While I wouldn't have chosen Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, I don't have a problem with the role. He's out of the box thinking regarding the role, but he's also almost catering to nerds, since after Mandalorian, fans want him in everything. Still, I'm open minded.
Vanessa Kirby was great in The Crown. Of the FF characters, Sue Storm is the most flat personality-wise, so there's room for an actor to put their stamp on the role as long as the role isn't underwritten.
If that's the finished voice for Thing, it'll take some getting use to. But it's not a dealbreaker. Thing is one of, if not THE, best Marvel characters, so hopefully the movie does at least him justice.
I'm a big FF fan, and I hope this movie is good. I don't hate the first two Fox movies (they're ok and have some decent elements) but there's certainly room for improvement. Also hoping the movie is successful enough for us to get some more comic FF figures, although we may have to burn through MCU figures first.
All of this!
I'm still baffled that Pascal was the choice for Reed. But I'm willing to see how it goes.
Kirby was great in the trailer. I would love to see Susan Storm's character fleshed out and well written.
Not a fan of the voice for the Thing. But open to what the movie has to offer. I do agree that the Thing is one of the best Marvel characters and he's always been one of my personal favorites. it looks like they finally got his look right and I'm looking forward to the films focus on family. The FF have always been about family and that dynamic is essential to all their great stories.
Lastly, it was exciting to see a physical form for Galactus. Not a fan of the absence of Norrin Radd as the Silver Surfer. But really hoping for a definitive version of the Devourer of Worlds in the MCU.
And remember the rumor/leak about the large MCU Galactus figure?
This thread is all over the place so here is a mishmash of thoughts I've had:
Really like the trailer and feel like I'm going to love this movie. Hitting all the right notes for me there.
The Mission Impossible Movie series is good and a rare example of a franchise that got better as the number of the sequels got higher.
John Woo's Mission Impossible movie was terrible. John Woo had a run of hong kong gun-fu masterpieces - A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Bullet in the Head, Hard Boiled - that were fantastic and I can rewatch any of those repeatedly. His output since - once America discovered him has been... disappointing.
I like the casting for Thing, the voice doesn't bother me at all, frankly. And, I'm secretly hoping the Thing will be so popular after this movie that he will get his own Disney Plus show - Marvel Two-In-One where he teams up with a different Marvel character for a random adventure each episode. That was one of my favorite comics as a kid and I am ready to have that play out on my screen please. What? Stop throwing things...
Honestly, I've never read an FF comic, so I have no idea what gender the robot is.
Then watch the 1970s cartoon because that's where HERBIE was introduced. Whatever network funded it refused to allow Human Torch on it because they were afraid it would negatively impact any budding young arsonists watching, so they replaced Johnny with HERBIE. He just sounded like a generic robot voice from what I recall, but it sounded like a dude doing a robot if it was any gender.
They added him briefly to the comics after the cartoon, but I could never tell that it was gendered there.
I've got the Corman one downloaded and plan to watch that at some point. Of the four that have been made it's the only one I'm actively curious about, for what might be all the wrong reasons.
Sounds like wrong is your right, so having watched it I'm sure it will be exactly the right type of wrong you're looking for. It was almost literally phoned in--here, Roger, take a million and put people in it dressed vaguely like the Fantastic Four because if you don't the film rights go back to Marvel. They essentially paid a million to fake the terms of the contract simply to extend its length.
I generally enjoyed the Tim Story films. They weren't good, but there was more than enough of the FF there for me to enjoy them. Julian Glover as Doom was terrible despite me really liking that actor, Silver Surfer was fun but all I could think of with Lawrence Fishburne voicing him was "Silver Sufer is Morpheus?", and Galactus was a travesty. Ah well, it was more like Galactus wasn't in the second film at all so at least they didn't exactly ruin him; I think of it more like this new film will be the first time we've seen him which is pretty much literally true. Chris Evans as Johnny and Chiklis as Ben were great, and their intereactions were really fun. Jessica Alba and the Reed actor with the super-Norwegian name I can't spell (Ian Gruffold?) were blah. Reed is supposed to have a blah personality so I guess that actor did fine.
I never saw the Trank film since the production story was such a trainwreck given that they fired him and had someone re-direct the second half only. That never turns out well.
I'm secretly hoping the Thing will be so popular after this movie that he will get his own Disney Plus show - Marvel Two-In-One where he teams up with a different Marvel character for a random adventure each episode. That was one of my favorite comics as a kid and I am ready to have that play out on my screen please. What? Stop throwing things...
YES! This is a brilliant idea. I had a similar idea for a Marvel Team Up show, just pairing up heroes every week, but I would absolutely tune in for a Thing show like this.
Then watch the 1970s cartoon
refused to allow Human Torch on it because they were afraid it would negatively impact any budding young arsonists watching
I'd heard that too, but now I believe Torch was under a different license at the time for a solo show that never materialized.
refused to allow Human Torch on it because they were afraid it would negatively impact any budding young arsonists watching
I'd heard that too, but now I believe Torch was under a different license at the time for a solo show that never materialized.
