I am just going to say it now,the origin of the Fantastic Four is corny and outdated. Four dudes go into outer space, get blasted by some radiation, come back home with super powers and decide to become super heroes. Granted I am probably over simplifying this, but you have to admit that that is corny as [frick]. The Incredible Hulk glossed over its own hero's origin by giving a vague intro, never explicitly saying it was radiation that created the hulk. The Amazing Spiderman also avoids the radiation and instead leaves Peter Parkers powers unexplained. They only kind of hint at it when Peter helps Conners with the bio-engineering deal. The only two comic book movies I can think of that say radiation causes super powers is DREDD and X-Men: First Class.
So What is the Deal with Radiation and Why is it Corny?
I don't know why Marvel Comics almost always used radiation to explain the occurrence of super powers, but if I had to guess, it would be this: heroes like spider-man, Hulk, The Fantastic Four all came out in the sixties, which was the at the time, coming off of the height of the Cold War. I am guessing that not a whole lot was known about radiation at the time, and so people looked at it as a possible plot device to explain pretty much any kind of freakish incident.
I said before that TASM and TIH avoided explaining their respective hero's radiation filled origins. Even the found footage 'Chronicle' avoided any clear explanation for where the main characters got their powers, and now the same guy is directing the FF reboot. Why do these characters avoid there origins? Well it could be that the concept of radiation induced super powers doesn't fit the tone of the film, or that they (rightfully) believe that the audience is too smart to buy into that. Today though we know better. I love the original Spider-Man movie, but I look at it the same way I look at Superman: The Movie: a corny but comic book accurate film (forgiving the green goblin costume and the organic web shooters).
So the question is, are we going to see an origin film that skips out on the radiation, and if so, and they are connected to the x-men universe, will they be mutants?
Well, we know that Mark Millar said that Fantastic Four would indeed share its universe with X-Men, so the opportunity is certainly there. From a real world perspective, NASA isn't sending people into space anymore, and if people are going into space it will be because they are hitching a ride with Russian astronauts or that a some outside commercial company is doing it. Hell, James Cameron has built a company which plans to harvest asteroids in the near future. So we know that space travel is still an option, and we know that the mutant gene is an option.
What do I think will happen?
Well, before TASM came out there was talk that Spiderman's origin would be almost completely redone. He would have been born with his powers but they wouldn't be unlocked until he was bit by the spider from the blue oscorp room. In 'The Incredible Hulk' they did something similar. The Hulk was always in Banner, but it was the machine that uncaged him. Do you see what I am getting at?
The Fantastic Four are going to fly into space and get radiation poisoning. Once they get home they discover each of them has their own unique powers and after some scientific research Mr. Fantastic deduces that they had their incredible abilities from the very beginning, that they are mutants, and the radiation just enhanced their powers so that they noticed them.
Josh Trank is hired as the current director of the Fantastic Four reboot, which is set to take place in the current X-Men universe, and the film is scheduled to be released March 6, 2015.
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