhero, he goes commando for the rest of the movie.
You read that right.
Empire magazine released a new promotional image of the Fantastic Four that shows Grimm sans apparel. As in all rock, no clothes. Nude. Threadbare. In the buff. A flasher without the snappy trenchcoat.
It's an unexpected choice, to put it mildly. See for yourself.
Is it more troubling that he's a naked superhero, or that he's missing... certain anatomical attributes? (Cue the "thingless Thing" jokes.) Beyond the obvious wisecracks, you have to wonder how his physiology even works. Logically speaking, an activity as basic as eating is out of the question if he's unable to expel waste.
In the comics and the Tim Story movies, Grimm was depicted as having rock-like skin but still more or less human on the inside. But in the new Fantastic Four movie, it looks like he's turned into something fundamentally different: a living rock monster.
Will the movie explain any of this? Will it even be addressed? Maybe Ben decides to turn nudist out of rebellion against his lot in life. Or maybe it's just a weird production decision we'll be expected to accept.
Are you ready to see the Thing go full monty? Fantastic Four hits theaters on August 7, 2015.
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