Cast
Andrew Garfield as Reed Richards
Alice Eve as Sue Storm
Nonso Anozie as Ben Grimm
Dylan O’Brien as Johnny Storm
Andrew Scott as Victor von Doom
Christina Hendricks as Abigail Brand --- Jason Statham as Red Shift
Brennan Brown as Henry Peter Gyrich --- Leslie Odom Jr. as Agent Deems
Wagner Moura as Agent Paulletz --- Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark
-In the late 1960s, a top secret experiment is about to commence at a SHIELD black site. A space craft created by Dr. Reed Richards, brilliant young astrophysicist, preps for takeoff. It is crewed by biologist & linguist Dr. Susan Storm, acclaimed Air Force pilot and Reed’s childhood friend Cpt. Ben Grimm, and Susan’s young brother, the rebellious tech whiz Johnny Storm, who was added to the team as a last minute replacement for Dr. Victor von Doom. All goes well until Doom crashes the site in a whirlwind of power. Grimm tries to abort the mission but it is revealed Reed made this impossible, in case their bosses at SHIELD had second thoughts. The ship and the team within vanish in a flash of blinding light.
-Cutting to the present, the SWORD organization’s satellite base records strange incoming energy readings. Before the eyes of Chief Officer Abigail Brand and her second-in-command, Agent Deems, Richards’ space craft materializes directly in front of the station. Going into defense mode, Brand scrambles to detect the nature of the mystery vessel before she realizes what it is. Quickly contacting Director Tony Stark, she briefs him and the fellow top agents over all that is known about Richards’ crew who, immortalized as the “Fantastic Four” were declared dead in a scientific accident and mourned as national heroes. Stark gives the okay to board the unresponsive vessel.
-As Agent Paulletz leads the team boarding the shuttle, Brand is surprised by a visit by the CIA’s Special Counsel on Metahuman Affairs, Henry Peter Gyrich. He has already received word of the discovery through his own channels and arrives to oversee the proceedings, claiming that the CIA has a deep investment in the fate of Dr. Richards.
-Having successfully boarded the shuttle, Paulletz and his team are ambushed by a mysterious band of assailants who, after a brief fight, are revealed to be the original crew, now possessing incredible powers and having barely aged a day since their disappearance in the 60s.
-The Four are brought onboard the station and undergo medical treatment. Dr. Richards is called in to a meeting immediately following medical clearance. He explains that he and his crew underwent a transformation after the accident, and have since coped with their powers while encountering strange new worlds in their journey home, a journey which for them only lasted four years. Brand in turn details the coverup of their supposed death and all that has transpired since. This is all very overwhelming for Reed, and the meeting ends, with Brand chiding Gyrich for “not telling him about Doom”.
-Deep below a U.S. blacksite, Victor von Doom snaps awake in a cell, muttering a “Welcome home” to his “Old friend Reed”.
-Under the watchful eye of Deems, the Four adjust to life on the station. It becomes apparent that the Storm siblings have fully embraced their new powers, while Reed seeks only to cure them, in particular Ben, who upon returning to the “normal” world has become a shut-in, viewing his new form as a cell.
-Gyrich orders that the Four be quarantined on the station, building the power struggle between him and Brand. However, Johnny, hoping that a return to Earth will cheer up Ben and Reed, convinces Deems to take them to New York. They reach the city but are immediately caught up in culture shock. Attempting to disguise Ben, Deems takes them on a tour of the modern New York, which comes to a crashing halt when they walk into the middle of a heist. Breaking out of disguise to stop the thieves and save civilians, the quartet inadvertently become internet sensations.
-In the aftermath, Gyrich is livid and Stark gets involved, siding with Richards’ team. Ben is shocked to discover that the public loves him, and Johnny takes full advantage to propel their new found celebrity. Reed takes steps to require his family real estate: The Baxter Building. As the team blithely enters into 21
st life, Reed gets dragged into the power struggle between Stark/Brand and Gyrich, as their opposing views on how to handle meta-science discoveries come nearly to blows. Reed himself finds himself fitting unnervingly well into the morally ambiguous world of modern “shadow government”.
-Doom, also unaged due to his perfection of the magic arts has long since convinced his captors of his insanity, but now the veil is off. Breaking out of his prison, he causes chaos, releasing other dangerous inmates, both metahuman and alien, along the way.
-Once again ignoring orders to stay put, the Four rush to help quell the prison break, controlling the situation but in the aftermath they discover the truth about what happened. Furious Reed confronts their handlers about Doom and the truth is revealed. Together, the CIA and SHIELD backed a coup which toppled Doom’s father, the king of Latveria. An American-allied dictator took his place and has since run the once mighty nation into the ground. It was this that caused Victor to attack the mission launch and seemingly go mad. He was held in prison ever since. Reed loses his temper with both the government and his friends, who aren’t taking their “condition” seriously, and storms off into the night to find Victor.
-Meanwhile, Doom has returned to Latveria, effortlessly eliminating the current government donning his iconic family armor, and being welcomed back with open arms by a loving people. In the midst of celebrations, however, he is surprised by a visit from Reed. Throughout their conversation, they bear their grievances with each other, and Reed is forced to realize that he is guilty of the same self-centered arrogance that he hates so much in Victor, and is driving away his few remaining friends. Victor then assures him that he is “not the villain of this story” and leaves to greet his people, warning Reed that they aren’t the only thing to escape the “Negative Zone”.
-High above Earth, Gyrich is supervising the classification of the shuttle, as part of the compromise brokered with Brand. However, the Portal suddenly reopens, unleashing the incredibly powerful herald Red Shift. Gyrich hastily saves his own skin, getting Paulletz and several other agents killed in the process. He escapes to the station and destroys the shuttle, but the new threat is not so easily stopped.
-Reed returns to his teammates with a changed heart and a new outlook on their new life as heroes. Receiving the distress call from the SWORD station, he inspires them to come with him to stop the threat and together they defeat Red Shift and close the portal.
-In the aftermath, Gyrich is appointed to a extended position on the SWORD satellite, much to Brand and Deems dismay. The Fantastic Four return to Earth, with Reed suggesting everything from masks to secret identities, but Johnny has already arranged a press conference complete with new team uniforms, as Earth welcomes its newest superhuman guardians.
Mid Credits Scene:
Far away on a distant planet, Red Shift stumbles back to his master, Galactus, whose full form is shrouded from sight. The Destroyer of Worlds does not take defeat lightly and reveals he has found a new herald. A shocked Red Shift is then murdered by none other than the Silver Surfer.