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Fantastic Four reboot


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I'm not really a comics guy, so I don't really have a view of how things should look or be, my experience with Fantastic Four was a collection of the early issues I read 10+ years ago and the first Fox movie. And the first five minutes of Silver Surfer a couple times, but never beyond that.

 

I think I've just been spoiled, so far, on the quality of the Marvel movies and the Nolanverse (even though Torch will completely disagree with that one). So I've already been bored by the Fantastic Four, and I'm just not seeing anything that stands out to me as something I need to see.

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I think the Nolan Batman is fine. I just think Dark Knight Rises is a steaming pile of shit.

 

I also don't care how a property is handled as long as I can "get it" and it's not say... Rated R Power Rangers, like literally that. If I can see the spirit is okay, I can enjoy stuff others think is shit.

 

That's not to say I will not be judgemental on glimpses of something, mere nuggets of info, I mean seriously that's what We do. It's our job as fans.

 

Afterthought: And if you sell me something and I buy it, but then I get it and it's not that... Flame on!

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They're saying officially now it's based on Ultimate Fantastic Four, not the original version. Hence being younger.

Aha! Exactly what I thought. Warren Ellis' run was kinda interesting to me.

 

I haven't read FF since Dwayne McDuffie's run, so my emotional attachment's been severed long enough that I'm game for whatever they want to try. I'm not feeling the urge to melt down and harass the director on Twitter over this.

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Nope.

 

They are legit bro and sis. The Baxter building is a thinktank for young geniuses run by Sue's dad. She's there as a legit genius. Johnny is there cause the rest of his family is. Reed is there cause he's a genius, and Ben is his friend from back home. The football player that defended him against bullies.

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I don't like it, but I won't crucify it before seeing it. Putting this choice of ultimate vs classic together with Dicksilver from DoFP, and Beast apparently becoming Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde in DoFP, not to mention the Green Goblin pics that came out this week, I'm just baffled by what's going on @ Fox.

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They're saying officially now it's based on Ultimate Fantastic Four, not the original version. Hence being younger.

Which is the stupidest excuse ever. People kinda forget that Sue was 19, and Johnny 16 when FF #1 came out in 1962. Reed is 6 years older than Sue (they first met when he was 19 and working for her dad during his college years. She was 13 at the time and developed a crush on him, so 6 years), so he was mid-20's himself. The only one who's age stretches credibility is Ben (who was a Marine and a test pilot before becoming the Thing), which given he and Reed met in college, means that he cannot be too much older than Reed, perhaps late 20's, early 30's at the most in FF#1 (Reed graduated with multiple Doctorates at 20, so Ben is almost certainly older if he went through full engineering courses in college). So, they can easily justify it without having to even invoke the Ultimate comics. The main Marvel U supports a younger Fantastic Four in the beginning.

 

The thing is, people think of Sue and Reed as the 'Mom and Dad of the Marvel Universe'. That might be what the grew into, but that is NOT how they started. And given that this is the origins of the team, a younger Reed and Sue make complete sense.

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Yeah, but the main Marvel U also had Reed and Ben as WWII vets well into the Bronze Age of comics. Not to mention the whole "beat the Russkies to the Moon" thing. Even the two movies already felt more indebted to the Ultimate reboot (there are verbatim quotes from the Ellis run in the sequel) than to the original Lee/Kirby run.

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Maybe?

 

Here's my two cents... the FF has always been about family. X-Men was about ciivil rights, Spider-Man was about the everyman being a hero. The FF was, in the 60s, presented as a literal nuclear family thanks to cosmic rays. Reed smoked a pipe and looked like Ward Cleaver.

 

It's possible that this notion is at play here-- but instead of the 50s/60s nuclear family, we are looking at the modern family. It's multicultural, or maybe one of them is adopted. They could still be family even if they aren't the same color.

 

Like I said, Johnny being black doesn't bother me. A doughy Reed Richards and a scrawny Ben Grimm are far more problematic.

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The whole cast is pathetic and none of them embody the FF I know and love. Nothing against the actors. They're just miscast, is all. Granted, I never read the Ultimate line, as I'm a 616 Universe traditionalist, but I just think it's a wasted opportunity. You know how we all knew that Halle Berry's Catwoman sucked before we even got to see a trailer or any clips? I'm getting the same feeling with this movie.

 

This cast is all wrong. Reed is supposed to be the fatherly patriarch of the family. Ben is the street smart lug with a heart of gold... built like a linebacker. Johnny is the most whitebread character in the Marvel Universe. I've known him my whole life as a blond white dude. I'm sorry, but I think they're going about this in a completely wrongheaded way. If they want the cast to be diverse, this isn't the way to do it. Bring in actual black characters from the comics, like T'Challa. Don't compromise another character's background for it. In fact, this is an insult to all of the actual black characters from the comics who are begging for a film of their own. Where's the Black Panther movie? Or Luke Cage? Are we getting either any time soon? Probably not. As for Sue, I could take or leave Kate Mara. Personally, I think she's a bit too emo-looking and mousy.

 

This would be my ideal FF:

 

Matthew Morrison as Reed. He's old and distinguished enough, but not too old that he wouldn't be able to play the part for years. He's got the science nerd thing down pat and he looks the part.

 

Elizabeth Banks as Sue. She'd own this role. She's beautiful, charismatic, and tough enough that she looks like she could hold her own in a fight. She'd be the perfect First Lady of the Marvel Universe.

 

Garrett Hedlund as Johnny. He's got the perfect persona and look for the brash, smart-mouthed kid brother of Sue and persistent thorn in the side to Ben Grimm, a.k.a. The Thing. Which brings me to...

 

Adam Baldwin as Ben. Come on. You know you want it.

