The Fantastic 4: First Spoilers

[Drizzle]

Yeah the ending threw me a little as I assumed that the F4 would be going through the portal to join up with the others as the Thunderbolts post credit scene showed, but I guess thats more Doom related anyway.

I'm actually glad that the movie ended the way it did. It's very self-contained apart from the mid credits scene. I was really expecting Galactus to destroy Earth 828 with the FF ending up in the mainline 616 universe while trying to stop him. Add that to the fact that I saw the soundtrack listing with one of the tracks being "Let Us Be Devoured", not knowing that it wasn't an actual plot point, just an innocuous song that plays during the credits.

 

[psylockolussus]

Did anyone catch the 1994 casts cameos?

I didn't.

 

[PunyGod]

Did anyone catch the 1994 casts cameos?

According to IMDB they were news reporters and power plant workers.

 

[Primal Slayer]

It was so good! Definitely the best MC(U) film since Endgame. I'm stuck between 8.5/9 out of 10.

Overall story was fantastic. Felt fresh. Each of the FF films are sooo different from one another that it is insane lol. This definitely got basically everything right (though I still have Chris as the definitive Johnny)

Loved the world that they built. Everyone did a great job with their characters. Loved all the homages to FF comics/first villains/etc....and I even spotted the OG FF live action actors in there!!!!

Galactus is not an easy villain to get right but boy did they do it. Sue nurfing up to get him where they needed him was such an amazing scene and the emotions it brought were everything.

Shalla-Bal, I was glad that they went into her origins and were able to give her a full round about story.

My biggest question and thought was....what happened to Galactus's ship? It was in Earths orbit but once he lands it just is never seen or spoken of again. One would assume its still orbiting the planet.

I didn't.

According to IMDB they were news reporters and power plant workers.

They were in the opening montage with the big "thank you FF!" Top right corner.

 

[Drizzle]

According to IMDB they were news reporters and power plant workers.

They were in the opening montage with the big "thank you FF!" Top right corner.

It's all of the above. I saw a post on IG confirming it. They were reporters, they were in the scene in the montage where Johnny stops the fire and all four of them showed up in the montage together thanking the FF.

It's actually funny that they got cameos and no one from the later F4 films did but I'm sure there are probably plans for them to be brought in later, at least Ioan Gruffudd and Miles Teller for the inevitable Council of Reeds.

 

[Primal Slayer]

It's all of the above. I saw a post on IG confirming it. They were reporters, they were in the scene in the montage where Johnny stops the fire and all four of them showed up in the montage together thanking the FF.

It's actually funny that they got cameos and no one from the later F4 films did but I'm sure there are probably plans for them to be brought in later, at least Ioan Gruffudd and Miles Teller for the inevitable Council of Reeds.

Given the multiverse saga, I dont think they'd allow the modern FF to cameo.

 

[LoganPool]

I really thought we were getting the Council of Reeds in this movie. There was a leaked set pic from like a year ago showing a man with a coat over his head being escorted on set. New Rockstars predicted it was Ioan Gruffudd. I have no idea who that could've been.

 

[Drizzle]

I really thought we were getting the Council of Reeds in this movie. There was a leaked set pic from like a year ago showing a man with a coat over his head being escorted on set. New Rockstars predicted it was Ioan Gruffudd. I have no idea who that could've been.

Before seeing the movie I thought Ioan Gruffudd being at the premiere was a giveaway that he had a cameo in this but I guess there's plenty of opportunity for him to turn up in Secret Wars or a future FF movie.

I remember there was also a rumor that Chris Evans would have a cameo in this too but I was thinking that he'd be the 828 universe Steve Rogers rather than his version of Johnny, especially after his Deadpool & Wolverine cameo last year.

 

[Web-Head]

According to IMDB they were news reporters and power plant workers.

I'll have to keep a closer eye out on my next viewing

Edit: Watched the special look on Disney+ and saw the cameos

 

[psylockolussus]

Before seeing the movie I thought Ioan Gruffudd being at the premiere was a giveaway that he had a cameo in this but I guess there's plenty of opportunity for him to turn up in Secret Wars or a future FF movie.

I remember there was also a rumor that Chris Evans would have a cameo in this too but I was thinking that he'd be the 828 universe Steve Rogers rather than his version of Johnny, especially after his Deadpool & Wolverine cameo last year.

Oh I didn't know he attended the premiere.

 

[Hannibal75]

Eric Voss theorized that at the midcredit scene Franklin heals Doom's face and that will justify the fact that RDJ won't wear a mask in the Avengers films.

 

[Nightshift]

Did anyone catch the 1994 casts cameos?

Saw one. At the beginning of the film the ABC news anchor is Reed 1994.

 

[Nightshift]

Eric Voss theorized that at the midcredit scene Franklin heals Doom's face and that will justify the fact that RDJ won't wear a mask in the Avengers films.

