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

[Nerys Myk]

Marvel have proved you can take lesser characters and do great things with them, but DC seems to be struggling to do great cinematic things even with it's best characters.

Which lesser characters were those? Thor, Iron Man and Captain America are on Marvel's A list. The Guardians of the Galaxy are the only "lesser characters" that Marvel has done great things with. The new round of films are the ones that might prove the point. Ant Man, the Inhumans and Doctor Strange pretty much define "lesser characters".

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America were not considered on the A-list. Maybe Captain America, but not really since the 1960s. The A-list at Marvel was Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, and Fantastic Four. Probably in that order. Iron Man was someone I knew and thought could do well, but a lot of people didn't really have faith. Thor was widely derided.

 

[Mr Light]

I would not consider the FF to be A List, not since the Kirby/Lee days. I really liked the Hickman run but I would not consider them to be large in the uninformed public's eyes.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America were not considered on the A-list. Maybe Captain America, but not really since the 1960s. The A-list at Marvel was Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, and Fantastic Four. Probably in that order. Iron Man was someone I knew and thought could do well, but a lot of people didn't really have faith. Thor was widely derided.

I would disagree. All three characters have headlined successful books for decades with many memorable runs by respected creators. The FF and Spidey were Marvel's flagship characters who set the tone for the Marvel Age, so yeah they're A list. Hulk is also on that list too. The X-Men became A list characters, but were a distant third and even fourth in Marvel team books behind the FF, the Avengers and possibly the Defenders originally. They're the only one of that group to be canceled in their first decade. The new version from the late 70s began the Xmens rise to A list status and the film franchise.

 

[Mr Light]

I think they're talking about public perception/awareness of people who don't read comic books.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Yeah, pretty much. The Thing and the Human Torch, at least, are instantly recognizable by almost everyone and have been for a long time. I think they also recognized at least the Silver Surfer.

Part of the reason is the Fantastic Four had three separate television series. While the 90s one wasn't all that good, the Hanna-Barbera one lasted three seasons and was fairly popular (the less said about the 70s one with HERBIE the robot the better). The only other Marvel character with that much television exposure was Spider-Man (which was helped by its memorable theme song). The other characters had cartoons, but I don't think they made anywhere near the same impact. But the Hulk, of course, got a show with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno.

Just with recent (pre-movie) examples, you had a great Spider-Man cartoon, a great X-Men cartoon, and very much sub par Iron Man and Fantastic Four cartoons. I also watched Fox cartoons religiously and don't even recall seeing more than one or two episodes of each when they first aired. I like the Hulk cartoon, but it was UPN so I doubt many people saw it. Thor had nothing (I think he was in a Hulk episode). Captain America, of course, was well known, but was widely seen as a campy hero.

 

[cylkoth]

I also watched Fox cartoons religiously and don't even recall seeing more than one or two episodes of each when they first aired. I like the Hulk cartoon, but it was UPN so I doubt many people saw it.

The late 90s Iron Man and FF toons were syndicated, airing as the ''Marvel Action Hour'' or some such title, and didn't air on Fox Kids.
There was also an Avengers United They Stand series that ran on Fox Kids, but I never saw it as the block was no longer available in my area due to affiliate station changes at the time.

 

[Christopher]

There was also an Avengers United They Stand series that ran on Fox Kids, but I never saw it as the block was no longer available in my area due to affiliate station changes at the time.

Count yourself lucky. It was widely panned for focusing on secondary characters and for redesigning the costumes into silly, toyetic armor.

There was also a Silver Surfer cartoon on Fox (?) from the producers of X-Men, but it only ran for one season.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

^ Oh god those horrible sentai morphing scenes!
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIUe6psX-KM[/yt]


Avengers United They Stand sucked but I was digging the Silver Surfer show. They both got cancelled; along with Spider-Man Unlimited because Marvel went bankrupt.

 

[Professor Zoom]

I was thinking that was all pretty 2nd tier, and I'm including Flash in that.

Well, we were talking about who had a great gallery of villains. Wonder Woman and Superman have a very short list... once you get past Lex, Brianiac and Zod... And Wonder Woman, can anyone name a supervillian for Wonder Woman? I got Cheetah and that's about it.

Marvel have proved you can take lesser characters and do great things with them, but DC seems to be struggling to do great cinematic things even with it's best characters.

Perhaps in the cinema, but, on TV? Arrow and the Flash are doing excellent versions of the villains.

Coming back to Flash's rogues gallery, Gorilla Grodd's inclusion says it all...

Grodd, in the comics, is a fantastic villain, even with his Silver Age origins. He's going to be on the Flash TV show, I eagerly await how they do it.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

The late 90s Iron Man and FF toons were syndicated, airing as the ''Marvel Action Hour'' or some such title, and didn't air on Fox Kids.

Well, that might explain it. Anyway, unlike Spider-Man and X-Men, it wasn't as obviously accessible due to the syndication.

