What do you want if there's a Fantastic Four reboot?

[The Joker_1000]

Well, for starters, if we do get a reboot, I think the origins need to be more like in the comics because I feel that's what's best. I'm not sure who we could get for Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman but for the Human Torch I'd definitely want Chris Evans. If we get an actor for the Thing, I would want Michael Chiklis back because he was really dedicated to pulling off the role. If not him, I would actually like to see a CGI Thing. All in all, for the Thing, if we get an actor other than Chiklis, he needs to be over 6'2 to have the correct posture but I would like to at least see a CGI Thing once. For villains, I'd like to see either the Mole Man or the Skrulls because we haven't gotten them on film yet and if we got Dr. Doom again in a reboot, it'd be too repetitive.

 

[bubbadoom]

Again, why waste time retelling the origin, when that's one of the few parts that the first movie got half way right. I know it was not 100% faithful, but what could they do that is that different? They still go into space, get exposed to the rays, etc. Okay, so Doom would not be a part of it, but does that really make enough difference to the overall characters to spend THAT much time in a new movie going over the same ground? Just start the movie with them as the world's greatest adventure team and never look back!

If they have the bucks for a digital Thing, then I would be interested in seeing what that would look like. But if it's not going to be any better than the Hulk and Abomination, then FORGET IT! A practical approach looks much better than those digital characters, and if Fox would let them make the brow and nose closer to the comics, then the make-up would be fine.

Not sure why you want the Thing to be taller than Reed, when he was always shorter, but I would even entertain that notion.

And PLEASE use other villains - Mole Man, Skrulls, Mad Thinker, the real Frightful Four, the list goes on and on! Doom does not need to come near a reboot for SEVERAL sequels!

 

[The Joker_1000]

Several sequels? That's much too long, he should be introduced in the second or third movie if there's a reboot. As for the Thing, how can he be shorter than Reed if he is nearly as tall as the Hulk? In the traditional comics I believe he was listed as somewhere around 6'5-6'8. Anyway, I do think that they could redo the origins and get them out of the way quickly. If not, we could just get flashbacks.

 

[The Major]

Again, why waste time retelling the origin, when that's one of the few parts that the first movie got half way right.

Half right is not good enough.

I know it was not 100% faithful, but what could they do that is that different?

Not turn into into a bad comedy?

Get a better script which respects the franchise?

Recast Alba with a good actress?

Hire a director who actually knows how to do sci-fi well?

Not chicken out on exploring the mythos?

They still go into space, get exposed to the rays, etc. Okay, so Doom would not be a part of it, but does that really make enough difference to the overall characters to spend THAT much time in a new movie going over the same ground? Just start the movie with them as the world's greatest adventure team and never look back!

A new movie could actually make that sequence good to begin with. Get rid of that awful Doom to replace him with a version worthy of the name, establish the Fantastic Four better before they get their powers, have a script that makes the FF cool to the public.

Most importantly make sure it is in no way connected to the current franchise.

If they have the bucks for a digital Thing, then I would be interested in seeing what that would look like. But if it's not going to be any better than the Hulk and Abomination, then FORGET IT! A practical approach looks much better than those digital characters, and if Fox would let them make the brow and nose closer to the comics, then the make-up would be fine.

I'd like to see a CGI Thing. We've already seen a suit version. It was okay but it still failed to make him impressive IMO.

Not sure why you want the Thing to be taller than Reed, when he was always shorter, but I would even entertain that notion.

You're wrong about that.

http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/4147104.html

And PLEASE use other villains - Mole Man, Skrulls, Mad Thinker, the real Frightful Four, the list goes on and on! Doom does not need to come near a reboot for SEVERAL sequels!

Doom isn't the only problem with the movies its the entire execution.

The current staff botched every aspect of the franchise so badly it'll take a complete revamp like Batman Begins for the public to take FF seriously.

 

[The Joker_1000]

Yeah, FF was good (I'll give both movies a 7/10) but they could've been better. Both movies seemed sort of rushed and both weren't even two hours.

The Thing definitely needs to be CGI next time around, unless they are going to use crappy CGI that makes him look too cartoony. As far as Jessica Alba goes, the first few times I watched the movie I thought she did great but the more and more I watched the movies the more and more all I saw was a pretty face and nothing more.

I say that they need to make the next FF franchise more like the comics where things are taken just a bit more seriously and the villains need to be handled better. That means a humanoid Galactus and a more menacing Dr. Doom.