That would be pretty disappointing imo.

 

[Mike Murdock]

****

I love the cast, the characters, the visuals, the world building, the slower pacing, more subtle humor, the lack of MCU references. I was very into this movie and then
they revealed that Galactus wanted Franklin. For whatever reason I could not suspend my disbelief. I get what they were trying to do, but it just didn't work for me.

I know why Franklin matters as a comic geek, but the movie desperately needed to show it. I know thematically they wanted Reed to get over his fear of how this baby would turn out, but as a viewer I needed something to sell me on why this ancient powerful being would care. That's really where the movie fell apart for me. That and trying to get Galactus to walk over a big chalk line like a Looney Tunes character.

Genuinely loved everything else. Can't wait to see these characters again, but in another story.

So I thought it was explained pretty well why Galactus wanted the baby.

More importantly, it had thematic purpose. It fit into the themes of the uncertainty of parenthood and the inability to completely control the path of your children. The theme generally (will we be good parents) was turned into a metaphor via cosmic radiation. Galactus brought to the surface the fears they were having prior to childbirth. But Reed, who wants to control everything, took longer to let go and let his kid develop however the kid develops. On a thematic level, I thought it worked well. Franklin was an essential part of the themes of the movie and not just Baby McGuffin.

 

[misjuevos]

I liked it overall. I was worried it would be typical quippy marvel dialogue, but it was not. They kept the tone and mood serious but what I would call wholesome. It was a great blend. I loved the look of it, the retro sci fi is really nice. I look forward to more of this Fantastic Four. So now for some of the nitpicky things.

I didn't like Ben's voice, but I got used to it and thought of it kind of like the movie portrayed him with a sort of branded version of himself the public watches on tv. The gruffer voice is more of the character the public sees of him on tv and in animated shows. So I got used to his "normal" voice. Johnny was good overall he wasn't over the top or subdued so I think they balanced him well. Overall the family dynamic was great.

The fight with Galactus fell apart. Watching Sue overpower Galactus, made me laugh. There is a power level hierarchy in the Marvel Universe. There are a handful of beings on the top and Galactus would be one of them. The Silver Surfer would be unable to overpower Galactus and he is pure power cosmic.

Reed didn't use his power enough when running around the city. Reed has awesome capabilities when using his power. He didn't showcase that in this. But they did portray a good Reed and Sue in this. Sue used here powers very well, much like she does in the comics. I was worried most Reed would not be serious, but they got his demeanor down pretty good. I think the only complaint about Reed is he didn't use his power enough in combat. I would love to see some of his shapeshifting type attacks, or giant fist or something besides just stretching, maybe even a ball roll or something. Also we got a tiny glimpse of him traversing the city using his power. I wanted more of that instead of him running down the street. Imagine watching a spiderman movie and you see him running down the street instead of web slinging. That is what it felt like watching Reed run for me.

Oh and I was happy to see Galactus, but I didn't think a CG Galactus was needed for every shot. You could just film an actor in his armor doing all his scenes, then just put him in afterwards to scale. I don't think using an entirely cg version was needed. There were some scenes where he was by himself just in his armor that could easily be filmed.

Anyway those are a few things I think they could improve on. But I liked the movie and really want to see more of this world. The style is very cool. Retro sci fi is really cool.

 

[psylockolussus]

I would have liked to see more Earth destruction, especially it had End of the world vibes, with all those "force field poles" built around the globe.

 

[Weather Witch]

So I thought it was explained pretty well why Galactus wanted the baby.

More importantly, it had thematic purpose. It fit into the themes of the uncertainty of parenthood and the inability to completely control the path of your children. The theme generally (will we be good parents) was turned into a metaphor via cosmic radiation. Galactus brought to the surface the fears they were having prior to childbirth. But Reed, who wants to control everything, took longer to let go and let his kid develop however the kid develops. On a thematic level, I thought it worked well. Franklin was an essential part of the themes of the movie and not just Baby McGuffin.

Rationally I understood all of this and knew that's what they were going for. I'm not really certain why all of that didn't land for me. I do want to watch the movie again and see if my opinion on all of this changes.

Like I said, I loved just about everything else, but this is obviously such a big part of the movie.

 

[Charzhin0]

So I thought it was explained pretty well why Galactus wanted the baby.

Franklin was an essential part of the themes of the movie and not just Baby McGuffin.

Did they explain it well because I was confused. In one line Galactus is saying he wanted Franklin to be the next on his throne so he can rest (but then how would Galactus feed?). Another line he said Franklin contained infinite energy or something which would satisfy Galactus' quench for hunger for eternity (implying Galactus would eat him?)

I did like the use of Frankin as not to be an outright inanimate McGuffin which a lot of movies do nowadays which is boring. His dual purpose really threaded the overarching story very neatly as opposed to if they had something like the Ultimate Nullifier as a plot device.

