Stan Lee Supports Michael B. Jordan: Defends Fans' Complaints

While Stan Lee doesn’t want Spider-Man to change any time soon, the 92-year-old Marvel creator says he is okay with Michael B. Jordan playing Human Torch in the Fantastic Four movie, and Stan Lee even defends fans who have complained about it.

“It was more than okay,” Lee told EW.com about Jordan cast as Johnny Storm. “I thought it was a great idea!”

Michael B. Jordan weighed in as well noting Stan Lee sent Fantastic Four director Josh Trank an e-mail about it.

“[If] Stan Lee writes an email to my director saying, ‘You’re good. I’m okay with this,’ who am I to go against that?” Jordan questioned.

While true, there have been many complaints online about the casting (actually, not just about the casting, but a lot of other things such as the Thing not having any pants), Stan Lee offers it’s not about being racist, but about the fact that the Human Torch has changed.

“They’re outraged not because of any personal prejudice,” Lee offered. “They’re outraged because they hate to see any change made on a series and characters they had gotten familiar with. In Spider-Man, when they got a new actor, that bothered them, even though it was a white actor. I don’t think it had to do with racial prejudice as much as they don’t like things changed. But I think they’re gonna get to love this character. So I’m not the least bit worried about it. I always tried to pepper these groups with as much racial diversity as possible because that’s the way the world is.”

“Fantastic Four” has an August 7, 2015 release directed by Josh Trank from a screenplay by Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg and Josh Trank; produced by Matthew Vaughn, Simon Kinberg, Hutch Parker, Robert Kulzar and Gregory Goodman; starring: Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell.

Synopsis:

FANTASTIC FOUR, a contemporary re-imagining of Marvel’s original and longest-running superhero team, centers on four young outsiders who teleport to an alternate and dangerous universe, which alters their physical form in shocking ways. Their lives irrevocably upended, the team must learn to harness their daunting new abilities and work together to save Earth from a former friend turned enemy.

Fantastic Four Trailer: