When the news broke that Michael B. Jordan would officially be playing the Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot, it seemed almost certain that he would be Hollywood's next big star. Superhero movies are a pretty big deal these days, and his racially-blind casting proved that he had gotten producers' attention, likely through his excellent action performance in Chronicle and amazing dramatic turn in Fruitvale Station. Now, that fate is sealed as Fox bought a movie specifically for Jordan to star in.
The studio, who produced Chronicle and will also produce Fantastic Four, is so confident in his acting talent and box office draw that they acquired Men Who Kill from writer T.J. Fixman and are planning to develop it around Jordan. The tone of the movie, according to Deadline, is "an international Bad Boys," though there are no plot details available yet.
We already thought that Jordan was going to be a big deal, and soon, because of his impressive slate of future projects. In addition to Fantastic Four and its already planned sequel, Jordan will star in the Rocky sequel Creed, as well as the insanley well-casted Triple Nine . Then there are his rumored future projects, which include Star Wars: Episode VII and the Independence Day sequel.
As promising as all of those made Jordan's future sound, Men Who Kill really sealed the deal. It might not be as highly anticipated as the others (for now) and is nowhere near as high profile, but it's being built around Jordan. Fox has enough faith in him to give him an action film that does not get any help from title-recognition or a built-in fan base, and that's very important. Fox is just one of the studios he's already worked with. Soon others will begin to seek out Jordan for their own projects, and those projects will grow in scope as his reputation improves even further.
Men Who Kill isn't Star Wars or a superhero franchise, but it's still something worth celebrating for Jordan and his fans. It might just be the most important of his many exciting upcoming movies.
