UPDATED: Disney has purchased Fox, and with it came both the X-Men and Fantastic Four, so any hint of doubts in the intro that we would get the Fantastic Four are null and void.
With the big news at the moment being the potential purchase of Fox by Disney, it’s pretty obvious that fans like us are thinking primarily about the Marvel properties coming back under one banner. Both the X Men and Fantastic Four universes would then be good to go for the MCU if they choose to use them.
The only wrinkle in the plan could be that Constantin apparently actually still (at least partially) owns rights on Fantastic Four and were in partnership with Fox. We would hope that does not prove a massive hurdle for the House of Mouse, but we’ll have to wait and see.
But let’s, for a moment, assume that they will head over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. How would it accomplish that, and how could the MCU possibly justify the Fantastic Four not being around?
RELATED: Great Marvel Moments We May Get From The Disney/Fox Merger
We at LRM are fans too and we talk about the dreams we have and the movie ideas we wish they would make. Well, I have been dreaming up this Fantastic Four idea in my head for years and we thought it would be fun to share a bird’s eye view of it for your readers, also we’d love to hear your own ideas and thoughts for re-introducing these characters back into the MCU.
We have no inside knowledge here, it is just a bit of fun.
Anyway here is a summary of LRM‘s Fantastic Four pitch. Feel free to ridicule it as you wish, we won’t be precious. I have, I must admit, written a full treatment for this movie, but I won’t bore you all with the minute details.
The key thing I always wanted to look at with the Fantastic Four is going back to those early comics and how the family dynamics were so different back then from what we would consider the norm in 2017.
Fantastic Four: Family Out Of Time
We would set the movie initially in the late ’60s. The Fantastic Four are already established in secret working for SHIELD and they are intercepting a package bound for Latveria and meant for one Dr Victor Von Doom. The period would allow Marvel to have some fun exploring the origin of these characters as they were in the comics and modernising them for the 21st Century as part of the movies character arcs.It also explains their absence from the MCU so far.
Explore the family dynamics as they would have been in the ’60s. Reed taking Sue for granted, Sue feeling repressed and undervalued as a woman in those days, Ben having to stay hidden away at all time. Johnny can be cocky and cool, but for the ’60s, which is not very cool in the modern day times.
Doom can be a former friend and colleague who was responsible for accident in space. This could be done as a flashback and with Dooms origin alongside the Fantastic Four it would also allow them to introduce this threat into the MCU organically.
Don’t Mess Up Dr. Doom!
Dr Doom is one of Marvel’s aces in the hole, probably their most recognisable and complex villain. Dr Doom was the Darth Vader of the comics and a threat to all Marvel heroes at times. Fox dropped the ball on him big time (more than once) and this could be the chance for Marvel to really explore a villain who can keep showing up in other stories.
Give him a great backstory! After all, Marvel do need more compelling villains in the MCU. Doom would not be a one and done kind of villain, but a growing threat.
Here is a backstory idea that’s keeping with his comic heritage. Doom is heir to the royal throne in Latveria, which neighbours Sokovia (MCU). Latveria went through a Military Coup in the 1930’s where his parents were killed as part of the revolution, Victor was smuggled by loyalists to America where he grew up. Doom genuinely cares for his people and truly believes the only way to save them from poverty and war is to finance another revolution to establish himself as the Monarch once more. Doom would aim to be a benevolent dictator and make Latveria strong enough to repel any invasions or internal coup’s again.
Motivations
Doom should not be shown as a true sociopath. He does care for people, but he just thinks that he is the person best suited to run things and distrusts politicians and democracy due to the corruption he witnessed in America. Doom and Richards while both geniuses have very different views about what to do with the discoveries they made. Victor wanted to profit from it and use the money to free his people, Reed was much more altruistic and wanted to give the world their knowledge and let them do with it as they pleased. Initially friends they became opposed to one another’s world views. Doom also thinks that Reed doesn’t deserve Sue and doesn’t treat her with the respect she deserves. That brings in that personal connection to The Fantastic Four from the comics.
To The Present & Into The Modern MCU!
To get the team back into the modern world, we could use the Eye of Agamotto (Time Stone) as a MacGuffin. It links in with the Dr Strange movie, and provides a natural way for the team to suddenly appear in 2020 with Dr Doom, who would be using it for his own plans back in the ’60s. You could even have a scene where The Ancient One appears through a portal and picks it up, after they have been sent through time and again linking them into the existing universe.
The family reappear in 2020 and have to learn to adjust to the modern world of the MCU. Reed has his views changed through seeing what the world has done with scientific discoveries. Sue learns about a world where she can finally come out of her shell, and the two need to explore this change in their relationship. Johnny feels like an old man out of touch with the modern world. Ben initially thinks that this world will be far more accepting of his condition, and then discovers people are still as prejudiced as they were…till he meets Alicia.
Doom has also been transported forwards through time, though 10 years prior to the Fantastic Four. The Fantastic Four find him already established as ruler of Latveria with Iron Man-like drones defending his country’s borders that he calls Doom Bots. This is important because it allows Dr Doom a head start to have been building up his power base, in order that he be a credible threat to any MCU hero.
Doom attacks The Avengers unexpectedly and the Fantastic Four provide assistance, this shows that Doom is confident enough to combat the entire Avengers if need be, though his motives remain hidden. It also brings in other MCU character for the Fantastic Four to befriend and instantly puts Doom on the radar of The Avengers.
The team help to repel Doom and find their place in this modern world, they decline offer of joining The Avengers, because Reed wants to use his scientific discoveries to finally change the world for the better and his friends want to help him. They are a family after all and it still enables them to team up as Marvel wish. Throw in a couple of Easter Eggs showing where they might end up, like The Negative Zone or Atlantis.
Spicy Stingers
Mid-Credit Scene
Dr. Doom we see has been testing the various strengths and weakness of the Avengers, he knows now that he must get the help of the Fantastic Four. They are the only heroes he can really trust, as they are the only ones he can be 100% sure are not Skrull imposters!!
Post-Credits Scene
We see an alien planet as the life force is sucked from it, leaving it a barren rock, a voice commands his Herald to find a new world to feed on as Silver Surfer flies across past the camera. That could be an event to match Avengers: Infinity War.
Do you like this idea of a family out of time? What would you do instead, if you were running Marvel? Even if this deal does not happen (We think that’s unlikely), they can’t stop us fans from dreaming, right?
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