10 More Movie Answers Given YEARS Later

6. Why Was Galactus Turned Into A Cloud? - Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer

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20th Century Studios

A slightly different entry on this list here, in that the burning question that went years without answer hadn't got anything to do with the narrative, any perceived plot holes, or anything that particularly happened on screen.

Instead, this revolves around a bizarre behind-the-scenes design choice in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer that, with no exaggeration, outraged audiences. This was the decision to present Galactus, the giant humanoid celestial devourer of worlds and popular staple of Marvel's rogues gallery, as a soulless and character-less cloud.

It was a bemusing direction in which to take the villain, even before the days of social media allowing for immediate widespread backlash when a comic book movie doesn't stick to the source material. Even director Tim Story feels that it was a mistake, as he explained when he finally delved into the reasoning behind it in an interview 16 years later.

In a nutshell, the powers that be were ultimately worried about introducing a character from space without building a groundwork for it first. According to Story, the people in charge weren't ready for what this would look like. This may have been a reasonable stance to take if the Silver Surfer hadn't literally been introduced as a character from outer space within the same movie.

 
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