There was also a Silver Surfer cartoon on Fox (?) from the producers of X-Men, but it only ran for one season.

Yeah, I liked that show. I believe it was Fox as well. That was pretty much when I was aging out of cartoons, so it fit my age demographic. Unfortunately, I had other things going on, so I don't think I caught every episode. And, obviously, it got canceled before it really got going (ending on a cliffhanger).

 

[Christopher]

The late 90s Iron Man and FF toons were syndicated, airing as the ''Marvel Action Hour'' or some such title, and didn't air on Fox Kids.

Well, that might explain it. Anyway, unlike Spider-Man and X-Men, it wasn't as obviously accessible due to the syndication.

The IM and FF cartoons also weren't all that good. Well, I'm splitting the difference: the first seasons of both shows were mind-bogglingly awful, while the second seasons -- completely revamped with new creative teams -- were decent, but still mediocre in comparison to the Fox Kids Marvel shows.

There was actually a pseudo-crossover, in that when Iron Man and War Machine appeared on Spider-Man, they were played by the actors who played them on the syndicated show, Robert Hays and James Avery (although Avery had previously been replaced by Dorian Harewood on the IM show itself). However, when the Fantastic Four later appeared on Spider-Man, only Johnny Storm was played an actor from the syndicated show.

There's also a weird relationship between the Marvel Action Hour shows and the subsequent UPN Hulk series from the same producers. FF and IM were in continuity with each other, and they both had Hulk guest episodes as backdoor pilots for the Hulk series (albeit with Ron Perlman playing Banner and the Hulk, roles played by Neal McDonough and Lou Ferrigno in the series). But while the Hulk series that followed was in continuity with the FF Hulk episode (and a loose sequel to it), it completely contradicted the IM Hulk episode.

There was also a Silver Surfer cartoon on Fox (?) from the producers of X-Men, but it only ran for one season.

Yeah, I liked that show. I believe it was Fox as well. That was pretty much when I was aging out of cartoons, so it fit my age demographic. Unfortunately, I had other things going on, so I don't think I caught every episode. And, obviously, it got canceled before it really got going (ending on a cliffhanger).

The cliffhanger on the Silver Surfer series involved Thanos activating a weapon that was in the process of destroying the universe when the episode ended. So I just assume he succeeded.

 

[TemporalFlux]

There was also a Silver Surfer cartoon on Fox (?) from the producers of X-Men, but it only ran for one season.

Yeah, I liked that show. I believe it was Fox as well. That was pretty much when I was aging out of cartoons, so it fit my age demographic. Unfortunately, I had other things going on, so I don't think I caught every episode. And, obviously, it got canceled before it really got going (ending on a cliffhanger).

The cliffhanger on the Silver Surfer series involved Thanos activating a weapon that was in the process of destroying the universe when the episode ended. So I just assume he succeeded.

The first 8 episodes of season two were written; the show only died because of a legal dispute between Marvel and Saban. Here's a link to the season two premiere that resolved the cliffhanger:

http://tvwriter.net/?page_id=987

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I've seen the cliffnotes version of that before. Didn't know the whole script was available online.

Season 2 would have been interesting. According to an interview with the show runner, the big bad would have been Mephisto (although they weren't allowed to say "devil," "hell," or "Satan," so they were trying to figure that out.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Well, this should come as a surprise to absolutely no one-- Fox is ordering expensive reshoots because they feel the movie is "a mess".

This part is particularly gratifying...

While Matthew Vaughn was quick to sing the praises of the movie recently, they now claim to have heard that studio bosses are not pleased with how The Fantastic Four has turned out, with it being described by some as "Chronicle 2 rather than Fantastic 4."

...as I've been saying that for a long time now.

 

[Hound of UIster]

There was also an Avengers United They Stand series that ran on Fox Kids, but I never saw it as the block was no longer available in my area due to affiliate station changes at the time.

Count yourself lucky. It was widely panned for focusing on secondary characters and for redesigning the costumes into silly, toyetic armor.

There was also a Silver Surfer cartoon on Fox (?) from the producers of X-Men, but it only ran for one season.

The United We Stand cartoon also had the same story editor as X-Men the Animated Series. He is also well known for the Goliath Chronicles.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Are they still making this? Just put the piece of crap out already so I can get on with not seeing it.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I saw Whiplash last night. Miles Teller was very good and I could totally see him as Spider-man. But just not seeing him as Reed, though admittedly I'm not familiar with the Ultimate version of the FF.

 

[Tosk]

The "expensive" reshoots are good news. If the film still bombs after throwing even more money at it, chances would be very good that Fox will dump it and let it lapse back to Marvel when the time comes. #Schadenfreude

 

[C.E. Evans]

Reshoots are pretty common for Hollywood movies, though. It's not unheard of for some to be expensive, especially for big budget movies.