Fantastic Four Reboot Movie Won't Be Based on Any Comics

MovieBob

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Fantastic Four Reboot Movie Won't Be Based on Any Comics


Fox's next superhero reboot throws out the book. Literally.

It's been known for awhile now that Chronicle director Josh Trank's Fantastic Four reboot movie was going to be taking the Marvel heroes in a new direction: Younger versions of the characters, a new origin story, possibly won't even be called The Fantastic Four [http://moviepilot.com/posts/2014/04/10/fantastic-four-reboot-no-costumes-for-the-superheroes-1330508?lt_source=external,manual] in the actual film.

Now, according to an interview in Esquire Latin America, Kate Mara (who portrays Invisible Woman aka Sue Storm in the film) is suggesting that essentially nothing from the comics has survived into this adaptation. Said the actress: "I've never been a fan of comics, I've never actually read one. I was going to for this movie but the director said it wasn't necessary. Well, actually he told us that we shouldn't do it because the plot won't be based on any history of anything already published."

While it's not unheard of for movie adaptations to diverge in all but name from source material, this is the first anyone has heard of such (supposedly) complete disconnection for this particular project. It had been reported at one point (but not confirmed) elsewhere that the film would be drawing primary inspiration from Ultimate Fantastic Four as opposed to the mainstream Marvel Universe.

Fantastic Four (or whatever they end up calling it) has been described by producer Simon Kinberg as "a much more grounded, gritty, realistic movie than the last couple," is currently targeting a June 19, 2015 release date. Along with Mara, the film stars Miles Teller as Mr. Fantastic, Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch, Jamie Bell as The Thing.


Source: Indiewire [http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/kate-mara-says-the-fantastic-four-movie-wont-be-based-on-the-comic-book-20140715]

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Vault101

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Sep 26, 2010
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huh....this reads like it was ment to incur fan rage EDIT: not specifically hwat she said but everything else pretty much

[quote/]"I've never been a fan of comics, I've never actually read one. I was going to for this movie but the director said it wasn't necessary. Well, actually he told us that we shouldn't do it because the plot won't be based on any history of anything already published."[/quote]
*sigh*....she's gonna get a lot of disproportionate hate for this....
 

RJ Dalton

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Fantastic Four "grounded and realistic"? Somehow I believe this is a contradiction of terms. I mean, maybe a woman who turns invisible, a guy who stretches like rubber, a kid who bursts into flames without dying and a guy who's body is made of rock can totally be realistic, but . . .

No. No it can not. If you're going to try to lie to me, Hollywood, at least put some effort into making the lie believable.
 

Uriel_Hayabusa

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Personally, I don't think this should matter so long as the movie itself is good. Besides, even the guys at Marvel themselves have diverged from the comics on more than one occasion.
 

Kameburger

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Apr 7, 2012
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lol how disconnected does it have to be before it can be argued that they aren't even really using the IP anymore?

Also I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I never much cared for the Fantastic 4 comics. With the exception of the Human Torch which super power would you want? Individually and in separate books the characters are alright but it really takes a lot of them being well "not them" for the Fantastic 4 to even really have any traction at all for me. With this in mind, I actually kinda liked the 1st movie. Pretty much cause I never really expected to like it.

Are there really so many "hardcore" Fantastic 4 fans? I mean not just their apprearences in other medium, but the actual Fantastic 4 Series? Sure the Thing had a kinda cool run on his own, and I liked the role they played in Civil War, but they are like a whole supporting cast of characters to me.

All this considered I really would kind of welcome a completely separated re-imagining of the characters and the story. It's maybe just my opinion and I fully realize that but it can't be worse then the original right?

Also if I am wrong I'll gladly admit to it. It might just be from my point of view.
 

Scarim Coral

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Isn't comicbook films are more successful today then they were in the past (e.g. Blade or Hulk vs Thor) cos they are baed from the comicbook? Well that and better technology but still!
 

keideki

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Every time I read about what they are doing with the Fantastic Four movie franchise I just get this sinking pit feeling in my stomach. It's like they looked at how successful Marvel is with their concepts and say to themselves, lets just do the exact opposite.
 

BrotherRool

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The director of Chronicle sounded good, but this is beginning to sound like a trainwreck. If you literally want no connections with the source material, what is the point of the licensing at all?
Vault101 said:
[quote/]"I've never been a fan of comics, I've never actually read one. I was going to for this movie but the director said it wasn't necessary. Well, actually he told us that we shouldn't do it because the plot won't be based on any history of anything already published."
*sigh*....she's gonna get a lot of disproportionate hate for this....[/quote]
The sad thing is, what she actually said was totally reasonable. She doesn't say she hates comic books, she says shes just never read them. That's probably true for like 99% of the actors in Hollywood and it's not like she's ever been the comic book publishers #1 target demographic or anything.

And she knew she was going to do a comic book film so she figured she should read some comic books so she can be true to the role w/e. Which is nice right? She's not so stuck up that she's refusing to read the things, she's not so dismissive of the source material that she's not willing to put in the work.

But then she was strictly instructed not to do any of that by the director. And she's probably going to end up taking a lot of stick for it
 

GoodNewsOke

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I find it a bit annoying that Hollywood wants to make "comic book movie cash" but apparently doesn't want to make a "comic book movie". They know that these movies make money nowadays but instead of taking someones work and respectfully adapt it into a movie they just cherry-pick one or two aspects and dismiss the rest. To me this all reads as if they are embarrassed of the source material so they cut everything out except the parts that you need in order to market it as a "comic book movie, just like Avengers. And you liked Avengers, right? So come on in and see this one".

