Fantastic Four reboot-- Casting, Rumors, Pix, ect;

[Nerys Myk]

Most people watching the film will have no idea what cosmic rays are.

[Gaith]

wissaboo wrote:

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reboots are getting faster and faster. Can't we wait a decent amount of time to let the last one cool off at least?

Yes, you can - via the revolutionary technological technique of not seeing reboots you're not interested in. But it's a patented technique, so, if you don't go see this, you owe me ten bucks. PM me for PayPal details. (And it's fifteen if you don't see it in 3D, either.)

[Sindatur]

Santa Kang wrote:

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Most people watching the film will have no idea what cosmic rays are.

Cosmic Ray, wasn't that Capt. Cosmic's Robot Sidekick?

[Trekker4747]

stj wrote:

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Yes, it takes a effort to suspend disbelief. But suppose you are a viewer game to make the effort. Then, you accept that cosmic rays in low Earth orbit did do these incredible things. After all you saw them on screen. Easier to suspend with good FX, but a willing imagination can help the shoddiest CGI, no? But at the same moment you are to also to remember and accept that cosmic rays did not do any thing like this to any of the other many people who've gone into orbit! You are asked to believe cosmic rays did and did not do such things.

Asking willing suspension of disbelief is one thing. Demanding willing suspension of critical faculties when faced with a self-contradiction is quite another. I think the latter is bad writing.

IIRC it was a special condition of cosmic rays, higher than normal or combined with the equipment or something like that. Needless to say, I don't think it needs to be "explained" much more than a handwaving. It's rather small and insignificant part of the story, overall.

In Nolan's more "realistic" Batman movies we've got microwaves that causes water to instantly turn to steam (yet not harming the people around who are also made up of mostly water) and a man with severe burns able to pretty much walk around for the better part of a day without being in agonizing pain or dying from severe infections. (Not to mention having a useful eye.) Shit, when foregoed medical attention he wasn't even in an isolation ward!

I think we cannot examine these things too closely. How did the Fantastic Four's exposure to cosmic radiation impact them and not others who went into orbit before them? It was simply the fall of the cards and the roll of the dice. They went at precisely the wrong time. Like all of the Apollo astronauts who managed to survive exposure to radiation outside of the Van-Allen Belt, it just happened to be at the right time with low solar activity. If that calculation would've been wrong they would have been irradiated to death.

[Nerys Myk]

Sindatur wrote:

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Cosmic Ray, wasn't that Capt. Cosmic's Robot Sidekick?

Nah, that was 2T2.

[stj]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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IIRC it was a special condition of cosmic rays, higher than normal or combined with the equipment or something like that. Needless to say, I don't think it needs to be "explained" much more than a handwaving. It's rather small and insignificant part of the story, overall.

I sort of agree: Any explanation will be handwaving and it's a small detail. But it's still significant in allowing us to suspend disbelief. A genuinely good explanation would be better writing than a merely sciencey-sounding one, but truly rationalizing this stuff is beyond any human. But whatever fictional science is used needs to be well-written fictional science.

In Nolan's more "realistic" Batman movies....

I don't like the Nolan movies. Chris Nolan wouldn't dream of sticking his hand into a working microwave but can't see how silly his microwave weapon was. But we have to "see" microwaves both working and not working at the same moment. And he did stuff like that while confusing drab or confused or merely cynical with realism. Feh.

How did the Fantastic Four's exposure to cosmic radiation impact them and not others who went into orbit before them?

Well, the early comics clearly established that cosmic rays would give other people super-powers, and their pet apes too. The Red Ghost. Perhaps I'm mistaken, relying on memory, but unlike you I don't think the early comics ever answered the question, despite man's continued march into space.

I don't think it's excessively demanding to expect a new movie adaptation to try to clean this origin up a little.

[Agenda]

I'm pretty sure that nobody can be born with magnetic or telepathic powers either, but when it comes to fiction, I just let it go.

[47]

A reboot after TWO movies? This must be a new record...

[Skywalker]

47 wrote:

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A reboot after TWO movies? This must be a new record...

The Incredible Hulk was a reboot of Hulk. So, no, not a record.

[Nerys Myk]

47 wrote:

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A reboot after TWO movies? This must be a new record...

Nah, the Punisher was rebooted after one.

[47]

Not sure you can call it a reboot after only one movie. More like a retry to me...

[Temis the Vorta]

wissaboo wrote:

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reboots are getting faster and faster. Can't we wait a decent amount of time to let the last one cool off at least?

When the original was a misfire, the reboot can't happen too fast. I agree with 47, this is a "retry," as in "if at first you don't succeed..."

Shazam! wrote:

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I'd be excited for this if it wasn't still with FOX

Yeah. But I'll hope for the best.

[JoeZhang]

But at the same moment you are to also to remember and accept that cosmic rays did not do any thing like this to any of the other many people who've gone into orbit!

"Wow that strange energy wave that we know nothing about give us super powers!" - same outcome no mention of cosmic rays.

[stj]

Beyond Antares wrote:

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I'm pretty sure that nobody can be born with magnetic or telepathic powers either, but when it comes to fiction, I just let it go.

If one identical twin was born with magnetic or telepathic powers but the other one wasn't, you'd just let it go?

[Christopher]

Hanukkah Solo wrote:

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Hopefully the Thing will be done with mocap and CGI this time.

I disagree. The Thing makeup was the most effective thing about the previous movies. Sure, it didn't match the absurdly oversized version of the character in the comics today, but it looked great, like an Alex Ross painting from Marvels brought to life. I'll grant that performance capture has gotten to the point where it can be reasonably convincing, but there's no reason to use it when a real live human being can still play the part just as well. If they want to make him bigger, they can digitally alter his size in post-production as they did with Chris Evans's torso in Captain America.

And hopefully the writing will actually be better, of course.

Can't disagree there. And cast Sue Storm based on the actress's talent and screen presence, not just how good she looks in her underwear.

wissaboo wrote:

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reboots are getting faster and faster. Can't we wait a decent amount of time to let the last one cool off at least?

20th Century Fox can't wait past a certain length of time, or they'll lose their license back to Marvel. Those are the terms of their contract. Licenses like that are usually a use-it-or-lose-it proposition.

Some people think it would be good if Marvel got the rights to all their characters back, and I used to think that as well, but it's been pointed out that if only one studio had all the Marvel superhero rights, it wouldn't be able to make as many movies per year as could 2-3 studios with the rights split among them. So I'm fine with Fox putting this movie into production so they can keep the rights. I don't see a problem with the short interval. Heck, the previous two movies weren't very good; why should their mere existence prevent the studio from trying to do a better version? In what way is that not "decent?"


As for the source of their powers, I'm surprised that so many commenters here would expect them to use the old cosmic-ray origin. Previous Marvel movies have updated the characters' origins -- Hulk was created by a supersoldier formula (or nanotech in the Ang Lee version), Spidey was created by genetically engineered spiders rather than irradiated ones, etc. The previous FF movies replaced the "cosmic rays" with some sort of exotic space storm. I'm sure the new version will find its own way of updating the technobabble.