How the MCU Should Introduce and Reboot the Fantastic Four

How the MCU Should Introduce and Reboot the Fantastic Four

The Fantastic Four are truly amazing comic book characters, that never got the treatment they deserve. Hopefully, if Marvel gets their rights back, justice can be done.

Editorial Opinion
By KWilly - May 03, 2017 07:05 PM EST
Filed Under: Marvel

Here's how I would want to see the Fantastic 4 in the right hands...

The Cast:

David Schwimmer as Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards




When it comes to looking like Reed, he certainly has that in the bag. Obviously though, what matters is if he has the acting chops for the role, and he does. He was nomintaed for an Emmy in his role for The People vs OJ, which is impressive to say the least. Personally, he just gives off the "nerdy, workaholic, confident" personality that Mr. Fantastic has. 

Elizabeth Banks as Invisible Woman/Susan Storm



Just to mention before I get any further, I'm going for an older cast on purpose. I think the Fantastic Four should be seasoned veterans rather than origin story rookies if they get rebooted again by Marvel. Anyway, Banks seems like a perfect choice for Invisible Woman. She's got the skills to carry the role, and the looks for some major eye candy. And considering she's been in all three Spider-Man (Sam Raimi) movies, and even played a villain in the recent Power Rangers movie... I'm pretty sure she wouldn't mind playing a supeheroine. Not at all, in fact.

Dane DeHaan as The Human Torch/Johnny Storm



DeHaan definitely would be a more than adequate Johnny. He can pull off the cocky, laid back character, and he looks similar enough. I, personally was extremely impressed by his acting in Chronicle and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. So he's a strong actor without a doubt.

The Big Show (Paul Wight) as Ben Grimm/The Thing



Yes, he's a WWE wrestler. And yes, they're usually not known for breath-taking Hollywood performances. However, I just got a feeling the Big Show could do a good, solid job. It wouldn't make much sense to go the actual makeup/costume direction for the Thing again. So, CGI a la The Hulk and Groot would be better, and generally much easier. He could provide a deep, booming voice for The Thing, as well as do some motion capture, considering he's a legitimate 7 footer. 

Noah Schnapp as Franklin Richards



Coming off his hype train from the Netflix hit Stranger Things, studios will definitely be looking at him for roles. Marvel should be one of them. Since this is an older Fantastic 4, it would be nice to introduce Franklin Richards to the big screen for the first time. In terms of resemblance to the character, it's just fine. 


The Story:

Let's be honest, no one is going to want to see another origin story of these guys. Like I mentioned before, this would be veteran type Fantastic Four. To the point where actually they're all retired from hero work in the beginning in the movie. And since this is Marvel's First Family we're talking about, imagine if they were the "Avengers" before the Avengers? You know what I mean? They were stopping catastrophic disasters and supervillains way before Iron Man had a team. Or even before he was Iron Man.  That's what I'd like to see the MCU start the movie like. 

Villain wise, it'd be interesting to see the Mole Man. Let's say he's causing trouble in a completely different country, and that alone brings the Four back together. It just makes zero sense to have Doctor Doom be the main villain again in the first movie. He's something you build up to slowly but surely. Maybe they can name drop him time to time, and set it up where he's not making any problems for now.

The Director:

Brad Bird or Sam Raimi. Simple as that. Those two could bring a light tone to the F4, without it being too corny (well, I have more faith in Bird than Raimi on that one). 

Conclusion:

21st Century Fox at some point is going to make a decision on the F4. Right now, they're just sitting on their shelf collecting dust. It's highly unlikely they make a sequel to the last F4 movie. And it's even more unlikely they reboot the franchise again themselves. If they're smart, they will give the rights back. The fans won't see another F4 movie created by Fox, so they might as well give it to the company that gave them life in the first place. Marvel.

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DetectiveCinema
DetectiveCinema - 5/3/2017, 9:31 PM
Schwimmer is actually quite a good choice in my opinion. A bit of an out-of-the-box choice, but I think it could work. However, he simply doesn't have the gravitas for the role in the MCU in my opinion. If they were to do a FF television series though, Schwimmer is 100% your guy.

Elizabeth Banks, I'm pretty eh about, just seen her cast in the role so many times and there's nothing in particular about her that screams Sue Storm to me.

Have to agree with SonOfMagneto in regards to DeHaan, simply isn't the right type of actor for the role at all.

I can understand why you went for Big Show for The Thing, but I think such a beloved character deserves an actor of a higher calibre.

Schnapp from Stranger Things though is a GREAT pick for Franklin Richards, having Sue and Reed have young kid in the franchise would be a huge breath of fresh air and would really shake up the dynamic of the team.

I think an origin story would be the way to go if you're introducing the Fantastic Four into the MCU. In my opinion, the first movie should be a period piece, set in the 1960's 'space-race' era.
TomSolo
TomSolo - 5/4/2017, 7:16 AM
@MrMurdock - Schwimmer is a good choice to be Droopy the Dog if they ever do a live action movie of that character, and that is it. He isn't a good choice for Reed Richards soley based on looks.