But then again, the movie isn't out and there is always the chance that it's actually really good. I doubt it though.
 

FalloutJack

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*Snerk* Good luck! I don't read Fantastic Four comics either, but I still know alot from word of mouth alone. Somehow, it will still look like the comics and someone will get mad.
 

Vault101

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BrotherRool said:
The sad thing is, what she actually said was totally reasonable. She doesn't say she hates comic books, she says shes just never read them. That's probably true for like 99% of the actors in Hollywood and it's not like she's ever been the comic book publishers #1 target demographic or anything.
yeah, I meant most of the rest of the article...not specifically what she said since (as you said) she's not really the prime target for comics

to be fair with a movie you only need the charachters and the general gist, ...since comics themselves are in constant flux...but here its like they want to ditch everything but the name
 

ZZoMBiE13

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I don't mind a creator adapting a property to fit a new medium. Comic Book stories, by design, are difficult to fit into a 2 hour movie. They tend to go on and on to keep the reader coming back month after month. It's natural to make some changes when they move the prospective IP to a new venue, I'd even say it's expected to a degree. Obviously there is a desire to see the cool things the Four can do in the comics come to life on the big screen.

But if you're going to completely distance yourself from the source material, why not just make something new instead of half-assing a beloved property?

Normally I think it's better that some of MARVEL's properties are under the care of other studios. In the comics world the publishers have a bad habit of leaning too heavily on the most popular characters. Sony having the rights to Spidey, Fox having the rights to Logan, these ended up making AVENGERS feel stronger because they had to rely on properties like IRON MAN which historically haven't had Spider-Man numbers (even though he was popular, he's no Spidey). But I really wish MARVEL could get the rights to the Fantastic Four back. For one reason and one reason only; I would love to see AVENGERS 4 where they have to take on Doctor Doom who is my favorite MARVEL villain.
 

Shiftygiant

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Not a good sign. I understand that a lot of comic movies do there own thing, but you need a base story. Also, why the hell does the actress not read the comics? Granted, I imagine she would have read for the sake of the character, but really Kingberg? Way to drop the ball.

I know it's early, but I'm seeing this movie being this decades Silver Surfer.
 

rodneyy

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Sep 10, 2008
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i dont get why they are even bothering to call it a fantastic four film then, i mean if noting is going to survive from the original source other than the powers why not just make a totally different film that does not have to pay lip service to something else and maybe has a slightly different lineup of powers give them the freedom.

i mean you will only piss off the established fanbase if you change everything and any new people to it the name wont mean anything so the name does not matter.
 

immortalfrieza

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rodneyy said:
i dont get why they are even bothering to call it a fantastic four film then, i mean if noting is going to survive from the original source other than the powers why not just make a totally different film that does not have to pay lip service to something else and maybe has a slightly different lineup of powers give them the freedom.

i mean you will only piss off the established fanbase if you change everything and any new people to it the name wont mean anything so the name does not matter.
I'll reserve judgement until it's actually out, but from what I've seen so far this looks like what I would call a lazy half assed cash-in that exists solely to retain the rights and make some quick cash off of the name.
 

Nowhere Man

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Then why bother calling it Fantastic Four? They want to do there own thing with it but don't have the balls to not ride on the coat tails of the IP name. I hope this fails so hard. And this is coming from someone who really enjoyed Chronicle.
 

Kahani

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Kameburger said:
lol how disconnected does it have to be before it can be argued that they aren't even really using the IP anymore?
That's an interesting point. If it's not called "Fantastic Four", doesn't call the characters that at any point, and isn't based on anything published about the Fantastic Four, surely Marvel can just point out that it's clearly not the Fantastic Four and claim back the film rights?

BrotherRool said:
And she knew she was going to do a comic book film so she figured she should read some comic books so she can be true to the role w/e. Which is nice right? She's not so stuck up that she's refusing to read the things, she's not so dismissive of the source material that she's not willing to put in the work.

But then she was strictly instructed not to do any of that by the director. And she's probably going to end up taking a lot of stick for it
Yes, the real problem here appears to be the director. What kind of idiot would specifically tell an actress not to do any research on the character they're portraying? Even if you're not basing the story on a previously published one, surely you at least want them to have some idea of who the characters are and why people might be interested in them? And of course, that raises the more fundamental question of why would you want to slap the name of some entirely unrelated IP on your film if you're going out of your way to make sure it has nothing to do with that IP?
 

Akiraking

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I am honestly not that much of a fun of the Fantastic Four. They just stick out in a bad way compared to the rest of the Marvel universe to me. Most likely this is a giant PR mistake and they will either pretend it never happened or apologize saying it was a misunderstanding. I mean I believe what they are saying but they probably just mean they wont name themselves and be given the title at the end by the press or something like how most heroes get named in modern super hero films. Also considering the different cast to what they usually are it would make sense to not rely on characterization that does not match the characterization in the script.
Finally, I am surprised anyone is surprised that they are not using the source material, the plot is just going to be Dr Doom fighting the newly formed Fantastic Four again. It is like Superman they are only known for like one villain.

I hope the films works out because I really like the Xmen films and the Spider-man movies so I would prefer competition to stay strong and Marvel/Disney not to own every superhero movie minus DC.