“Fantastic Four” 2015 Reboot: How Not To Adapt a Beloved Comic Book Property

The “Fantastic Four” film franchise had a bit of a rocky start. The 2005 and 2007 movies were okay and the recent installment (“First Steps”) is actually really great. Now, let’s get to the 2015 reboot - which is where the franchise took a huge nose-dive.

In the 2015 mess of “Fantastic Four,” transported to an alternate dimension, four young outsiders gain superhuman powers as they alter their physical form in shocking ways.

Together, the team must harness their new abilities to prevent Doctor Doom from destroying the Earth.

Now, while this reboot of the “Fantastic Four” is definitely not great at all, I admit it did show a little bit of potential here and there. The reboot did attempt to give a grounded, darker take of the Fantastic Four story and origin, which could work if done right. And, instead of a cosmic storm in space, the heroes get their powers after finding an alternate dimension, which is actually an interesting idea (if it was done right).

“Fantastic Four 2015” did show promise for a little (more like a tiny) but - then it just completely nose-dived. Besides the fact that this reboot deviated from the traditional story majorly by having a different way of how they received their powers (which was kind of expected), the movie’s pacing is really slow and the slow pacing really made the comic book reboot felt really dull. One of the few aspects that doesn’t make the movie feel dull is the performance from a younger Michael B. Jordan (pre-”Creed”) as he actually is the scene-stealer of the group.

The first half of this reboot shows the team learning about their powers and suddenly goes into a one year time jump after they discover their powers and things go awry. The one year time jump definitely wasn’t needed and instead of the time jump, the movie could’ve focused more on the character arcs and key character development that this reboot really, really needed.

Another thing that really lacked in this 2015 iteration was the action. Besides the finale, which the final battle alone wasn’t really exciting, there was just a touch of action sprinkled here and there. In fact, the only action that I remember is primarily when they first discovered the alternate dimension (and their way back to our dimension) and when the military had to find Reed Richards. 

The 2015 iteration also didn’t do the best job with Doctor Doom. In fact, the villain is

barely in the movie - I think he is actually in the movie for ten minutes at the most (at least that’s what it seemed like to me). When Doom makes his appearance in the end after surviving in the alternate dimension, he ends up attacking several people in the military base, which actually can be a sort of thrilling moment - not gonna lie. And that leads up to a relatively short final battle. Even the final battle is pretty lackluster.

Even though a darker take of the “Fantastic Four” story can be compelling and could work if done right, this reboot shows how NOT to adapt a beloved comic book property.

MPA: Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, and language   (runtime 100 minutes)

Trivia: Director Josh Trank envisioned his movie as being about two hours and 20 minutes; the studio cut that down significantly to 100 minutes. After Trank finalized his version in 2014, the studio was dissatisfied and didn't like the director’s work. Fox demanded reshoots, which took place early the following year, mainly due to the creative differences and the fact the studio thought his version was too violent.

You can find “Fantastic Four 2015” and the 2005/2007 movies on Disney Plus and various PVOD rental services.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rRoD28-WgU

• Marvel wasn't fond of the direction the film was going, and made mention of it in a Marvel Comic: "The Punisher" #12 has the Fantastic Four (in the likeness of the cast members of this film) get taken down in an explosion.

• Josh Trank envisioned his film as being about 2 hours and 20 minutes long; the studio cut that down significantly to 1 hour and 40 minutes.

• Originally, Marvel Studios offered to give Fox an extension on rebooting Daredevil in exchange for the Fantastic Four film rights, along with characters associated with the brand that would expand their cosmic universe (Galactus, Silver Surfer, Uatu the Watcher, Annihilus, the Skrulls, and the Badoon, among others) - or at the least, just the cosmic characters. Fox refused to take up their offer, and they subsequently lost the rights to Daredevil, allowing Marvel to produce Daredevil (2015). The cosmic characters were ultimately never used and the rights reverted to Marvel following Disney's purchase of Fox.

• Kate Mara had initially wanted to read Fantastic Four comic books to prepare for her role as Susan Storm, but the filmmakers explained to the cast that it was unnecessary as the film was an original story not based directly on the comics.

• It has been reported that 20th Century Fox interfered with the film, drastically changing Josh Trank's original movie layout. One of the most major changes was the cutting out of three whole action scenes.

• The promotional posters for the film seem to depict a city in shambles from destruction implying an action sequence set in the city with the Fantastic Four. Nothing of this sort of action ever happens in the film.