fantastic_four

If there's truth to Trank being fired from the next Star Wars film due to problems on this film, and there's truth to the idea that Trank has been ruled out of future Fantastic Four films by Fox, then this film tanking in both reviews and the box office is the worst possible scenario for FF fans. Not only does that mean it will be , but it also means that Fox will blame this on Trank and just look for a new director. That means no rights back to Marvel for 15+ years. Marvel does better for a simple reason that DC is only recently beginning to figure out, but that neither Fox nor Sony have figured out yet--you can't put the content of these films in the control of people who neither care about nor understand comics and superheroes. Marvel did exactly one thing right--they passed control of their films to Kevin Feige, and that guy has lived and breathed the Marvel universe for much of his life. DC has done this to a very limited extent by passing control first to Christopher Nolan, and more recently to Zack Snyder with limited input from Nolan. This is a good temporary solution, but they need a long-term one because I'm not sure either of them want to be in with guiding DC movies for the long haul. I'm pretty sure that Nolan doesn't, but I'm not sure about Snyder. And I would hope that there is some past or present person more directly involved with DC comics who is better suited to the task.

It's FAR more than not a good sign, it's the nuclear option used almost universally when a studio knows critics are going to mess all over a movie. I have never seen a movie with a review embargo set to the day of release get good reviews...if anybody knows of one, do share.

Stan has always been like that, so his point of view on this was predictable. He said all the same things about Marvel's Ultimate universe changes as well. I'm not saying the movie won't stink, but if it does it won't be because of minor story changes like Johnny Storm being black, it'll mostly be because Fox hasn't figured out how to make superhero films yet.

Saw it this afternoon...friggin' fantastic. Would see again if asked. Wasn't feeling that way about Age of Ultron. Probably not as good as Iron Man from 2008, but very close. Not sure really.

He's not that far from the pic of him in the suit. Having said that, I haven't seen evidence yet that he did as well as Chris Hemsworth or Henry Cavill did in bulking up. Maybe shirtless and oiled up he looks like them, can't rule it out.

He said "slutty secretary" Sue--that's more than simply sleeping around or cheating. It's wearing clothes showing off your form and cleavage and being flirty. I don't recall any flirty, sexualized version of Sue.

I enjoyed the Ultimate FF. I do NOT remember any "slutty secretary" Sue in it, nor anywhere in the original comic. Where'd he get that idea from?

Kinda looks like Jennifer Connely. Just a little, and only from the neck up.

I think we need to see a reference on that one.....really he wanted an invisible va-jay-jay? It's in the article with the Grant Morrison quote linked earlier.

William Marston was an unconventional dude. The thing about Wonder Woman's lariat compelling people to tell the truth when she tied them up with it was a likely side effect of his fascination with bondage coupled with the fact that Marston was the inventor of the polygraph lie detector test. After several years of marriage and two kids, he gave his wife the option of a divorce or having his new mistress move into the house--and oddly enough, she chose the mistress. Marston died fairly early in 1947, and his wife and mistress continued to live together for almost forty years after his death.

Decent Rotten Tomates score so far with 77% on 57 ratings counted. That's already high enough to be much better than mixed reviews even if the score drops by 10 or 15 points.

Welcome to the Boards! Not weird enough. How can I help? Post more photos of yourself. Someone's got a crush.

When was the last time you read DKR? In the traditional DCU canon, Superman is the first superhero, already established before Batman comes on the scene, and Superman was clearly a government stooge of the Reagan administration in DKR. Here, Batman's been running around for 20 years, and Superman is a relative unknown who was just at the epicenter of a near extinction-level event. What are his motives? Can he be left unchecked? The source of their conflict may be clear to me and most comic readers, but some exposition couldn't hurt. This is why I wonder whether or not they were leaving the Nolan movies up as being setup for this new universe. Wayne was the only superhero in Nolan's universe, and he retired at the end. That's not from any comic version I can recall, yet this film appears to pick up from exactly that point with Wayne getting back into it to deal with what he sees as a new threat. Neither version fits directly with the comics, yet they fit together like two puzzle pieces...tough to see that as unintentional. Obviously what doesn't fit is Nolan's style, his focus on dialogue, character psychology, and subtly realistic situations. Snyder is all about highly stylized visuals and fanfare--as most superhero directors tend to be because they think that's what the fans want--and that seems to clash with the Nolan films.

After seeing him knock it out of the park in "Dallas Buyers Club," I can't imagine a better choice right now to follow up Ledger. Leto was so far out in front of the Oscar on that performance that it was laughable--never seen a more obvious choice than him that year. VERY challenging role, and he crushed it INSANELY well. Look back at the roles Leto has chosen over his career--he began to get rather picky after 2000 and only acts every few years because of it. All very challenging roles, and when I first heard he had chosen this film I was surprised because it sounded like he could only catch mess for it, but in retrospect I may have been wrong if he's able to nail the performance, because it really is the most challenging role in all of superhero movies thanks to Ledger. I liked Leto as Mark David Chapman in "Chapter 27" too, he played a convincing whacko obsessed with John Lennon. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001467/

Leto is what's exciting me the most too. He's facing what is by far the biggest acting challenge in the history of superhero films by a MILE in following up Ledger's performance, and while I'm nowhere NEAR ready to say he's knocked it out of the park, he's definitely making a strong showing in this trailer. What's the chatter about him being too young? He's 43. For anyone who doesn't remember, he played the guy whose face got destroyed by Ed Norton in "Fight Club" back in 1999.

Ohhh. Ohhhh. Me too. Me too. I reserve judgement on all films until I see them in their entirety. Since I'm not ready to call the film garbage, does that mean I have to request a name change to "not_fantastic_four"?

Not all that different from Doom's origin in Fantastic Four Annual #2.

Since virtually all web sites do that now with advertisements, you should turn that off in your browser's settings. It DRAMATICALLY improves your browsing experience.

Josh Trank is interviewed by Kevin Smith this week: http://smodcast.com/episodes/josh-trank-in-the-fat-cave/ The podcast description says it's only part 1 of 4...that's quite a marathon of an interview. The problem with this is that if it bombs TOO badly, Fox will blame it on Trank and crank out another one. And since there have been 8 years between FF 2 and this movie, the odds are high that the contract with Marvel requires that Fox not create a movie for 10 years. Meaning that if this one tanks, and they try another one in about 3-4 years, the earliest Marvel would get the rights back would be around 2028 to 2030. The best we can hope for is for the movie to do only marginally well. Fox then sees another sequel as too big a risk, Disney offers them money to buy out the contract, and Fox accepts.

The forum server clearly needs to have a new hamster swapped in.

Wow - that artwork is terrible. He's no John Romita.

Will someone please get some shorts for the thing. +1 I really did not want to know that the cosmic rays eliminated his manhood. I preferred the mystery that making some little rocky Grimms was still possible. Maybe it's like a doggie weiner? Think push-pop. I didn't want to know that, either.

Will someone please get some shorts for the thing. +1 I really did not want to know that the cosmic rays eliminated his manhood. I preferred the mystery that making some little rocky Grimms was still possible.

Jealous? LONG LIVE THE NECK-PELTS! A shaved area between beard and collar would look much better than what he has there. Men are hairy. What is all this shame over being a man? Be proud of your machismo.

What's up with that clip claiming he's discussing the Joker? Not one word about the Joker in that clip.