To be fair, the first two Fantastic Four movies were released pre-Iron Man/MCU under Fox's banner and they thus didn't benefit from the deep creative pool of current Marvel films. They had room to fail. Come to think of it, unfortunately, the same can be said for the upcoming reboot. Taking a leaf out of Marvel's relationship with the source, Civil War and Fantastic Four comic writer Mark Millar was brought on as a creative consultant, but will that be enough to bring the Fan Four back to relevance? It's clear that the filmmakers are taking some risks this time around. This is a younger FF, which will offer not only the re-telling of the origin story (which is closer to the "Ultimate Fantastic Four" telling), but apparently also the kindling of Reed and Sue's romance. The "interracial siblings" twist is new and unique to this film and may offer some more character depth: and hopefully Sue won't be limited to a marginal, sexualised role. Certain hacky pitfalls from the first two films definitely do need to be avoided: Reed Richards dancing, a one-dimensional Johnny Storm, a cheesy Dr. Doom, etc. And if these past traps are negotiated, there are a very clear set of ways to make sure Fantastic starts to mean what it used to again...
George is a life-long fan of genre, wrestling and guitars. He is an actor, writer, CrossFit trainer and former WWE storyline writer. He currently works as talent development for PWX wrestling and resides in the birthplace of the zombie movie, Pittsburgh, PA.