 

[bubbadoom]

Thing's height - If you look at any of the first 200 plus issues, the Thing is clearly shorter than Reed. I know now days he is all over the place in terms of height, but I am going by the REAL FF, the Kirby FF! Look at the covers to #27, 29, 90, & 96 for a few examples. Jack was the short scrapper of his neighborhood, and he brought that quality to the Thing. I am not talking Wolverine short, but again he is clearly no taller than Reed.

I am not saying the origin could not be improved upon, I know the entire movie could be, but if you only get one more shot at doing it right, why burn up valuable screen time going over something that has already been covered. At least with BATMAN BEGINS, they were covering new ground, as the back story had only been hinted at in the other movies.

I agree, do not reference the Fox films in any way. Like the original comic, just start the movie with them as the FF and move on. If you even need to address their origin - and I see no reason why you would - just say "since that accident in space that gave us our powers..." and move on from there. And sure, Alba is ALL wrong for Sue, but she might make a good Crystal!

My not being 100% faithful comment was ONLY about the origin, not the rest of the movie. I know they were WAY off the mark with most everything else, I just don't see the point of covering the same material again, MOVE ON to bigger and better concepts from the movie!

 

[The Joker_1000]

In the comics I read the Thing always seemed taller than Reed. In any case, even if there were some instances in which Reed was taller than the Thing, it should be corrected in the movies. I don't want another Thing to be shorter than the Invisible Woman, no matter how good he can act.

 

[Malus]

You're wrong about that.
http://community.livejournal.com/scans_daily/4147104.html

No. He's not.
Jack Kirby created the Thing (at bare minimum he created the visuals) and for over 100 issues he always drew Ben at Reed's height or shorter.
Ben's height (and size) in recent years is a retcon and an inconsistent one at that.
That being said, I don't mind if he's a bit taller than the others as long as he's not some hulking gargantua.

The current staff botched every aspect of the franchise so badly it'll take a complete revamp like Batman Begins for the public to take FF seriously.

Every aspect? Come on.
I think they got a lot of stuff right. Just not nearly enough.
I just want this franchise away from Fox. There will never be a faithful FF film if the blockheads at Fox are involved. Those idiots had to be convinced to let Doom wear a mask. Case closed.

If there is a reboot, I still want a fun adventure film, not some serious and brooding take on the characters. "Batman Begins" had a tone that was appropriate for the Batman but it would be ruinous for the FF.

As far as establishing the FF characters before they get their powers - No, no, no; a thousand times no. That's what slowed the first film down.
Audiences hate sitting through protracted set-ups. The characters should refer to the space flight in passing as being responsible for their conditions, establish Reed's guilt over Ben, and keep moving.
I think a good action film starts with action. It certainly didn't hurt the first Star Wars film, which put us right in the action from the very first shot.

 

[bubbadoom]

...what he said...

 

[The Major]

Thing's height - If you look at any of the first 200 plus issues, the Thing is clearly shorter than Reed. I know now days he is all over the place in terms of height, but I am going by the REAL FF, the Kirby FF! Look at the covers to #27, 29, 90, & 96 for a few examples. Jack was the short scrapper of his neighborhood, and he brought that quality to the Thing. I am not talking Wolverine short, but again he is clearly no taller than Reed.

Fair enough.

Since Story knew at least a bit about Kirby and Thing in his original run he should have done a better job implementing the rest of the mythos. Assuming they did more then look at covers.

I am not saying the origin could not be improved upon, I know the entire movie could be, but if you only get one more shot at doing it right, why burn up valuable screen time going over something that has already been covered. At least with BATMAN BEGINS, they were covering new ground, as the back story had only been hinted at in the other movies.

With a new reboot their origin could actually be done well this time if the proper people are making it.

A new origin could even establish the characters before they get their powers allowing the audience to care about them. They could even revamp it a bit to keep it relevant with the current times. They could use the Skrulls like in Heroes Reborn.

Right now all the audience knows is the very basics of the characters thanks to Fox. There's a lot more to explore that they didn't bother bringing to the movies. They should be in depth characters not flimsy caricatures.

I agree, do not reference the Fox films in any way. Like the original comic, just start the movie with them as the FF and move on. If you even need to address their origin - and I see no reason why you would - just say "since that accident in space that gave us our powers..." and move on from there.

That's possible.

If they do it well I'll accept it.

And sure, Alba is ALL wrong for Sue, but she might make a good Crystal!

Alba shouldn't be within fifty feet of a comic book franchise IMO.

My not being 100% faithful comment was ONLY about the origin, not the rest of the movie. I know they were WAY off the mark with most everything else, I just don't see the point of covering the same material again, MOVE ON to bigger and better concepts from the movie!