Now, having it set in the 60's is something I've been keen on for a while. I feel like it would be the perfect way to introduce them to the current Marvel timeline and do a cool period piece as well. So you could have the traditional origins set in the actual time of the original comics. You might even be able to have Howard Stark or Hank Piym or Agent Carter have a cameo here as well!. I wouldn't put Doom in this movie, by the way. Anyway, they go into space, but the cosmic rays cause their ship to vanish or appear to be destroyed, so they are kind of a blip in history. Four scientists/astronauts that the world thinks to be dead in the 60's. So in the current MCU, nobody talks about them.

But actually, the cosmic rays opens up a rift that takes our heroes across time and space... possibly to the Negative Zone. And here's where it gets cool, because you have the team trying to find a way back home while also trying to work together to survive and also trying to acclimate to their new powers. They have only each other to turn to, so they form an unbreakable bond... a family, if you will. They could then run this over a few movies, with the team helping out alien planets under the control of villains from the F4's history, like Annihilus, Blastarr and such. And Ben Grimm is kind of okay, because they run into all sorts of aliens, and he now has a non-human form, so it's his appearance is not a huge problem for him at this point. At the end of the last movie, they finally get back to Earth, but it's somehow current day, because comic book science. And maybe Sue is pregnant!

Anyway, this gives us a chance to bring the F4 into the current MCU while explaining their absence. It also gives us seasoned heroes without them being in a situation like Cap, where it's a bit of a "fish-out-of-water" scenario. They've just been all over the universe fighting intergalactic beings. Being 60 years in the future on Earth is not a huge deal. It also makes sense why they are so close-knit. And now when Ben is back on Earth, we can explore his trauma in later films, as he now looks really different than everyone.

Oh, and remember when I said to leave Doom out of this? So, you could bring him in now. Have Victor being ready to save the world, as the Silver Surfer has just arrived on Earth. Victor has created some sciencey thing that is going to stop the Surfer and Galactus, and the whole world is behind him too. Btw... he is still the ruler of Latveria, and his character should be very similar to the comics. Anyway, so however the F4 return, the breach in space and/or time destroys Dooms sciencey thing. Doom goes nuts, hates the F4. Also, they befriend the Silver Surfer and Richards ends up defeating Galactus. The world loves them, Doom goes bonkers. His hatred for Richards and path down villainy is explained and justified.

Best F4 movie(s) ever. Mic dropped. I'm going for breakfast.

Also, I was just kidding around about the David Schwimmer thing. He has just always reminded me of Droopy the Dog, and I've never been able to get it out of my head.
JaredRWebb12
JaredRWebb12 - 5/4/2017, 5:23 AM
I can see Schwimmer playing Reed in a TV show... Not a movie, and DeHaan is a fairly mediocre actor imo. Nailed it on Franklin and Sue, and Big Show can do the mo-cap but should have a better actor(Terry Crews anyone?) voice him.
TheRealTomServo
TheRealTomServo - 5/7/2017, 7:55 PM
Hm. I say that the Fantastic Four would work best as a 60's period piece, with an overstylized aesthetic and a tonal hybrid of Stark Trek and a Spielbergian family picture.

For your casting, I say Sue is the only one I can get behind. I say swap Schwimmer with Ron Livingston, DeHaan with Hunter Parrish, and Big Show with Michael Cudlitz.

Leave Franklin Richards out of the first film. Please. Let that come later.

For the first villain, why not someone like Devos the Devastator? Have SHIELD, teamed with famed Latverian scientist Victor Domashev, investigate the origins of the Tesseract. They send astrophysics professor Reed Richards, pilot Ben Grimm, mechanic Johnny Storm, and Sue Storm (who because of that era's sexism, had to go through hurdles to be considered for the expedition, but Reed garnered support from Peggy Carter, who convinced the other heads to let her aboard) into space to find out where it came from. They find a rift, sending them into the Negative Zone and embarking on a Star Trek-like adventure where they need to stop Devos from gathering enough power to build an army, come back to Earth, and take the Tesseract.

The movie can end with them escaping the rift after defeating Devos. However, they discover the rift threw them forward into the post-Infinity War MCU, where Tony Stark and Carol Danvers recover their ship. They

End of movie.

The post-credits scene can be Tony and Carol introducing Reed to the SWORD program, and Victor, who was a Latverian plant using SHIELD information for his country's gain, being sent away to the mountains of Tibet to retrieve the Time Gem, which throws him into the present-day Latveria, which he plans to take over.

I dunno. Just some ideas.

Hell, a sequel can involve the team adjusting to this future while Victor joins forces with Helmut Zemo and Ulysses Klaue to overthrow the sitting Latverian Prime Minister, with all three having their own secret agenda involving personal and political gain.
MileHighRonin
MileHighRonin - 5/17/2017, 5:29 PM
@TheRealTomServo - I'm so torn on the 60s aspect. Cause as you said they fit so well, but that means we need to hope the audience is ok with making them jump to present time.

I like your cast except Ben. Big Show would be great for the MOcap of the thing bit not for human Ben.
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