Fixing Fox’s Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four released recently to, well, less than stellar reviews. Despite a near universal amount of hate not seen since… well the last Fantastic Four movie, while viewing it with fellow We The Nerdy writer Jack Johnston, I was actually surprised by how much I was enjoying the movie, both of us were in fact. We talked about it for quite a while afterwards and both came to the conclusion that there was quite a lot we liked about the movie, but it derailed itself about halfway through. Rather than just move on with our lives and go see something better, we discussed what we’d do to improve the movie, as we do feel it had potential which only made it’s flaws more glaring.

A quick note before we start, we know many people will simply suggest “Make it more like the comics! Fire Josh Trank! Sell the rights back to Marvel!” and all that stuff, but here’s the thing; we know exactly the kind of movie Marvel Studios would make with this property. It’d be silly, fun, contains tonnes of in-jokes and references and, in a week’s time, we’d be unable to tell you anything about the movie (how much can you remember about Ant Man?). I don’t mean to dismiss Marvel Studios, I love every film they put out (well maybe not Age of Ultron) and will see them and get the same fanboy giddiness everyone else does. However, now that we have about 12 movies in that style, we want to see something different. Fantastic Four had a good idea in there for a great new take on Marvel’s First Family and that’s what we’re here today to salvage. We want to show you why Trank’s vision could’ve made for a great movie.

So without further ado, here’s what we’d do in order to fix Fox’s Fantastic Four.

Remove Doom as the main villain

So I think absolutely everyone will agree that this movie’s version of Doctor Doom was… well.

Yeah… that’s one of the worst designed super villain outfits I’ve seen in a long time (although the idea of the survival suit fusing to him was cool, very much like something from The Fly, which seems to have been a major influence on Trank’s vision.)

It seems that once again Fox have misunderstood how to use Doctor Doom and so have simply shoved in a generic “antagonist with super powers” and affixed the Doom label to him in order to gain mass market appeal, regardless of whether or not he fits. He’s there solely to have an action scene in the third act, but his inclusion is awkward and doesn’t fit well with the rest of the movie, to the point where we turned to each other and asked if we were watching the climax of the same film as earlier on. While we have an idea for who should’ve been the main villain of this picture (all in good time) there’s another villain that could’ve filled Doom’s role while being a much better fit; resident Negative Zone inhabitant Annihilus, specifically the ultimate version of the character.



Including Annihilus wouldn’t even disrupt the flow of movie that much, with Victor Von Doom also still being allowed to play the same role in the first act. We could either have the exact same things happen, including having him lost in the negative zone, setting him up to become the big bad in a future movie (gee I wonder what other successful superhero franchise teased the villain in the first before deploying him successfully in the second…) or, as Jack suggests, have Victor featured only at the start of the movie before getting frustrated at the project, possibly having a few violent outbursts at Reed (through jealousy) and Sue (accidental pent-up anger, this would be the last outburst) pocketed with glorious, GLORIOUS lengthy monologues about how great Doom is before leaving for Latveria. This could also work as set-up, perhaps returning to Latveria saw him pursue a different path, perhaps one that could see him take on a more traditional role in a future movie? It’s not for us to say, but it’s clear Doom could be introduced or set-up without having to be the Big Bad with little introduction and uncertain motivation that he is in the film.

When it comes to Annihilus himself, that’s easy. When we have the soon-to-be-fantastic four messing about in the negative zone, we could have Reed or even Sue pick up another lifeform out there with them, building suspense for Annihilus’ reveal in the third act (a sort of Aliens style set up occurring in the base the family are held at and threatening to spill out of containment) . The audience see Planet Zero as a blank slate, they know nothing about it so it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary to imagine some sort of creature living there. It not only doesn’t require much explanation but also leaves the door open for further adventures in this new territory in the sequels.

Of course, this is only if Fox want an easy way out to fix the final act, if they want to be smart then there’s a much better option for a villain, one that much closer aligns with Trank’s plans and opens the door for a smarter approach to the movie:

Make the Government a much bigger threat

Much like Annihilus, this isn’t too much of a stretch to imagine as all the elements are in place for this already, though they weren’t taken advantage of.

