2005's 'The Fantastic Four' was a major disappointment to me. At the time the film was released I was reading the amazing FF run by writer Mark Waid and artist Mike Wieringo and was hoping that the film would translate from page to screen just as I had imagined. Sadly as anyone who has seen it knows, it was mostly rubbish.
The Fantastic Four's origins are'nt all that complicated. Here is the Wikipedia version, "The Fantastic Four were formed when during an outer space test flight in an experimental rocket ship, the four were bombarded by a storm of cosmic rays. Upon crash landing back on Earth, the four astronauts found themselves transformed with bizarre new abilities. The four then decide to use their powers for good as superheroes." Although the film didnt deviate too far from this, in my opinion the origins of the characters themselves were what was screwed up rather than how they got their powers.
As with last year's Hulk film a retelling of the FF's origins could easily be done over the beginning credits. These flashbacks could quickly establish the relationships between the characters better than the previous films (Reed and Ben's friendship, Sue being a mother figure to her brother Johnny-I was disappointed that this wasnt at all portrayed in the previous two films) Victor's gypsy origins and his meeting with Reed could also be quickly shown as well as his subsequent scarring from an experiment that Reed advised him against doing. At this point older versions of the soon to be FF could be shown taking a ship into outer space, being bombarded with cosmic rays and finally crashing to Earth with newfound abilities. As a last shot I think it would be perfect for a group of monitors showing the now costumed heroes in news reports after various heroic deeds. The camera should then pan back to reveal none other than a fully costumed Dr.Doom watching and biding his time for revenge...
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was a much better film but was still not the FF I wanted to see on the big screen. I hated the fact that Von Doom was basically made of metal but when in the sequel the metal was peeled off and clearly left him scarred I thought this was the perfect chance for the character until The Silver Surfer fixed this (more than likely only so they could put Julian McmMahon's face on screen) In some respects there is no reason why the events of this film couldnt have still happenned but as in The Incredible Hulk, just be forgotten or not referred back to (I mean Galactus being a cloud? Seriously?) I dont think it can be argued that this film did actually kill off the franchise especially as it has previously been reported that as Rise of the Silver Surfer grossed less than the first film, 20th Century Fox was unsure of the series' future, and no script is in development. As well as this, in March 2008, Chris Evans revealed, "I'm pretty sure we won’t do another one. I’m assuming that one is a closed book."
Anyway, here are my cast picks for a new Fantastic Four movie as apart from Chris Evans and perhaps Michael Chiklis (whose voivce alone seems a good fit for The Thing even if you dont like his acting skills) I didnt like any of the actors chosen for the film as I just dont feel they fit the part in comparison for example of Robert Downey Jnr as Tony Stark/Iron Man or Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman.
I think Hugh Laurie would be perfect for Reed Richards as he is a more mature actor than Ioan Gruffudd and despite the fact that he is British can do a much better American accent than Gruffudd (and personally as I am Welsh as well I could hear the Welsh accent slip through many times). I know some people will say that he is perhaps too old but in the comics Reed is quite a bit older than Sue and its not like Laurie is all that old anyway! Anyone who has seen House will know that Hugh Laurie is an amazing actor and apart from a few obvious aspects, the charatcer of House is in many ways similar to Reed and so Laurie could easily be convincing as a genius whilst also maintaing some humour in the character.
As hot as Jessica Alba is, she isnt really that great an actress and as much as I enjoyed looking at her in the previous FF films she was more eye candy than the mature Susan Richards even from the earliest FF comics. I didnt find her in the least convincing as a scientist and couldnt even imagine her having kids in future films..! Im sure many of you guys will have a better idea of who could be Sue Storm but I think Brittany Murphy suits the role visually as well as coming across as more mature than Alba in the films that i have seen her in.
To me Chris Evans was a perfect Johnny Storm and I just hope that if his character was written a little better he could be convinced to return to the franchise.
Again as I said above Michael Chiklis was at the least a good voice for The Thing but this time round if it was done well I would prefer to perhaps see a CG Thing more faithful to The Thing from the comic books.
Finally, for Dr. Doom I dont think it really matters especially as the comic book Doom constantly wears a mask. An iconic voice would be enough in my opinion and after hearing his voice work in the Playstation 3 game, Killzone 2 I think that Brian Cox (Stryker from X-2) might be a good choice. However, if any of you have better ideas Id love to know!
As for the plot of a new Fantastic Four film, I think it would be interesting to maybe delve into the Negative Zone as this could open the door wide to classic villains such as Blastaar and Annihilus as well as further down the line perhaps even Captain Mar-Vell...Dr.Doom could play a role in the film but perhaps a minor one setting up a bigger part in a sequel as he has been heavily involved in the last two and a break wouldnt necessarily be a bad thing.
So, I'd love to know what you all think! Does the Fantastic Four need a reboot? Would you want the original cast or a new one like the few actors I've suggested above? And should their origins be retold and what villains or tories would you like a new movie to focus on? Imsure some of you will agree with me and maybe more than some will disagree, either way I look forward to your feedback..!