some news on future Marvel films (Iron Man 2, Spidey 4, Fantastic Four)

[TheMarvell]

I just thought I'd announce this here. Apparently Mickey Rourke is going to be in Iron Man 2 as possibly Crimson Dynamo, and there's talks of having him in Spider-Man 4 as the villain:

http://movies.ign.com/articles/961/961622p1.html

Who do you think he'd be in Spider-Man? I'm guessing Kraven, who would be perfect going up against Lizard (like in the game for Spidey 3), but part of me is kind of hoping Scorpion will be in one of these movies, along with a female villain for a change, like Black Cat. Rourke could be a good choice, but he can also be pretty cheesy sometimes.

Also, Fox apparently wants to "reboot" Fantastic Four:

http://movies.ign.com/articles/960/960540p1.html

I thought rebooting the Hulk was unnecessary, but this is kind of overdoing I think.

[Gremlin]

Hmm. Interesting...I find the FF reboot news better than the Rourke casting. Not too familiar with his stuff, so I'm no judge. But making the Fan4 actually palatable? I would be a fan. Let's see Dr. Doom done RIGHT, hmmmm?

[BWPS]

Doom is the only thing they did wrong in the movie. Of course, he was the only interesting character. Fantastic Four doesn't really have much going for it to begin with. They don't fight crime, they're all boring. I want their awesome villains to defeat them and win.
The Absent-Minded Professor, Reed Richards is the smartest guy in the world and invents awesome stuff. His powers aren't even interesting next to that, but he's such a boring guy and he often gets portrayed both in comics and in the movie as a REALLY big jerk.
The Thing is The Hulk, only less interesting. And he talks like one of the 3 stooges sometimes.
The Human Torch has a cool power, and the old one was actually cool, but this one is like an immature jerk celebrity... which we have in real life and they aren't interesting. Johnny and Ben fight all the time. Hilarious, eh? Pies in the face aren't too funny.
Sue Storm is one of the worst comic book character ever. She plays the mother/wife to her crazy dysfunctional family and oh boy do they get into some hi-jynx! She can turn invisible, but since she's not smart or spylike at all, she has to also have force fields that seem to put such a strain on her it's a wonder that Reed doesn't just invent a machine that can do it better. I mean, he invented a PDA that stores everything in it's own universe.
I'm not saying FF can't be done right, but I've never seen it. I mean I think the current run of Captain America is the best thing ever and manages to make characters like Bucky and The Falcon work, so who knows? Either way, DOOM is cool and needs to have his accent.

[Gremlin]

Doom is the only thing they did wrong in the movie. Of course, he was the only interesting character. Fantastic Four doesn't really have much going for it to begin with. They don't fight crime, they're all boring. I want their awesome villains to defeat them and win.
The Absent-Minded Professor, Reed Richards is the smartest guy in the world and invents awesome stuff. His powers aren't even interesting next to that, but he's such a boring guy and he often gets portrayed both in comics and in the movie as a REALLY big jerk.
The Thing is The Hulk, only less interesting. And he talks like one of the 3 stooges sometimes.
The Human Torch has a cool power, and the old one was actually cool, but this one is like an immature jerk celebrity... which we have in real life and they aren't interesting. Johnny and Ben fight all the time. Hilarious, eh? Pies in the face aren't too funny.
Sue Storm is one of the worst comic book character ever. She plays the mother/wife to her crazy dysfunctional family and oh boy do they get into some hi-jynx! She can turn invisible, but since she's not smart or spylike at all, she has to also have force fields that seem to put such a strain on her it's a wonder that Reed doesn't just invent a machine that can do it better. I mean, he invented a PDA that stores everything in it's own universe.
I'm not saying FF can't be done right, but I've never seen it. I mean I think the current run of Captain America is the best thing ever and manages to make characters like Bucky and The Falcon work, so who knows? Either way, DOOM is cool and needs to have his accent.

What.
No. Just...no.
The Fantastic Four aren't crime-fighters, they're primarily adventurers. Expecting them to behave like "regular" superheroes is as foolish as reading Batman and expecting happy times and science fiction. It's happened, but it's not the best way to deal with the characters.

I was going to write about how awesome each of these characters are, but I'm tired and can't think right now. But read the Essential Fantastic Four. It'll change the way you see them.

[The Hitman]

http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/11923.htm/

Apparently, Rourke will be playing a cross between Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo.

[danhagen]

I enjoyed the second FF film, and would have misgivings about a "dark" Fantastic Four. The whole "dark" idea has been taken to the limit in "Watchmen," and, while initially interesting, it works against the basic concept of super heroes. The "darker" you go, the more futile heroism itself becomes, and the more you eliminate the very raison d'etre for your characters' existence.
Anyway, they came within an inch of universal annihilation by Galactus in FF 2. That's dark enough for me.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Well, they cite Iron Man as their example, and I wouldn't consider that too dark really, just more serious.

