Blog: My Fantastic Four Movie Hot Take

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Yesterday the cast was (FINALLY) revealed for the Fantastic Four movie, along with an exciting IMAGE from Marvel Studios which gave us EITHER a very vague idea of what it would be like OR an excuse to SPECULATE WILDLY. I am about to delve into very much THE LATTER, but before I do I would like to point out to THE WORLD'S MEDIA that I am very much one of the most qualified people in THE WORLD to talk about this sort of thing for LO! I am literally A Doctor Of Doctor Doom (who all right they haven't officially cast yet, but still) and am thus ready to speak my wise words to the world. Barry Norman! Michael Parkinson! CALL ME!

Anyway, for those who don't know yet, the main cast have been revealed as him from The Last Of Us (Mr Fantastic), her (not her, HER) from The Crown (Invisible Woman), him from the last series of Stranger Things (Human Torch) and him from That Chef Show I Haven't Watched (The Thing). In other words it is very much the cream de la cream of your streaming shows, and I for one am all up for that. Tey may not look exactly how I persoanally visualise the FF (I visualise them as the John Byrne version) but from what I've seen I am pretty sure that they can all do THE FUNNY STUFF which is such a vital part of their stories. I also like the way that the original reports go on about them all having won or nearly won Oscars!

My favourite thing - well, all right, my SECOND favourite thing - is the setting, as it's clearly meant to be in the sixties. This makes HUGE sense for numerous reasons, not least because those original Stan and Jack stories that are some of the BEST ones are FROM the sixties, and I have a feeling they wouldn't make quite as much sense if someone tried to update them for Modern Times. We've already HAD several attempts to do that, notably with the boring early issues of Ultimate Fantastic Four and then in the NOT AS BAD AS EVERYONE SAYS Josh Trank film which was, as the name suggests, not as bad as everyone says, but then also not really a Fantastic Four film at all.

Also it's not going to be an ORIGIN story, which is a blessed relief as we've now had that THREE times, with the Sony film with Captain America as Human Torch that is ALL RIGHT and the Roger Corman movie which very much IS as bad as everyone says making up the numbers. Some origin stories are Quite Good (Spider-man's especially) but most are DULL, with the GOOD STUFF usually coming much later on in superhero runs - the aforesaid Stan and Jack run doesn't really get going for a few years, but when it does IT REALLY DOES, so hopefully that's what the movie will aim for. ALSO if it IS set in the sixties that means it doesn't have to worry about fitting in around all the OTHER movies - my personal DREAM THEORY is that it all takes place in another universe, and then they meet everyone else in SECRET WARS when their world has an incursion with the main MCU. This would of course involve Doctor Doom, in which case everything is WONDERFUL.

Anyway, the look and feel that one can GLEAM from that image and logo is my second favourite thing about it, while my MOST favourite thing is the simple fact that it includes THIS character:



It's H.E.R.B.I.E.!! Or as those of us who prefer not to spend our whole life typing in full stops know him, HERBIE! This is the FF's robot servant who WINDS UP The Thing no end - a GRATE example of this can be seen in Marvel Fanfare 15 as discussed AT LENGTH on my Doctor Doom blog - and almost invariably turns EVIL. He was originally thought up to replace the Human Torch in the (absolutely terrible) New Fantastic Four cartoon series, but then wended his way into the actual comic and has been around in various versions since. He would fit in perfectly with the sixties VIBE (despite not appearing until the seventies) and would join the exulted ranks of characters like The Guardians Of The Galaxy or The Eternals or Werewolf By Night who you would never in a million years have expected to show up in an actual movie but then DO.

Suffice to say then that I am QUITE EXCITED about the possibilities of this film being ACTUALLY GOOD. All we need now is for them to properly cast someone as Doctor Doom. If we're going to go for someone in one of the big streaming shows (that I have 75% watched) then surely the answer is obvious - it's got to be him from Welcome To Wrexham (not him, obviously, the otheer one) hasn't it? Or if not Rodney From Only Fools And Horses From Frasier! You heard it here first, True Believers!

posted 14/2/2024 by MJ Hibbett

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