Fantastic Four Appreciation 2018

[U.N. Owen]

when will there finally be some animated movies, including a CGI movie of the FF? If the Incredibles found an audience, the FF can, too. Even if these were high quality straight to DVD films like the DC Universe features, that would be a help for improving the profile of the group.

When Marvel Animation gets their act together. Their recent projects are hideous and boring (Avengers Assemble), good but can be great if they get pacing down (Marvel's Spider-Man), or just downright stupid (Avengers Assemble). I'm hoping Sony's Into the Spider-Verse gives Marvel Animation the kick they need because I really want to see the Mad Celestials on any screen.

[mrbrklyn]

Part of me wishes Fantastic Four sold better. But ultimately, don't want better sales at price of altering fundamental make-up of team, and emphasis on family unity.

Reality is surely that in its long history it's never been anywhere near cancellation level..the recent long absence was down to Marvel playing commercial politics.

And it's provided a ton of great to good reading material. There's three glittering runs...Lee/ Kirby, Byrne, Hickman...that I'd put above 99 percent of other super hero runs. Put it in context...what main continuity Superman run in last 50 years has been at same level as any of those three? And below those three..there's a host of good material.

Yes..there's a case..for some fine tuning, and I'd like to see a chunk of that done along lines Crimz has suggested (e.g. Show Sue doing other stuff now kids are a bit older, power Ben up, etc)...but the basic structure is eminently fine.

If you do what has been bantered about in some quarters, that is exactly what will happen. They will tear the family apart in a huge soap opera, and kill off Susan Richards like Jean Gray. Sales go through the roof. Then they bring her back from the dead through hyperspace or some such thing, and she returns lesbian and joins Ms Marvel on cosmic romps through the multiverse...

Sales will go through the roof, but it will not be the Fantastic Four. Good stories for the FF will sell up front, and additionally will have an long term value in mythology and spin offs.

Or they can ruin it and go for the quick buck. But they can not do both. Comics are a niche market. If you target the fandom exclusively, which is the only way to jack up sales, you lose the appeal over the long term and the ability to reach the mainstream. Look at the sales figures for Frank Millers DareDevil

[SuperiorIronman]

when will there finally be some animated movies, including a CGI movie of the FF? If the Incredibles found an audience, the FF can, too. Even if these were high quality straight to DVD films like the DC Universe features, that would be a help for improving the profile of the group.

Marvel Animation is basically "fire and forget" when it comes to their products. A lot of the reasoning for that is that they don't have a lot of budget to work with, but also that the people they hire are also not great and have to aim towards kids who do require simpler narratives. Even with things like Avengers EMH, it was still simple, it was just written well. Marvel Animation is basically where talent goes to die. And that largely stems from the fact that post-MCU synergy they don't really have much of an idea of what to do with it largely due to not knowing too much about where the MCU is going and if they even have to tie-in or not.

They need to reboot the whole thing and just start over. Pick some core shows and put some things on streaming and spin-offs as they are introduced in other shows. Just putting the FF out there isn't going to fix how botched the animation department is, it needs an overhaul in how this gets produced and what is.

[Crimz]

Has Reed ever lost his intelligence for an arc or run?

[mrbrklyn]

Marvel Animation is basically "fire and forget" when it comes to their products.

Mostly just forget...

[Ravin' Ray]

Has Reed ever lost his intelligence for an arc or run?

Yes he has, early in Volume 3 where Claremont had him fighting Crucible formerly of the Enclave, who also somehow managed to turn Her evil into Ayesha. Reed couldn't invent new stuff as I recall, but he could still use existing tech.

[Crimz]

Yes he has, early in Volume 3 where Claremont had him fighting Crucible formerly of the Enclave, who also somehow managed to turn Her evil into Ayesha. Reed couldn't invent new stuff as I recall, but he could still use existing tech.

Thanks as always Ravin' Ray.

In my quest to read all of FF Claremont is on the back of my list. The little I've seen hasn't interested me much, but I'll get around to it sometime.

I think it would be nice to have an arc where his intelligence goes again and see how he and the team handles it. Have all their villains find out and get different maybe surprising reactions to it. It would be a great way to see another side of Reed and he'd rely more on his superpowers which are often an afterthought nowadays.

[U.N. Owen]

With the solicits for Jan 2019 saying Galactus is back, will Franklin get depowered? For a kid who creates universes, Galactus should be small potatoes compared to Griever.

I'm personally hoping he's off in a cross-time/space adventure with the FF or anyone else for that matter because depowering stories are boring. I didn't like it in Superman, Thor, or Dr. Strange, so I doubt I'm going to like it here.

[Digifiend]

Wasn't Franklin basically depowered in issue 1 already?

[CaptCleghorn]

Wasn't Franklin basically depowered in issue 1 already?

Unable to create universes, but but that's all the detail we have. Franklin may still be capable of a lot, and he may (probably will) regain this ability in a future issue.

[U.N. Owen]

Wasn't Franklin basically depowered in issue 1 already?

Dragonman said that he can't pull universes ex nihilo anymore, but he's still stupid powerful.

[runguy]

Unable to create universes, but but that's all the detail we have. Franklin may still be capable of a lot, and he may (probably will) regain this ability in a future issue.

well actually we know that he is more powerful than Thor, Hulk & IIRC Phoneix

[mrbrklyn]

Wasn't Franklin basically depowered in issue 1 already?

barely and without explanation

[CaptCleghorn]

well actually we know that he is more powerful than Thor, Hulk & IIRC Phoneix

He has been. His current levels are unknown but they've really never been well-defined just "wicked powerful".

[Iron Maiden]

Thanks as always Ravin' Ray.

In my quest to read all of FF Claremont is on the back of my list. The little I've seen hasn't interested me much, but I'll get around to it sometime.

I think it would be nice to have an arc where his intelligence goes again and see how he and the team handles it. Have all their villains find out and get different maybe surprising reactions to it. It would be a great way to see another side of Reed and he'd rely more on his superpowers which are often an afterthought nowadays.

I ended up liking the Claremont run even though it got off to a rocky start by him leaning on stuff he knew, like characters from Excaliber. IIRC, he started out as the editor of the FF writer after the the title got relaunched in the Heroes Return phase after Onslaught, etc. Scott Lobdell and Alan Davis did the first 3 issues and then Lobdell suddenly left for the coast (a Hollywood job offer I think) so Claremont stepped in and took over. I think it took him about 10 issues to really get into it. At the same time, Claremont was given the task of bringing back Doom into things since he was left behind when the heroes came back from Franklin's pocket universe, along with Thor. Claremont wrote a mini series of linked titles that told the story of how Doom got back to Earth after putting together a coalition of generals from the Heroes Reborn planet created by Franklin.