[lugaru]

The Hulk walked a thin line between reboot and sequel, if they do the same with Fantastic Four I might be OK but while I dont love the franchise I think it is the only superhero movie franchise that puts the Fun first. Honestly they should keep it the way it is with the same cast and do some cool Negative Zone or Moleman stuff giving Doom a rest for this one movie.

Mickey would make a great Kraven (have you watched the wrestler?) but his thuggish looks would apply to quite a few spidey villains. I hope Iron Man gets a serious challenge like a huge number of enemy Iron Men or perhaps The Mandarin.

[AncientSpirit]

I wouldn't mind an FF reboot.  And they could easily go darker while remaining totally faithful to the spirit of the original, just as they did with Iron Man.

First off, the "fun" of the Fan 4 didn't happen until years later.   Ditto for the "adventuring".  While they were always family, in the beginning what made them great was how they were thrown together - and irritated each other.   Ben blamed Reed big time for what happened to him, and was always storming out.   Reed was consumed with helping Ben become human again and always failing, adding to Ben's feelings of humiliation of being a Thing.   (They got maybe one good scene out of that in FF1 but by FF2, Ben was comfortable with his celebrity.)   In the beginning, Ben wouldn't be seen anywhere without his hat, sunglasses and trenchcoat.   Also, the "playfulness" between Johnny and Ben wasn't at all playful.   Yes, Johnny did the cream pie kind of pranks and the hot foots, but Ben was seriously angered by them ... and stormed off.   

And Reed was hardly the boring character they make him out to be.   But the need to spend the bucks to make his stretching powers look real.   (They need to take a tip from the Incredibles -- which stole all their characters -- and did better jobs with them.)   The had him really able to fight with giant mallet-sized fists.   Now they've reduced him to slipping his hand under a door to unlock it.  how lame.

There are great FF stories still be to told -- including the first Frightful Four with Medusa, which leads directly into Johnny's "first love" story with Crystal, and their forced separation ... or earlier stories where they start off by a wave of destruction, only to have you later learn that these are Skrulls masquerading as them.

But I agree with others who say you don't have to do a complete reboot.  Their origin has been told, and many people enjoyed the first film.   Now they need to do what the Hulk reboot did. 

   

 

[BentonGrey]

I'm pretty much okay with them rebooting F4, let's face it, even though those movies were somewhat entertaining, they could and should have been much more. 

What is a "cross" between Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo?  Dynamo is a pretty cool villain by himself...although, I feel like they should definitely bring in the Mandarin so Iron Man has a villain to fight who isn't another guy in armor.

[B A D]

A really cool FF film would be very simple, and would get BPWS rocks off for an awesome villian.

Simply explore the Negative Zone.

That way you have the boring guy do stuff with his lame arse powers and his noggin, you have Hulk Lite fight Blastaar and Anhillius, you have cool but immature due put the mack on some neg zone chick, and you can have the do nothing chick do nothing, but in an alternate dimension,  which is somewhat cool.

Then, to top it off we can have smart guys PDA explode.


The End.

[Figure Fan]

raison d'etre

This word has gotten awfully popular within the last week

I've seen it used all over the Watchmen reviews, which leads me to believe some of the stories I've heard about critics just regurgitating others' thoughts. That, and misinterpreting everything about the film. Anyway..

Yeah, a Fantastic 4 reboot wouldn't be a bad idea. They aren't like the other Marvel characters, so the studio's take on the theme of their films wasn't all that far off, but they need to have different actors and a better, more palpable Dr. Doom. Also, as mentioned above, their powers need to be used more effectively.

[Gremlin]

A really cool FF film would be very simple, and would get BPWS rocks off for an awesome villian.

Simply explore the Negative Zone.

That way you have the boring guy do stuff with his lame arse powers and his noggin, you have Hulk Lite fight Blastaar and Anhillius, you have cool but immature due put the mack on some neg zone chick, and you can have the do nothing chick do nothing, but in an alternate dimension,  which is somewhat cool.

Then, to top it off we can have smart guys PDA explode.


The End.

I don't know if I should slap you or applaud you.

[BentonGrey]

Why not both?

[Uncle Yuan]

Because, really, what's a slap but a one handed applaud against the face?

[BlueBard]

A really cool FF film would be very simple, and would get BPWS rocks off for an awesome villian.

Simply explore the Negative Zone.

That way you have the boring guy do stuff with his lame arse powers and his noggin, you have Hulk Lite fight Blastaar and Anhillius, you have cool but immature due put the mack on some neg zone chick, and you can have the do nothing chick do nothing, but in an alternate dimension,  which is somewhat cool.

Then, to top it off we can have smart guys PDA explode.


The End.

I don't know if I should slap you or applaud you.

Don't encourage him.

I don't want to see a reboot.  FF1 did an adequate job of retelling the origin.  Doom was the only element that was off and that was probably more of a casting and scripting issue than any problem with the concept itself.  FF2's story was what really "broke" Doom, along with the Surfer, Galactus, and all kinds of other things.  Those can be fixed, though.

