FF movie....

I read that an FF movie is planned for next year, featuring good 'ol Victor Von Doom, but apparently (from what I've read and I wish I could remember where I read it), Doom came with the FF and was also exposed to the cosmic rays, which messed up his face, but only part of the time. It seems in the plans for this movie Doom's face will look normal for a while and then start to disfigure (sort of like Darkman) and he has rigged his mask to pop up to cover the mess. If this is true, it kind of makes the Roger Corman FF movie sound sort of good by comparison. Why would Stan Lee allow someone to totally screw with an extremely important character in the Marvel Universe?

Well, the cartoon version of Doom was practically a date-rapist.

Oh come on! Doctor Doom was originally introduced as a thief with a mask who wanted to force the FF to help him steal treasure from pirates! It's only in the years since that he's developed into a major villain.

1. This is still rumored at this point. Don't believe anything until you see it on the big screen at your friendly neighborhood movie theater.

2. Stan doesn't work for Marvel any more. And even if he did, once Marvel sells the character license to the movie producer, they have little to do with the content of the movie. Well, they can sue the producer, as they've done with Sony....

In *my* ideal FF movie, it would start with Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny already being world-famous adventurers, complete with costumes (although I'm thinking they should look like a cross between the traditional blue with black collar, boots, and gloves look we're used to, and what the crew on 'Enterprise' currently wears), all the Kirby-tech gadgets, the Baxter Building HQ, etc. (Similar to what Byrne did in that 'What If?' issue where they never gained superpowers.) Within a few minutes of the opening, they find some reason to go up into space, where they get bombarded with cosmic rays (perhaps due to sabotage on Doom's part?), gain the powers we're familiar with, and then the REAL movie begins.

Ideally, the opening would feel like we're watching a sequel - only in THIS chapter, the team evolves into something more than what we're used to. Perhaps there could even be a 'Truman Show'-like sequence, where an announcer brings us up to speed on who the FF are, as though they'd been celebrities all this time, just without superpowers.

If nothing else, this would help justify Johnny's being on the rocket ship, assuming they want to keep him a teenager like he was in the comics.

TPE (who never saw the Corman film, but would like to see a '60s-retro feel to this new FF flick)

Apparently George Clooneys tipped for the part of Reed

<<Perhaps there could even be a 'Truman Show'-like sequence, where an announcer brings us up to speed on who the FF are, as though they'd been celebrities all this time, just without superpowers.>>

But why would they be celebrities before they gained their powers? It was the powers that made them both adventurers and celebrities.

The reporter doing the kind of TV documentary about the FF telling the background story about them sounds cool, like was done in an Avengers issue, that was reprinted with issue 27.

MOR

My response: For the sake of the movie's running time, having them already being celebrity adventurers (who then gain superpowers) just helps speed things along, and keeps things from feeling rushed if done the other way around.

Plus, it would help the average moviegoer accept the notion of a mere group of four people being allowed to house all kinds of potentially dangerous scientific stuff (Negative Zone portals, time machine platforms, Pogo planes, H.E.R.B.I.E. the robot, etc.) right in the heart of Manhattan. Adding superpowers to the mix wouldn't necessarily be cause for alarm, as any 'threat' those four people could offer would easily have been realized just by all their stuff. Their newfound abilities to stretch, turn invisible, burst into flame, and clobber would just be seen as yet another chapter in their careers. New Yorkers wouldn't necessarily have to wonder aloud, 'Why are we letting these weirdos set up shop right here?'

This is, of course, assumes that no mention of any previous superheroes existing on this particular version of Earth will be made. In other words, this will not be the same planet as seen in any of the films starring the X-Men, Spider-Man, Daredevil, or the Hulk. In the FF movie continuity, there should be no Golden or Silver Age heroes.

Oh, and in response to another post: Based on my idea (which I thought up ago, before even the Roger Corman film from over ten years ago), I would have no problem at all with Reed being played by George Clooney. Playing a doctor for all those seasons on 'E/R' would help him with all the technobabble he'd have to spout, that's for sure!

Flame on,

Funny, I'd been thinking recently (before the Clooney rumor) that Noah Wyle would make a good Reed Richards, assuming the film version tilted toward the 'bookworm scientist' depiction in the early issues of the comic (circa vol.1, #1-30). But Clooney would do well as the more adventurous, late-Kirby character that subsequently

I can see it now - Reed, returning late to the Baxter Building (dinner's cold) from some scientist meeting or whatever, and runs into his son, Frankln. 'Hello, son - what's your mother have for dinner tonight?' 'Who are YOU?' Franklin asks. 'What? Well, son, you KNOW who I am, I'm your father.' 'NOPE, ' replies Franklin, 'My daddy was thrown into the exploding atmosphere in the Negative Zone by Annihilus.' 'Franklin, dammit, I was NOT thrown into no exploding atmosphere in the Negative Zone by Annihilus - I haven't even BEEN in the Negative Zone all month, and....' 'Well, that's YOUR misfortune, Daddy - I gotta get back in the living room - Mommy's entertaining Uncle Quentin - he's gonna be my NEW Daddy....' Reed's eyes pop a little out of their sockets - 'Uncle Quentin? Your new DADDY?' 'Yup - he's a suitor!'