 

And, for good measure, I'd throw in Jason Isaacs as Victor Von Doom.

 

See? It's not that hard to cast these characters right.

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On the diversity issue, if I wanted to do that (honestly given a choice I would do a 1950s birth of the space era period piece and they'd all look like living Kirby drawings)... but if I sat down and said, updating this is neat so let's do it. Let's grab the spirit of the franchise, the family and mix it up. Really let it embody America of today.

 

With that premise I would:

 

Look for a African-American actor to be Reed. Still want a college professor age here, late 30s. I want someone that is just oozing with the éclat of a Neil Degrasse Tyson.

 

Look for two Asian-American actors to be Sue and Johnny. I want them to be Hawaiian beach "brats" in personality; vibrant and fun, but smart. Sue would be in her late 20s, early college grad and heavily Eco-friendly in her science endeavors. Johnny being around 19, he goofed away a couple years after high school surfing and playing but now is on the cusp of enlisting into the Navy.

 

Look for the most iconically Caucasian-American all-star athlete but not a bulk bodied actor for Grimm. Gotta be blue-eyed, gotta have a flawless New York accent. This guy has to look like the poster boy for NASA's Apollo program. He's career Military and a conservative but a bit rogue. Wolverine would buy this guy a drink, type of personality. Got a job to do, let's do it... type of Thing.

 

That's how I'd roll it.

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I'm totally serious. That'd be awesome.

 

Grimm is this Lovell mirror, repeatedly bumped for various reasons not according to his ability and never makes it to space. His buddy Reed needs to get up there to do an experiment, but NASA deems it dangerous. Reed's experiment includes research papered by Sue Storm, so he has a lightbulb idea to bring her in... well her money... well her mom's money. Reed convinces Grimm to be his pilot/partner and sends him to Hawaii to work his charms on Sue... well her wallet... well her mom's... purse?! Ben's mission is almost accomplished but Johnny sees the "con". Sue yells at Johnny's hero syndrome, explains she saw the grift earlier but that she had her own itches to scratch... which now won't be, moment ruined. Thanks, little bro. So just like always Captain Ben Grimm is grounded again.

 

And we're off...

 

Afterthought:

 

If possible, I'd want to Easter egg/cameo in Danny Rand as a financial backer when Matriarch Storm agrees with NASA's conclusions. He'd be a friend of Johnny's, who Johnny met crushing surf, Danny was in paradise working on his zen-thing, man. I envision someone like Garrett Hedlund in that, I mean maybe not literally as he'd just be reprising Sam Flynn, but someone with that feeling.

 

Of course we get up to space, but NASA and Matriarch Storm were right... the brilliant scientist that Reed is took too much of a risk. The accident occurs in high orbit. Our fantastic voyagers are now in for the experience of their lives (Johnny included because, "This would be the thrill of a lifetime. Just one more before responsibility drowns me, Sue. Come on. Reed, what are you worried about? Weight?! Look at me! Tell Ben to stop eating donuts and don't allow Sue to bring her beauty products... Think of me like a carry on.") and then they crash into the sea.

 

Wreckage, radiation and all the secrets of the ooze spill into the sea like primal paint splash art. The villain (or from his POV, the hero) emerges from the depths. Prince Namor, the sub-mariner.

 

Afterthought 2: The Electric Boogaloo.

 

Reed and Sue never get married in this version. Not ever ever. They swoon, think they dig it, they have a ONE OFF fling and as a result twins happen. It's not a mistake, it's not thought of as an accident, in the terms of science... They call it a discovery. Sue and Reed, knowing now they aren't right together, build their new family thru friendship between them and love of the children. There is no deadbeat stuff here, no unnecessary love triangle or why can't you love me?! angst, no cheating or any of that. Just two people dealing with life, decisions good or bad, and making it as right as they can for their kids.

 

That is an important dynamic for me and I would fight to the death for it to be, eventually, in the franchise.

 

Another thing:

 

I don't want Reed to be the only one with guilt over the accident. If you read anything above you'll see I laid work for Sue to have a crisis too. This super Earth friendly scientist will be partly responsible for a horrific ecological disaster.

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My mental images for my updated F4:

 

Jay Ellis as Reed Richards

Jake Gyllenhaal as Ben Grimm

Brenda Song as Sue Storm

Rain (Ninja Assassin) as Johnny Storm

 

Perhaps not literally those actors, but that type of collective look.

 

Namor and his Atlanteans would be mixes of South American and Polynesian cultures, but with elf ears. Easter Island would be near where Atlantis is.

 

The F4 origin unleashes a classic Japanese horror style birthing of monsters from that location. The spirit stylings of which I hope Kirby could be excited about. Glowy tendril jellyfish beasts, Lovecraftian freaky shit.

 

After some yelling Namor and the F4 team up to contain the disaster.

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Isaacs as Doom would be awesome!

 

And Johnny Storm/white bread in the same sentence in this context and I just died laughing.

 

While we're at it though, maybe Brad Pitt can play Black Panther. He's a great actor. He could bring a lot to the character.

 

:unimpressed:

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Guest El Chalupacabra

 

Like I said, Johnny being black doesn't bother me.

 

 

Doesn't bother me, either. It's probably a conscious decision to differentiate this Johnny Storm from Captainjohnny Americanstorm.

 

That said, and not that I am much of a fan of FF to begin with, but so far, this movie does not interest me at all. It's making the last FF:ROTSS movie look pretty awesome by comparison.

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Jason Issacs could be a good Doom.

 

Although I have always imagined Jurgen Prochnow as Doom, but he's too old now. I think Til Schweiger could be a great replacement for my imagined Jurgen Doom however. Til is older than my idea for a Revisioned F4, but Reed is a super genius so he doesn't have to be Doom's contemporary age wise... just intellectually so.

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