New cast?  No objections.  Especially Doom.  New writer/director/producer?  Heck yes, all of the above.

[BentonGrey]

I say they reboot in the same fashion as Hulk, with no retelling of the origin.  Start them off straight away in an adventure, maybe with Doom, maybe with Mole Man or someone else.

[stumpy]

Was the second FF movie worth seeing? I saw the first one and it left me so disappointed that I didn't even bother renting the follow-up. I just couldn't take the pointless, tacked-on love triangle, Reed's nerdy incompetence, etc. If the second one was significantly better, maybe I'll check the bargain bin next time I am looking for movies.

[danhagen]

I felt the same way about the first movie, Stumpy. But I found the second one refreshing, combining Reed and Sue's wedding with the Silver Surfer saga. It mixed a sense of fun with some classic FF action and a touch of pathos.

[BentonGrey]

It was definitely better, but the whole Surfer/Galactus thing was...less than good.  Surfer was cool enough, but that story needed two movies...and an actual Galactus.  A cloud does not a villain make.  He didn't have to be a 100ft guy in purple, but better than a cloud.  What REALLY kills me about it is that Marvel lied to the fans in order to get them to go see the movie.  They responded to people's outrage at the fact that the devourer of worlds had been reduced to a cloud by saying something along the lines of 'No, we wouldn't do that!  It is something FAR more interesting.'  This was, of course, a blatant lie.

[Talavar]

My problem with Fantastic Four getting rebooted is that it lets the current studio (Fox?) retain the rights to the property, rather then the rights reverting to Marvel.

[The Hitman]

It was definitely better, but the whole Surfer/Galactus thing was...less than good.  Surfer was cool enough, but that story needed two movies...and an actual Galactus.  A cloud does not a villain make.  He didn't have to be a 100ft guy in purple, but better than a cloud.  What REALLY kills me about it is that Marvel lied to the fans in order to get them to go see the movie.  They responded to people's outrage at the fact that the devourer of worlds had been reduced to a cloud by saying something along the lines of 'No, we wouldn't do that!  It is something FAR more interesting.'  This was, of course, a blatant lie.

But Galactus wasn't the cloud. What we saw was his WorldShip. In fact, you can see the outline of his helmet during the opening credits... well, I guess it's more like his shadow being cast on the surface of a planet. I was under the impression that Big G's look would be revealed in the Silver Surfer spinoff film.

[thalaw2]

I'm fine with a reboot of FF.  I couldn't stay away through FF1 when I watched it on rental and FF2 was not much better....Silver Suffer was a wus.  In the FF reboot I hope they don't replace Invisible Woman 9the actress)....she's hot!!! 

[BentonGrey]

I'm fine with a reboot of FF.  I couldn't stay away through FF1 when I watched it on rental and FF2 was not much better....Silver Suffer was a wus.  In the FF reboot I hope they don't replace Invisible Woman 9the actress)....she's hot!!! 

Unfortunately she's not much for the actual...you know...acting part of the job.

Hitman, that's all well and good, but all we see in the movie is the cloud, which as far as we can tell, is Galactus.  Yeah, I saw the horns of his helmet, but it looked to me more like an Easter egg than anything else.

[bredon7777]

Well they've just cast Black Widow.

Spoiler

Scarlet Johannsen

Not sure she's a good choice, but I didn't think Heath was a good fit for the Joker nor Jackie Earle a good fit for Rorschach, and boy did they prove me wrong.

Maybe she'll do the same.

[BentonGrey]

For an Avengers movie?

[thalaw2]

Not in Avengers

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.eonline.com/103998-

[BentonGrey]

Ahh, of course.  The character will have an interesting interaction with Tony Stark, I imagine.  I'm still not happy with them combining characters for the villain.  That's never a good idea.

[TheMarvell]

I actually liked the Fantastic Four films, even though they were delightfully dumb. But that's why I liked them. They weren't trying to be anything more than just a fun, action, family-esque movie. Yeah, they're definitely one of the weakest in the Marvel movies, but I still thought they were much better than Elektra and Ghost Rider. And I thought the sequel with Silver Surfer was much better paced and characterized than the first one, except for Dr. Doom, who is just cheesy comic-book villain for the sake of being a cheesy comic-book villain.

I think the reboot thing is getting carried away because of Batman's success. But Batman desperately needed it, and the franchise was on hiatus for quite a while. Both Hulk and Fantastic Four just came out a few years ago. Hulk was a little more understandable, but I still thought the first one was just fine. Fantastic Four being rebooted strikes me much more oddly though, because Fox thought the first one was successful enough to bring on a sequel. And now, all of a sudden, they're not good enough, and they need something darker and more serious. Because you know, everything has to be The Dark Knight now. Ugh. If they can pull off a better version, I'm all for it, but it's most likely just going to confuse the hell out of people because the first movies JUST came out.

[herodad1]

i liked the ff movies but i hated them changing doom.i'd rather him get his power from his armor than a cosmic accident.