Problem is with Fox's botched origin it's going to be impossible to use Doom again without starting from scratch explaining how he is in no way involved in the launch.

They could use a revamped Doom for a sequel. Then use flashbacks which show his past that mirrors his comic book origin in nature. A competent director could make that work on screen with a decent script to work from.

Hollywood is full of directors that could do a great job making FF work in live action. It's about time Fox started using them.

 

[The Major]

No. He's not.
Jack Kirby created the Thing (at bare minimum he created the visuals) and for over 100 issues he always drew Ben at Reed's height or shorter.
Ben's height (and size) in recent years is a retcon and an inconsistent one at that.
That being said, I don't mind if he's a bit taller than the others as long as he's not some hulking gargantua.

Okay.

Every aspect? Come on.
I think they got a lot of stuff right. Just not nearly enough.

Which stuff did you think they got right?

I just want this franchise away from Fox. There will never be a faithful FF film if the blockheads at Fox are involved. Those idiots had to be convinced to let Doom wear a mask. Case closed.

Agreed.

If there is a reboot, I still want a fun adventure film, not some serious and brooding take on the characters. "Batman Begins" had a tone that was appropriate for the Batman but it would be ruinous for the FF.

I was using Begins as an example of a good franchise reboot.

Not that I agree entirely with you. FF can be campy but it's meant to inspire wonder of new discoveries along with some horror and terrifying villains.

Doom should be someone the audience genuinely fears. He's the character Darth Vader was inspired by, for God's sake!

Annihilius and the Skrulls would be terrors on screen.

It doesn't need to be Begins level dark it should be around Singer's X-men and Riami's Spider-man in tone.

It does have humor it's just in the background. FF isn't a comedy.

As far as establishing the FF characters before they get their powers - No, no, no; a thousand times no. That's what slowed the first film down.

Audiences wouldn't have hated it so much if Fox had actually did a good job setting it up.

There's no reason this can't work. It just needs to be done by professionals.

Audiences hate sitting through protracted set-ups. The characters should refer to the space flight in passing as being responsible for their conditions, establish Reed's guilt over Ben, and keep moving.

All movies need set-ups. FF just needs a good one.

There's no reason this can't work. It just needs to be done by professionals.

They don't need an hour they just need a good script, director etc to make it work with the limited time they have.

Making FF have short films was another aspect Fox dropped the ball on.

I think a good action film starts with action. It certainly didn't hurt the first Star Wars film, which put us right in the action from the very first shot.

Action can only carry a film so far. FF has plenty of action but it isn't the heart of the franchise. It's the characters themselves.

The audience needs to care about these people or it won't matter what danger they're in.

 

[The Joker_1000]

That's the problem, people didn't really care for either of these movies. Tim Story tried to do the F4 but failed, miserably.

 

[The Major]

That's the problem, people didn't really care for either of these movies. Tim Story tried to do the F4 but failed, miserably.

People didn't care because the movies sucked.

The movies don't resemble the FF I read. The Incredibles was more faithful to the franchise then what Fox gave us.

 

[The Joker_1000]

I will say that I enjoyed the movies but they were still pretty bad.

 

[bubbadoom]

Of course I want the World's Greatest Comic Magazine to have the World's Greatest Movie Adaptation, but for the longest time I thought I would NEVER see ANY FF movie - so a part of me is happy just to have gotten something as good as we did get.

But that being said, there is LOTS of room for improvement, either by Fox or [preferably] Marvel, and I am not ready to give up on these characters as a movie concept. Let's see many more FF's and let's see them done right!

 

[The Joker_1000]

I enjoy the F4 movies but they weren't pulled off nearly as good as they should've been because of how bad the character development was. The characters who were pulled off the best were the Thing and the Human Torch. As for future movies, I'm sure Marvel will learn from past mistakes, as they did with the Hulk.

 

[Malus]

A new origin could even establish the characters before they get their powers allowing the audience to care about them. They could even revamp it a bit to keep it relevant with the current times. They could use the Skrulls like in Heroes Reborn.

If the authentic FF origin is not used in a reboot, I'd rather their beginnings just be alluded to. That's not really possible since they'd have to set it in the early 1960's. (Fine by me.) Short of that, I'm happy if they just have a tv reporter refer to the "accident in space" that irradiated them. I want to get on with the stories already.

