THE FANTASTIC FOUR Writer On Why The Human Torch Didn't Say "Flame On" And The Ultimate Nullifier's Absence

@IAmAHoot - I felt the same way when Steve Rogers FINALLY said the "Avengers Assemble" line in ENDGAME but he kinda'/sorta' whispered the "Assemble" part of the iconic battle-cry. It was a let-down IMO. 🫤

@SuperiorHeckler - hmmm. I was the opposite. The emotion and anger behind it was perfect. It is one of my favorite scenes of all time (not just CBM). You can tell how ready he is for battle. Him saying it the way he did made much more sense than screaming "Assemble". It was more of a rally for himself and the OG's around him than it was everyone else. It was what they were creating. Ultimate team to take out ultimate threats.

@SuperiorHeckler - BREAKING NEWS: people writing fictional stories pick fictional character to be the hero . More at 6

@SuperiorHeckler - For an action film, winning by negotiation would kinda suck over a fight based victory, I mean all the build up to a fight with Galactus for the final act and it ends on go away or else and Galactus says OK.

I know in print it worked and is source accurate but it would be lame and would it REALY be just the man saving the day if they ALL took part in stealing a device Reed didn't even invent if source accurate cos no way it would ONLY be Human Torch going to acquire the device? Remember Reed didn't actualy invent or use the device in the original story, it was basicaly I have this button and I will press it if you don't sod off as an analogy to the cold war and threat of nuclear missiles.

Heck even if Reed HAD invented the device AND used it winning by simply pushing a button can be very lame in live action.

Also, Sue did not save the day on her own anyway, was a team effort with a final assist from the Surfer too, Reed was still the man who made the plan and invented the device Galactus was pushed through with it almost being Johnny doing the self sacrifice as well as Sue (who has been stated as being the strongest powerset wise for decades anyway) to save the day.

@Apophis71 - Why did Galactus have to set foot on Earth when he could have just sent the Silver Surfer to pick up Franklin?

@ShimmyShimmyYA - Your grasp of the obvious is most impressive Shim-Shim. (Did you hear the one about water being wet???) Please flag down an adult and have them re-read my original post to you. I simply implied that Disney is still obligated to promote certain gender narratives over others. I neither condemned it nor condoned it. (Unlike you...) 🙄

@Apophis71 - Thank you Apophis for a well thought-out and deliberate response. (Folks like Bobbie and Shim-Shim could learn a thing or two from you) 😉 TBH, I would have had Sue use her force-field to burst Galactus' helmet from the inside-out and the image of G screaming as he falls through the portal would have been an even more dramatic display of Sue's powers than simply pushing him backwards waiting for Shalla-Bal to finish the maneuver.

@Apophis71 - I understand why for the movie it's better to have Galactus on Earth, problem is that unless there is something I'm forgetting now, it doesn't make much sense that Galactus decides to go down to Times Square for Franklin when he could have just sent his herald at any time to pick him up from Times Square, from the Baxter Building or from anywhere else.

I think the writers should have given us any kind of decent excuse to explain why that wasn't possible and why Galactus really needed to go down to Times Square to pick up Franklin by himself instead of just sending the Silver Surfer to do it for him.

He could have sent her at any time, and if she was temp taken off the playing field, he could have just waited until she was back.

He just shouldn't have any kind of hurry or any kind of need to go down to Earth by himself, unless she was killed or something like that, but even if that happened iirc in the comics he has certain powers like teleportation, telekinesis, etc, that he could have used to catch Franklin without needing to set foot on Earth. Or he could have even created another herald and send him/her to pick up Franklin.

And if he was so nerfed that he couldn't use those powers to get Franklin without going down to NYC or to give a more decent fight against the FF, since she was not dead he could have just waited for the Surfer to do the job for him, or he could have sent her much earlier instead of giving Reed and company so much time to get ready and to plan anything for his arrival with the teleportation bridges.

Another thing I don't understand is why a genius like Reed planned to move the whole planet to the other side of the universe with his teleportation bridges and when that doesn't work because the Silver Surfer just destroys them (duh), then he realizes that maybe they could just try to send Galactus to the other side of the universe, why didn'y he think about that in the first place, lol.

If he had thought about that first, he would have only needed one teleportation bridge instead of all the others he needed to be built to move the whole planet, and with their own spaceship the team could have taken it to Galactus' ship and turn it on there instead of having to wait for Galactus to arrive to Earth and then decide he just wanted to stretch his legs and take a walk through Mahattan instead of sending his Surfer to pick up the baby.

I mean, I'm no genius like Reed, maybe I missed some important stuff while watching the movie, but I think it's the writers job to properly explain these things instead of just expecting us to simply understand that fighting Galactus on NYC just looked cooler and worked better for the movie and that's why neither Reed nor Galactus could use their brains.

I mostly liked the movie, but these are things that I think the writers should have explained better if they thought they really needed Galactus on Earth because it would be better for the final act.

@Apophis71 - Well, I do need a good reason to know why he would do it when he just doesn't need to do it and it'd much easier and much safer to just send her again later.

She should be able to do it in a much faster and easier way if it wasn't because the writers just wanted Galactus to walk through NYC and to be defeated in a really dumb way, because like you said that's how they wanted it to play out, they wanted their fight on Earth and not in space because it would visually work better, it's just a plot convenience, but the problem is that it doesn't make any sense.

A good writer would make 100% sure that everybody in the audience understood why Galactus had no other option than to go down to Earth to pick Franklin up by himself with his own hands or why he wouldn't destroy the teleportation bridge in Times Square as soon as he saw/detected it like his herald did with all the others bridges on Earth before.