Throughout the movie the government, and in particular Agent Harvey Allen (names suspiciously close to long time FF villain the moleman, Harvey Elder) have a very antagonistic relationship with Franklin’s foundation, pushing to shut the project down before attempting to take the technology for themselves after it proved successful. It’s because of their attempted interference that our cast even get their powers in the first place, as they attempt to beat them to the punch on interdimensional travel. Their relationship only deepens from here as they begin to use the newly transformed Ben Grimm in covert operations. Anyone who’s seen the movie should be able to agree what a tense, frightening moment this is. It gets under your skin, making you feel so much sympathy for Ben and so much detest for Harvey. Heck, this whole bit could’ve been pushed even further if you showed Harvey treating Ben like an animal then lying to Sue and Johnny about Ben’s condition. This all just gets dropped though and we skip ahead a year in order to focus on the doom conflict.

It’s clear that the government were meant to play a bigger, more obviously antagonistic role, and really I feel this is what should’ve happened. They could’ve been responsible for Doom leaving in the first act as Jack suggests, making their ties with the team’s history even more linked. They even suggest in the movie the possibility of them trying to make more people like the fantastic four, so it’s clear there are different potential avenues to have them play a bigger role in the movie (perhaps they’re responsible for a new incarnation of the Frightful Four, or is that perhaps too much of an “Oscorping” of the FF franchise?).

Regardless, having the government themselves be the main antagonists would be a stark change from most superhero movies and served quite well as an antagonist for this more grounded take. The elements were all in place, the studio just needed to have the strength to follow through. A conclusion which involved a team confrontation with the government could also serve as a great pay off if it were incorporated with our next point.

Don’t do a time jump, focus on Reed’s escape and survival

The time jump can be agreed by many to be the most janky, unnatural element in the story’s narrative. It skips over so much character development and robs the movie of a second act. What makes this cut even more annoying is that there’s so much potential for intriguing character stuff in order to further develop the themes and ideas introduced so well in the first act.

First off, let’s look at the scene that  happens just before the time jump. Reed is horrified by his new body, he looks disgusting stretched out, it takes all his energy just to pull himself together in order to escape, and it obviously causes him pain to use his ‘powers’. Right after this, he encounters his best friend’s terrifying new form and in a state or
shock and helplessness decides to run, that he needs to get as far away as fast as he can. Just after this we jump forward in time and don’t see Reed again until he rejoins the team, essentially making his abandonment entirely pointless (especially since after about two minutes of hurt feelings they team up to take down Doom). Properly exploited however, this could’ve made for a great hook during the second act of the movie and given Teller the chance to prove his acting skills.

A common theme in many of the comics is the guilt Reed feels for getting his friends caught up in his mistake, particularly when it comes to Ben, as his transformation makes him an outcast from society. This is hardly played up at all in the film, even though the potential for it was strong. This time around, Ben wasn’t even needed as a pilot or necessary at all to the experiment, Reed brought him along and essentially destroyed his life because he was drunk and stupid. There’s no way around this being almost entirely Reed’s fault, so his guilt should’ve been first and foremost the emotional center of the movie, essentially given that Bell and Teller had some nice chemistry together. If instead of jumping in time then, leave on the scene of Ben being conscripted by the government and then focus on Reed as he attempts to figure things out. Jack heavily suggested that at this point we don’t actually see what happens with the rest of the team at all. He believes that the focus should be on just how messed up Reed was, focusing on him building his containment suit and struggling to come to term with his bodily changes (as by the end he hadn’t even realised that was the point of his suit). This could definitely work, Teller could certainly pull off carrying the second act mostly on his own, and Jack certainly believes this. In his mind, we shouldn’t even see the rest of the cast first hand during this section. Instead, he believes Reed should find out about his friends through things such as leaked footage of government files or tales heard and newspapers seen that describe a monster fitting Ben’s description. Trank certainly has a background with the “found footage” model (though we’re not saying that’s what this would be) and it would allow us to perceive the horrifying changes through Reed’s eyes, his guilt acting as a strong emotional hook.