Even the comic book didn't start with the origin. FF #1 starts off with a series of action sequences as Johnny, Ben and Susan each see and respond to Reed's flare signal (Revealing their powers). There's plenty of characterization in these pages, but there's also lots of chase and destruction, too - culminating with Johhny trying to outrace a heat-seeking missile. Only after the dust has settled and the four have gathered together do we learn how they became these amazing beings.

A lot of information is conveyed in those opening pages of FF#1.
I'll bet they never even considered doing that in the first FF film.

 

[Bubonic]

I wouldn't want a direct translation, the fantastic four cloud signal is lame as a means of regrouping them.

I feel it is a must to somehow strive to get Dr.Dooms origin closer to the comic, and especially not repeat this bs of him being on the shuttle and being exposed to the same rays.

I don't know if they could successfully exploit the occult angle, but with good writers a lot is possible.

What would be hard would be to give credibility to how, in the "real world" a scientist would be given the chance to go on this wild goose chase in the first place.
From the comic angle, it wouldn't be believable that they'd sneak by todays NASA and shoot off to space.

We can argue and say we don't need to revisit the origin, but one way or another I think it would be necessary in order to separate themselves from the first series, and to make sense of the new one.

But Malus, I really don't see the flare sequence coming across well. There is a lot of gems in the early comics, and its up to some great talent to amalgamate the best pieces, and make something faithful to the source, but not completely improbable or outlandish for todays audience.

Just like I don't think the Bluebeard storyline would be a good one to reintroduce Doom.

 

[Malus]

Agreed; I wouldn't use the original cloud signal at all. Every time after FF #1, it was a "4" flare. Even then, not so sure about that.
But signaling the 4 to gather? That's what I think would work.

And yes, Reed's "girlfriend and kid brother" being allowed to tag along -and their reason for going on said mission- is defnitely something out of yesteryear -- unless they set it in '61.

 

[The Major]

If the authentic FF origin is not used in a reboot, I'd rather their beginnings just be alluded to. That's not really possible since they'd have to set it in the early 1960's. (Fine by me.) Short of that, I'm happy if they just have a tv reporter refer to the "accident in space" that irradiated them. I want to get on with the stories already.

Even the comic book didn't start with the origin. FF #1 starts off with a series of action sequences as Johnny, Ben and Susan each see and respond to Reed's flare signal (Revealing their powers). There's plenty of characterization in these pages, but there's also lots of chase and destruction, too - culminating with Johhny trying to outrace a heat-seeking missile. Only after the dust has settled and the four have gathered together do we learn how they became these amazing beings.

A lot of information is conveyed in those opening pages of FF#1.
I'll bet they never even considered doing that in the first FF film.

It doesn't need to adapt the FF comics in every panel. Just make it quality with proper updates to make it relevant while still respecting the source material. That would require a very talented director with a brilliant script. Being Fox they did the opposite.

It's a miracle the first two X-men and Blade films were good.

 

[DoctorJones]

Every aspect? Come on.
I think they got a lot of stuff right. Just not nearly enough.
I just want this franchise away from Fox. There will never be a faithful FF film if the blockheads at Fox are involved. Those idiots had to be convinced to let Doom wear a mask. Case closed.

As far as establishing the FF characters before they get their powers - No, no, no; a thousand times no. That's what slowed the first film down.
Audiences hate sitting through protracted set-ups. The characters should refer to the space flight in passing as being responsible for their conditions, establish Reed's guilt over Ben, and keep moving.
I think a good action film starts with action. It certainly didn't hurt the first Star Wars film, which put us right in the action from the very first shot.

I concur. Make the next film a 'retcon' at Marvel Studios, but not a total reboot like Hulk. The F4's origin isn't that interesting: but Doom's backstory is a classic.

 

[thegameq]

Brad Bird as director.

Marvel as the studio.

A notable english/European actor as Doom-that can truly pull off the part (if they make another attempt at doom).

A CGI Thing.

A real actress to play Sue Storm, rather than a flavor of the month pretty face.

Wrap it all in a retro fantasy setting ala The Incredibles and Voila!!

 

[The Major]

Brad Bird as director.

Marvel as the studio.

A notable english/European actor as Doom-that can truly pull off the part (if they make another attempt at doom).

A CGI Thing.

A real actress to play Sue Storm, rather than a flavor of the month pretty face.

Wrap it all in a retro fantasy setting ala The Incredibles and Voila!!

Love to see that in theatres.

It just requires Marvel to get the rights back which isn't going to happen soon.

 

[Gallagher]

Simply Doom.

All I want is the Doom I saw in that Ultimate Alliance, they nailed him.

 

[Warhammer]

A better director. That's all.