Considering that Kevin Feige has stated that it would be about five years before we’d hear anything about the characters that Disney recently acquired from buying out 21st Century Fox, namely the X-Men and Fantastic Four, is it possible that the groundwork is being laid right now? Even though Marvel hasn’t officially announced a ‘Black Widow’ movie for next year, we all know it’s coming, and in early April, it was revealed that David Harbour had signed on for an undisclosed role. Apparently, that role is Ben Grimm, a.k.a. The Thing from the Fantastic Four. At least that is what is being reported after Harbour appeared at a panel at MCM London this weekend. According to Advanced Television, he confirmed that he is co-starring in ‘Black Widow’ with the cryptic statement:
“I’m glad this thing is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”
Make of that what you will. It seems awfully early to be integrating the FF into the MCU when Feige has stated that Marvel Studios couldn’t even start thinking about them until the buyout was 100% complete. But it wouldn’t be the first time a studio has flat out lied about what was going on behind the scenes on a major franchise film.
Harbour would be a great choice, with his gruff voice and demeanor. And he already spent months getting covered in prosthetics and body paint to play the lead in the recent ‘Hellboy’. But this is Marvel/Disney we’re talking about. He probably wouldn’t have to undergo that process– they’d just do it all with CGI in post-production.
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The ‘Black Widow’ movie is set in the past. Though it is partially an origin story, that will reportedly embellish her upbringing in the Russian Red Room, according to ComicBook.com, the majority will actually be set a little closer to the present, following the events of ‘Captain America: Civil War’. So IF Harbour is playing Ben Grimm, it will likely be in his human form, pre-transformation.
The Thing was previously portrayed by Michael Chiklis in 2005’s ‘Fantastic Four’ and its 2007 sequel ‘Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer’, and by Jamie Bell in the 2015 reboot.
David Harbour will next be seen in ‘Stranger Things 3’ which premieres on Netflix on July 4th.
