Welcome back for another chapter of our newest column here at Geek Anything, Fan-Cast-It Four! In this column, we are going to list off four of our absolute favorite film and television casting ideas for some of our favorite characters from all across popular culture! It doesn’t matter if you recognize the names or faces. We just really want to come up with some fun ideas for who to cast in the iconic roles from throughout popular culture. In an effort to be as transparent as possible here, today’s column is going to focus on some of our favorite casting ideas for Susan Storm, aka The Invisible Woman!
As we covered in our last edition of Fan-Cast-It Four, a few months back Disney made the formal announcement that Marvel’s First Family, The Fantastic Four, would finally be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe! People have been waiting for this announcement ever since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox (who held the Fantastic Four film rights) back in 2019.
Now that the Fantastic Four movie has been confirmed, the only real question is “who will be playing them“? We previously covered who our top choices are for the coveted role of Reed Richards, but this week we wanted to talk about the woman that doesn’t get nearly the credit she deserves, Susan Storm.
For all intents and purposes, Sue Storm may very well be the single most powerful member of the Fantastic Four. While everyone knows she can turn invisible (hence her alias, The Invisible Woman), Sue can also create protective fields with her mind that act as force fields and even use this psionic force energy to send out small concussive energy blasts!
Sue is loving and caring, while also being the practical member of the team. She often uses her keen intellect and quick thinking to pull the team out of sticky situations. While many have written Sue as the “motherly” member of the team that seems to take care of everyone else, it’s worth noting that Sue is an absolute badass when she needs to be. She is wise beyond her years and more responsible than the rest of the team combined, which is why she is usually the team leader when her husband and superhero partner Reed Richards isn’t around. Susan Storm had previously been played in live-action by Rebecca Staab (1994), Jessica Alba (2005-2007), and Kate Mara (2015).
In no specific order, here are our favorite casting choices for Susan Storm in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!
Samara WeavingÂ
As one of the most popular rising stars in Hollywood, Samara Weaving is a no-brainer for this role. She has already shown that she can play a wide range of characters in recent years and would be pretty perfect casting for a younger take on Sue Storm.
Weaving has both the acting chops and the charm needed to bring Sue Storm to the big screen like we’ve never seen her before. Having appeared in projects like Mayhem (2017), Ready Or Not (2019), Guns Akimbo (2019), and Bill And Ted Face The Music (2020), Weaving has quite an extensive and varied resume already and seems ready for the right role to make her a true icon. Could it be Sue Storm? The only thing working against her here is that she might be a little too young for the role, depending on how they are casting the rest of the team and what Marvel decided to go with for this new live-action iteration of The Fantastic Four.
Alice Eve
Much like Sue Storm herself, actress Alice Eve often doesn’t seem to get nearly the recognition she deserves for her wide range of talents. Eve would bring a certain feeling of warmth and a “take no shit” attitude to the character that is absolutely essential for the Sue Storm that fans know and love from the comics.
Genre fans will recognize Alice Eve from her role as Dr. Carol Marcus in Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), where we can already see her in a role not too dissimilar from Sue Storm. The only real thing potentially holding her back is that she already had a role as the assassin Typhoid Mary on the live-action Marvel series Iron Fist on Netflix. That said, the Netflix shows are no longer considered canon and Mahershala Ali has recently graduated from a role on Luke Cage to a starring role in Marvel’s new Blade film, so anything is possible.
Lauren Cohan
It goes without saying that Lauren Cohan is an absolute fan-favorite actress for geeks around the world. She has had major roles in genre projects like The Walking Dead (2011-2021), The Vampire Diaries (2010-2012), Supernatural (2007-2008), and Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016) and certainly has the perfect kind of resume and the star power to make the jump to a leading Marvel role.
What stands out about Cohan is that she has a nice balance of nurturing and badassery that would make her a great candidate for Sue Storm. Cohan has made her name for herself in a lot of high-profile television projects with only a few film credits to her name. Fantastic Four could be the perfect project to launch her star directly into the stratosphere and make her a real household name. 
Nathalie Emmanuel
While you may not recognize the name right away, Nathalie Emmanuel is one of the most underrated actresses working today. Emmanuel is probably best known for her role as Missandei on HBO’s hit fantasy series Game Of Thrones (2013-2019), but the young actress has been building herself quite a resume with appearances in franchises like The Fast And The Furious (2015-2017), The Maze Runner (2015-2018), Four Weddings And A Funeral (2019), and The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance (2019).
Nathalie Emmanuel would be great casting for Susan Storm because of her ability to command a room while still remaining a warm presence. She can pull off being the reserved and responsible yet outspoken member of the team that could step up to take the lead in a dire situation. Nathalie Emmanuel is another actress who is really just one step away from becoming a household name, and Marvel Studios could very well have the next big star on their hands with this one.
Honorable Mentions
Jennifer Lawrence
Recently rumors began circulating that Jennifer Lawrence would be stepping into Susan Storm’s unstable molecule suit as The Invisible Woman. This has yet to be confirmed by anyone at the studio or by Lawrence herself, so we are taking this with a grain of salt. That said, Lawrence would certainly be an interesting choice for the role. She previously starred in Fox’s X-Men franchise as Mystique where she appeared in four films from 2011-2019. She was generally reluctant to return to the role with each subsequent film, making her a little bit of a questionable choice for a new franchise. Maybe she’s changed her tune since she won’t have to be covered in blue body make up the whole film?
Emily BluntÂ
It isn’t a secret that Emily Blunt looks to be the frontrunner on quite a few casting lists for the role of Susan Storm. Honestly, she would probably do quite well in the role. Never mind that her real-life husband John Krasinski is the frontrunner for the role of Sue Storm’s husband Reed Richards, but Blunt herself was originally sought after by Marvel Studios over a decade ago when they were casting Black Widow for Iron Man 2 (2010). She has admitted that she would have accepted the role, but she was contractually obligated to do a film with another studio at the time it would be filming (imagine having to turn down getting in on the ground floor of the MCU because you had to make Gulliver’s Travels (2010) instead). It would be great for Marvel to come full circle and finally cast her in a major role.
We also took to social media including Facebook and Twitter and asked our readers who they would cast as Sue Storm if they were able to make the decision today and got some great answers! We have included the list below excluding anyone that was already mentioned above. Other people that fans want to see in the role of Sue Storm include:
- Blake Lively
- Lili Reinhart
- Betty Gilpin
- January Jones
- Diane Kruger
- Logan Browning
- Aubrey Plaza
- Jessica McNamee
- Emma Stone
- Katherine McNamara
Who would YOU cast as Sue Storm for the Marvel Cinematic Universe? What do you think of our suggestions? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and stick around Geek Anything for more Fan-Cast-It Four!