I think he was licensed out to Universal. R2D2 was popular; so robot. Prob why they created Firestar for the Amazing Friends cartoon too.
Fox Reed Richards guy is Welsh I think.
They may get new costumes like everyone does, but that doesn't matter to me. I have been waiting to add the FF with my Avengers. Making that happen day 1
@ibentmyman-thing exactly my feelings on John Woo. And actually, for me Jackie Chan's best work was done in HK as well.
I had blocked out the doves. Ugh.
Turns out directing is hard and it's easier to do it in your native language. Even the master Bong Joon-ho has been more successful in Korean. No big deal, though. To quote the man himself,
Maybe I'll try jumping on with the fourth one....
I agree with everyone here that 2 and 3 are the weak links. I'd recommend every other film in the franchise.
The Thing's animation looked a bit off to me, but maybe they're still tweaking it in post.
I felt the same. I miss Chiklis's rubber suit.
What would be interesting is if their costumes on the Ed Sullivanesque studio appearance is the FF equivalent of Cap's USO costume. It's not gonna ruin the movie for me if this isn't the case but maybe they'll get new costumes by the end battle.
Anyone wanting to experience Vanessa Kirby being awesome watch the movie "About Time." Can't recommend this movie enough especially to fathers of sons - it's a father son movie, despite Rachel McAdams' prominence on the poster. I *love* this film and Vanessa plays Rachel's best friend with some fantastic lines. Margot Robbie is also in it, and Billy Nighy and Dohmnall Gleeson star.
Whoever said the main four shot looks like a Mezco ad nailed it. I like the costumes but I really do not like that only two of them match. All four should match, or all four should be unique - two of the four matching just bugs me.
I'm skeptical of Pedro because I've never thought he was as good as his press (he's fine) but not letting Johnny speak in the trailer worries me. Also, that haircut doesn't scream "cool guy" but nerd. But we'll see. Vanessa and Ebon feel good and I want it to be good.
I also wish Marvel had held this until the Superbowl and had faith in it making a splash.
Marvel really should have made Pedro shave his mustache or have gone with someone else. His chubby face doesn't resemble Reed to me. Sue Storm seems passable. Johnny Storm seems meh. The Thing is too short, he doesn't have a commanding voice in rock form, and his "rocks" make him look too much like Korg from the Thor series. Plus the sweater isn't necessary.
I do like that it looks like they'll have him wandering New York in his overcoat and hat like in the comics and the TMNT do. The blue eyes are good, I just wish there was a deeper groove between the shifting rocks on his face so he looks more craggy than just having stone chips sliding over one another like Korg. His being remarkably short was the stand out thing I noticed from the trailer. Herbie being a tape deck increasingly makes me think they should have just made Reed a contemporary of Tony Stark, further removed, perhaps working deeper in the government or with NASA on dimensional access portals or something. The excessively 60s motif will probably be endearing to some but strikes me more as hokey, as the Baxter Building is really what should have been prominently placed in NYC not Avengers tower. Even if they had it be an old building from one of Tony's defeated billionaire foes that the government bought for the 4's experiments. Even just making a joke about it being a former home of a long gone comic book company, Timely Comics or something. This seems like it'll be a middlin' "fresh" take on the 4, but I'm not sure I'll like it more than the Chiklis films. I'll probably find something to like about each. But I wasn't wow'ed by the trailer and I really think Marvel rises or falls based on how well they execute the X-Men live action universe.
I wouldn't worry too much about Ben's height. In that group shot he looks to be standing farther back on the platform than Sue and probably isn't shorter than she is.
But speaking of short, I'm very much hoping that despite Galactus' apparently huge size, they decide to make a figure more accessible to casual fans that want one after seeing the movie. Say, an 11-12" version that would fit on my shelf.
The Thing is too short
I think you meant too tall since the actor is 6' 1", Ben Grimm is 6' 0", and he didn't grow vertically until artists do what they love to do and make big guys bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and bigger than the previous versions they've seen. I've seen him depicted as shorter than or around the same height as Reed for most of the issues I've read. I think artists started growing his height in the 1970s, but later artists like John Byrne in the 1980s and Mike Wieringo in the late 1990s went back to Ben being shorter than Reed. Marvel still lists him as 6' 0" in Thing form on their web site.
Two examples below--the first is from John Byrne from the 80s, and the second is from Mike Wieringo in the 2000s. Hasbro scaled him as the "BIG GUYS SHOULD BE BIG" artists did since he's around 6' 10" in Legends form, but Mezco did it right in their 4-pack where Ben is shorter than Reed. Ignoring height both figures are absolutely exceptional, but Mezco clearly made him slightly better than the Legends version and took it over the top with most of the accessories you'd ever want for a Ben Grimm with the wired overcoat, top hat, glasses, bendy-wire steel girder, and bendy-wire Yancy Street street sign.
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