 

[Charzhin0]

Oh and thats one of the few negatives I had for the movie was them using an obvious CGI baby Franklin in some parts. Couldnt they use an actual baby lol

 

[Charzhin0]

The fight with Galactus fell apart. Watching Sue overpower Galactus, made me laugh. There is a power level hierarchy in the Marvel Universe. There are a handful of beings on the top and Galactus would be one of them. The Silver Surfer would be unable to overpower Galactus and he is pure power cosmic.

They could have handled that set up better. It does feel kinda like a dues ex machina how all of a sudden Sue is able to do this to Galactus. I get its tapping into her maternal rage, but its presented like she had this power all along. What they should have done is do a power level limit setup. In the first half of the movie, have her use forcefield powers to try prevent a large building from collapsing or something like that, but she really struggles to and holds it just in enough time for people to escape upon which she cant hold it no more and it collapses leaving her very weak and visibly exhausted. Now youve set an internal marker of what kind of limit her power has in "normal circumstances". So by the time she faces Galactus whose trying to steal her baby, she overcomes her previous limit and goes "supernova" (like Johnny reaching his max potential) to topple Galactus. I think that type of contrast would have made that feat of power more amicable and triumphant (even though yes the idea is still farfetched)

 

[Nightshift]

I'm just glad they cut down with the dumb Marvel humor and that the family element was the chore.

 

[misjuevos]

I did notice the original Human Torch from the 1994 movie was in this. You can look at the IMDB page of the 1994 movie and click on the main 4 to see their characters in the new movie. I didn't notice the other 3. The only one that stood out to me was the Human torch, he looks the same so it was easy to spot him. But after looking into it standing right next to him was the original Thing. They were playing construction workers during the opening scene, during the retelling of the F4's history. When Johnny sucks up the fire from the buildings a worker salutes him, that is the 1994 Torch, and next to him is the Thing. The original Sue and Reed I didn't notice their characters but IMDB says they were newscasters. I did notice them all together though in the intro when the people are saying "thank your F4".

If you have Disney plus you can watch the scene it is the Fantastic Four First Steps A Special Look video. Around 2:43 in that video you see the Human Torch and Thing. Then at around 3:57 you see all four of them together.

 

[Mr. Peanut]

Did they explain it well because I was confused. In one line Galactus is saying he wanted Franklin to be the next on his throne so he can rest (but then how would Galactus feed?). Another line he said Franklin contained infinite energy or something which would satisfy Galactus' quench for hunger for eternity (implying Galactus would eat him?)

I did like the use of Frankin as not to be an outright inanimate McGuffin which a lot of movies do nowadays which is boring. His dual purpose really threaded the overarching story very neatly as opposed to if they had something like the Ultimate Nullifier as a plot device.

I'm pretty sure he said Franklin was powerful enough to take Galactus's hunger, not that he would quench it. As in Galactus wants to pass on the burden/role of being Galactus to someone else, and Franklin's the only one powerful enough to handle it.

 

[Primal Slayer]

The fight with Galactus fell apart. Watching Sue overpower Galactus, made me laugh. There is a power level hierarchy in the Marvel Universe. There are a handful of beings on the top and Galactus would be one of them. The Silver Surfer would be unable to overpower Galactus and he is pure power cosmic.

Reed didn't use his power enough when running around the city. Reed has awesome capabilities when using his power. He didn't showcase that in this. But they did portray a good Reed and Sue in this. Sue used here powers very well, much like she does in the comics. I was worried most Reed would not be serious, but they got his demeanor down pretty good. I think the only complaint about Reed is he didn't use his power enough in combat. I would love to see some of his shapeshifting type attacks, or giant fist or something besides just stretching, maybe even a ball roll or something. Also we got a tiny glimpse of him traversing the city using his power. I wanted more of that instead of him running down the street. Imagine watching a spiderman movie and you see him running down the street instead of web slinging. That is what it felt like watching Reed run for me.

I would say if Reed/Sue can birth someone powerful enough for Galactus to take interest in, that Sue using all of her strength could hold him for a couple of mins, esp when it takes her life.

With Reed - yeah I think powerwise, this is where the OG triumphs with all the ways they showcased his powers.

 

[Mike Murdock]

Did they explain it well because I was confused. In one line Galactus is saying he wanted Franklin to be the next on his throne so he can rest (but then how would Galactus feed?). Another line he said Franklin contained infinite energy or something which would satisfy Galactus' quench for hunger for eternity (implying Galactus would eat him?)

I understood it initially that his power would satisfy Galactus's hunger. Then, later, Galactus stated it more clearly that was the case. Galactus is going to eat a baby. The throne comment was poetic, there was other dialogue in that exchange that was a bit clearer.