Will Smith Being Eyed to Play in Fantastic Four Reboot

The Fantastic Four is known as the first family of Marvel Comics, but the franchise has not always had great success in the box office.

But a reboot of the film series may be on the horizon, and could feature some new faces.

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The buzz around the new film is that Marvel wants to cast a person of color as Mr. Fantastic, and allegedly the man for the job is Will Smith, according to WeGotThisCovered.

Although nothing is set in stone the idea of Mr.Fantastic being a person of color the conversation is exciting for many Black comic fans. Another possibility for the role is John Krasinski, who is not Black. But the decision has yet to be made by Marvel.

The official word on the plans and direction of the Fantastic Four are still up in the air. But according to WeGotThisCovered, at the Marvel company retreat movies like Phase 5 and others will be discussed and mapped out. They will also decide on who will play other characters in the film later.

Read More: Tessa Thompson to portray Marvel’s first LGBTQ superhero in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

Names like Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen are said to be on the list of potentials for the character “The Thing”.

If Will Smith is selected for the role he would be coming off of a great momentum from playing the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin that debuted earlier this Spring. He’s proven to bring numbers to the box office with Aladdin raking in over $508 million while in theaters worldwide. This surpasses the original Aladdin from 1992 bringing in $472 million according to Forbes.

The last Fantastic Four film was released in 2015 only bringing in $1.6 million worldwide according to BoxOfficeMojo. The film series also released a Fantastic Four in 2007 and 2005.

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If Smith gets on board with Fantastic Four maybe he can bring fans to the theaters and boost Fantastic Four sales. What do you think?

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African-American college loan debt at an all time high

Black college students are borrowing, owing, and defaulting on educational loans more often than any other racial group. Reports say that it is currently at an all time high.

The racial gap in student debt is the result of wealth inequality, and not much funding provided at colleges and universities that enroll the largest number of Black students, according to The Washington Post.

Read More: Jemele Hill slammed as ‘racist’ and ‘pro-segregationist’ for urging Black athletes to attend HBCUs

In order to figure out what can be done, some higher education experts shared their own solutions with The Washington Post on how to address the unfair impact that student loan debt is having on Black students during and after college.

Jalil Mustaffa Bishop, a postdoctoral scholar in the higher education division at the University of Pennsylvania believes the following, “The problem is that student loans were presented as a false solution for current and future workers enduring racial capitalism, particularly black people. Black degree earners, however, are uniquely underpaid, underemployed and unprotected.”

Believing that the government has some responsibility to help graduates, he also stated. “This is a call for legislation to create good jobs — increase the minimum wage to a living wage, federally guarantee employment, provide universal health care and strengthen workers’ organizing power.We need labor policies that explicitly focus on empowering workers in sectors like care-taking and service work where black people already are.”

Read More: Billionaire Robert F. Smith also promises to pay off parents debt of Morehouse College graduates

Bishop is not the only academician with an idea on what needs to be done. William A. Darity, a professor of economics at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University conducted a study with Fenaba Addo, who is an assistant professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and found that student loan debt disparities are due to racial wealth disparities. That while government could be helpful, it is much deeper. This is about systemic racism.

They issued a joint statement saying, “We believe that in order to address the black student debt crisis, we need to eliminate racial wealth inequality. The first approach will tackle the existing debt overhang that disproportionately burdens black young adults. This can be accomplished via a program of loan forgiveness for all students holding loan debt associated with their college years.”

Read More: Bernie Sanders, liberals, out with bill to cancel student debt

An alternative view was expressed by assistant professor at the University of Alabama, Krystal L. Williams, believes colleges and universities need more scholarship opportunities for students. “A holistic approach is needed to address the student debt crisis.” Williams continued. “Initiatives that focus on higher education finance should be central to this holistic approach. More institutional support could help to buffer the need for tuition increases and allow institutions to increase allocations to scholarships that help to reduce college financial burden.”

There are so many why the African-American college debt statistics are through the roof. Perhaps some of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates should take heed. While many have already suggested more funding to historically Black colleges & universities and public institutions, only one has a person has presented a plan to reduce 80% of Black borrowers. That according to the Washington Post is Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).

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Billionaire Robert F. Smith also promises to pay off parents debt of Morehouse College graduates

Billionaire Robert F. Smith surprised the Morehouse College’s class of 2019 in May with grants to wipe out their student debt to the tune of $34 million. That ultimate graduation gift will now include federal educational debt amassed by parents.

Four months after Smith pledged to pay off the student loans of nearly 400 graduates, the Atlanta-based historically black, all-male college has released more details about the donation.

The Smith family will not only pay off student loans, but also the loans their parents took out, the college said in a news release Friday about the new Morehouse College Student Success Program.

— How Robert Smith’s pledge to pay my $150K student loan debt saved me from giving up on my dreams

“It is our hope that our graduates will use their newfound financial freedom to pursue their career goals, to lead and serve the community, and to remember the spirit of the gift given to them by paying it forward to support the education of future classes of Morehouse Men,”  said David Thomas, Morehouse College president, noting that Smith’s gift will be “life-changing for our new Morehouse Men and their families.”

Smith, who is worth about $5 billion, according to Forbes, is founder of private equity and venture capital firm Vista Equity Partners. He previously pledged $50 million to his alma mater, Cornell University, toward the school’s college of engineering. In 2018, Smith was the wealthiest Black American in the country, USA Today reports.

According to Morehouse, “Alumni who graduated in May or who finished their degree requirements during summer school 2019 are eligible to receive gifts in the inaugural offering from the Morehouse College Student Success Program,” the release states. Parents and guardians are also gift-eligible and “all must show supporting documents to prove that loans were taken to finance a Morehouse College education and processed by Morehouse.”

— Morehouse man named chair of Congressional Black Caucus

“My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans. You great Morehouse men are bound only by the limits of your own conviction and creativity,” Smith told the students and their parents during his commencement speech at the 2019 graduation ceremony in May.

 

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