Or why Reed wouldn't think about taking a teleportation bridge to Galactus' spaceship before building all those other bridges all around the world to send their whole planet to the other corner of the universe.

@Apophis71 - Yeah, he is coming to Earth to destroy it and to eat it if the F4 don't give him the kid, but that doesn't mean he needs to pick him up with his own hands when he could simply send his herald to do it for him in a much quicker and safer way.

She failed to get the kid in space, but once she escaped the black hole, why couldn't she be sent again by Galactus to just pick Franklin up from Times Square, from the Baxter Building or from anywhere else in the world?

That's why he has a herald, so he doesn't need to do that kind of sh*t by himself, lol.

-Galactus: "Surfer Girl, go pick up the baby, if they don't allow you to bring him to me, tell them I'll destroy the planet".

-Silver Surfer: "Yes, sir."

She comes to Earth, destroys the teleportation bridges, picks up the baby, job done.

Or the F4 fight her and don't allow her to take Franklin, so Galactus just destroys and eats the planet.

I don't see where is the logic in not doing exactly that, what is shown in the movie is just plot convenience because the writers wanted Galactus on NYC, but it's completely unnecessary imo. 🤷‍♂️

And they could have just agreed to deliver Franklin to Galactus on his spaceship, then take a teleportation bridge with them hidden on their own spaceship, leave the bridge on Galactus' ship and escape before turning it on and sending Galactus' ship to the other side of the universe.

Just some version of that, it would much easier to do than building idk how many teleportation bridges all around the world just to be destroyed by the Silver Surfer once she comes to Earth and sees them, which anyone with a brain knew that would be what was going to happen.

Plus moving a whole planet full of people, animals, buildings, cars, planes, etc, to the other side of the universe is not as easy as moving an egg somewhere else in the same room (and iirc Reed used two devices for the eggs, but afaik didn't have a receiving one where he planned to move Earth or where he finally sent Galactus).

The chances of f*cking up and getting the planet destroyed and everybody killed with that plan were huge.



Much bigger than just putting a teleportation bridge into Galactus' ship.

Reed could have even planned a way to send the bridge to Galactus' ship without the F4 having to take it there on their own spaceship.

Maybe sending it with a rocket or a drone controlled from Earth, or controlled by a robot like Herbie, or... maybe just use a teleportation bridge to send another teleportation bridge to Galactus' spaceship, why couldn't he do that?

Wouldn't that be much easier than moving the whole planet? And he would only need two bridges instead of building so many others all around the world just to be easily destroyed by the Silver Surfer as soon as she saw them.

He could have even used some of these last tactics on Earth to surprise Galactus somehow with the teleportation bridges.

If I can think about these things, why couldn't a genius like Reed do it, specially having so much time until Galactus' arrival.

It's just easier to believe that Reed could find a way to hide a teleportation bridge in the F4 spaceship and once in Galactus' ship find a way to leave it there and escape before activating it, or that he could directly send the bridge to Galactus spaceship somehow, than believing that his genius masterplan is puting the baby's empty basket right below/besides a teleportation bridge and that Galactus would just come down to Earth, walk through NYC and wouldn't notice the teleportation bridge right between him and the baby's empty basket.

I understand why the writers wanted Galactus in NYC, I just think they could have done a better job explaining why it was absolutely necessary, why he didn't have any other option.

What I saw was not convincing enough, at least not for me. 🤷‍♂️

@Apophis71 -
"Which part of they did intend the battle to be in space but switched as wasn't working don't you get with all of that."

I told you several times that I did get that, I get that they thought that the final battle in NYC would be better for the movie, I said it in at least a couple of my messages. 😅

I just think they should have given us a more compelling reason to explain why Galactus had to go down to Times Square to pick Franklin up by himself when he didn't need to do it and when there were other much better, faster and safer options like just sending his herald to do it for him. 🤷‍♂️

Same way I think Reed, who is supposed to be a genius, maybe had other much better and safer options to send Galactus to the other side of the universe without needing to risk the whole planet in the first place, and when he didn't even know if the world would be able to build in time so many teleportation bridges that could be so easily detected and destroyed by the Silver Surfer later.

Call it nitpicking, idk, I just think the writers could have tried to find some more solid reasons to explain why neither of those things were possible, but they decided not to do it because I guess they may have thought that people in the audience wouldn't ask any of these questions, but for me personally that's a mistake, because I just think that these are too obvious questions, and that the only reason why Galactus ultimately goes down to NYC is because of plot convenience, because the writers just wanted the final battle to be fought there.

You don't seem to fully agree, that's ok, let's agree to disagree. 🤷😅

@Apophis71 - to be fair

The Ultimate Nullifier was created by Reed in the Ultimate universe and used the energy of the Big Bang so there’s precedent for it but I still liked the direction they went here since it just made it more emotional imo

@Huskers - How powerfull Franklin is was always an issue in the comics too, but source accurate thus is what it is. Good writing is key to how you make a character like that work and in the source with the ultimate one for him becoming the new Galactus but one who would only consume uninhabbited worlds or just gain the energy he needs from stars in solar systems sans any lifeforms thus negating both the threat of that force of nature AND taking a potential OP hero off the board.

Other than that you have narratives like what they did with him early on where Annihilus put him in a device that would have resulted in the destruction of Earth and the only option to save the day was to use that device to put him into a coma or some other narrative where you nerf most his powers. In one story Franklin himself realises his powers are too great and is the one to put dampners on himself vastly reducing his abilities.

@TheVisionary25 - Thanks for confirming. It sucks how sound issues can deflate a scene.