By viewing the struggle of adjusting to the new body solely on an isolated Reed (rather than spending forever showing off each member individually like last time), the movie’s length can be saved from being too long and because Reed is the most rational and logical out of them all, when we see him freaking out we can only imagine how the rest are doing without him. This section of our version of the film could probably also be used to better show off that Reed is as hyper-intelligent as his character demands, he just seems to stumble into ideas in the first act of the film without understanding how anything works (although this could just be because we are essentially viewing Reed’s brilliance from Ben’s eyes at that stage). The aspect of survival in spite of these powers is one that could possibly be pushed here as well as we see what lengths Reed will go to in order to save his family and he may do some morally questionable things, which could set the way for creating a more antagonistic Reed such as the one from the Ultimate universe (although Josh doesn’t share half as much enthusiasm for this as me).

While we’re on this note, Jack really pushed to remove the Sue/Reed romance stuff. I agree with him, really the only reason these two are together is because they are in the comics, however these two have absolutely no chemistry in the movie (almost as if sticking to the source material doesn’t always make a better movie). While I personally would just take the romance out entirely, Jack felt there was potential for a Ben/Sue partnership instead. He feels these two might actually get on better (certainly someone like Sue who grew up alongside geniuses might find something refreshingly different in Ben) and thinks that it could actually make for a more interesting relationship between the two post-powers. I could certainly see this happening, and feel it could strengthen a lot of the themes of our version of the film. It certainly strengthens Ben’s connection to the rest of the four, because as it is he disappears 15 minutes in only to reappear in the last half hour, however with this, he maintains best friends with Reed but then also has a romantic connection with Susan (even if they break up post-powers as Jack suggests). This would also give a bit more depth to the Ben/Johnny rivalry, as Johnny could be potentially overprotective of his sister and view Ben as just another dumb brute, perhaps seeing something of himself in Ben and wanting Sue to be with someone better. While we may not be romance experts, there’s certainly room to explore different potential mix-ups or pairings between the main cast to show their different bonds as family members. This is key, and leads us into our final point.

Play up the themes of family

For a team called “Marvel’s First Family”, there are very little actual moments or themes of family in the movie. However, following through with the different threads we’ve introduced allows for a conclusion not only more in line with the first hour of the movie but also ties back into the central core family aspect of the team (albeit with a somber ending).

So we have all the elements in place, a sinister villain in the form of Harvey Allen, a team struggling with their powers and betrayal of Reed, and Reed himself struck with guilt and the physical impairment of his actions. Really there’s no other way in our mind to have a conclusion that doesn’t involve Reed breaking into the government facility to free his friends with the main stakes being how much his friends trust him. Given his betrayal and what he did to his friends I could understand them not being so willing to trust him despite their troubled circumstances. It would certainly be a nice pay off to the elements of Reed’s guilt and show how the characters have changed during the year of Reed’s absence. Something the actual movie lacked was any real emotional pay-off of response to their powers, so a scene like this would certainly give some nice insight on how the team feel about their powers. Their distrust of Reed could also allow room for Franklin Storm to step in and help bring the team together as a family. He constantly refers to them as “My children” so it’s no stretch to imagine them strengthening this to tie with the team’s traditional ideas of family. Both Jack and I also foresee an ending in which Franklin shelters the kids in the Baxter Building after escaping the government, making them essentially fugitives though sticking together throughout it (but hey it means we get to hear more of Reg E. Cathy’s earthy voice). A more somber ending feels more in line with what Trank had planned, and forcing the kids to stick together would allow for a more character focused ending that once more goes back to the ideas of family. It may not be the happy-go-lucky ending fans want, but we feel it better fits the tone of the movie, and allows a lot of potential room for growth in a sequel (which is certainly not happening any more).

So there you have it, that’s our ideas on how to fix Fox’s Fantastic Four. There are certainly more ways to do an adaptation of this property, and most fans will still likely cry for one that’s exactly like the comics in the style of most Marvel Studios movies. Hell, an early draft for this movie just leaked, and it sounds just like that. We, however, still feel there’s room for invention and change in the franchise, and wanted to show that this more contemporary and grounded tone could’ve worked if it were for a few small changes.

Agree? Disagree? Absolutely sick of hearing about this bomb of a movie? Let us know in the comments and continue the trend of us caring more about this movie than Fox ever did (hey-o!). And be sure to check out more of Jack’s writing for the site here