How would you revitalize the Fantastic Four?

[Den]

What things would you do to bring the FF back to being one of the "big teams" of Marvel?


Here's what i'd do:


Bolded for tl;dr

1) I think first all the cinematic rights need to be back at Marvel. Fox has proven that they don't have a clue what to do with the concept and if they make another film it may kill off the team for good, their last attempt was literally one of the worst comic book films ever. A Marvel made FF film and cartoon will bring in new interest to the team both in outside media and the comics.

I don't know if Fox is ever going to let go of them. They seem to have a 'if we can't make money with them no one can' attitude. So yeah, that would be great, but how to get them to see reason?

2) In comics the team should permanently expand to being the Future Foundation. The team is restricted compared to other teams in that there can only be four on the roster, Hickman's introduction of the Future Foundation was a great and natural evolution of the team that overcame this limitation. It's way to introduce new characters to the family.

Complete agreement. I love the original four, but some great moments have arisen from their interaction with other superheroes. She-Hulk's brief replacement of the Thing worked beautifully and I still see her as a friend of the family. Johnny and Peter's friendship is just fantastic, and I continue to love it when Ben gathers a crowd of superheroes for poker night at the Baxter Building.
Even if they keep the title Fantastic Four for the book, the Future Foundation should make frequent visits and be a part of a rotating supporting cast.

3) Less focus on Reed. Too often has the team felt a Reed-centric book, while the others are supporting cast. Hickman even commented on this.... then proceeded to make the plot about Reed again. From now on the team should have more of an equal spot in the limelight as they are meant to be a team. They can be the odd story that centers a bot on a particular teammate, but it shouldn't be Reed for a while. He also shouldn't save the day with a Mcguffin that he cooks up, all the time. It happens too often.

Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I love what some writers like Waid and Hickman did with Reed centric stories. At their best they show him as a brilliant but flawed man who would move galaxies for his wife and family. And that's pretty cool...

And it also gives an excuse for some of the far out Adventures they go on. Reed's devices allow believable means to outer space, other times, and other dimensions. But we've already seen that others can take center stage now and then... Johnny should know the negative zone better than the others on their next trip. Sue may have clingy Namor problems, but she's got the politics and intrigues of the oceans down I would think, as much as any air breather can.

And Ben's got ties to not just the strange world of Yancy Street but the military and other hooks.

4) More adventures, less heroics. I may get disagreement with this one, but the FF should hardly ever be on earth doing normal superhero stuff. They should usually be off-world on new imaginative worlds and planets, interacting with species we've never seen before (so not the skrulls and others for the 1000th time again). This is where the artist gets to let their imagination run wild and do really cool and fun stuff. The villain (if there even is one) should be something they stumble across instead of seeking out "because good vs bad blah blah blah".

I don't know if I'd want all the stuff off Present Day Earth... maybe every third story arc should have them back on present day planet? We might fall into the Reed Centric stuff again. That's not to say I wouldn't mind them globe trotting a bit. Why not have the FF meeting Ben's French buddies in Paris? Or encountering another super powered family much like them in Japan or Australia?

5) Better writing for the kids. The kids have been written weird a lot of the time, especially Valeria. Valeria is meant to be a toddler, a genius toddler, but still a child. Too many write her like an adult in a child's body, which is both jarring and boring. Other media with genius/smart kids give them aspects that are still that of their age. Valeria is missing that and it makes a lot of people fail to connect with her. Franklin is usually written like the toddler when he is meant to be between 7-10, he needs to written more like a kid that age or age them up a bit like people ask for.

I'd lean towards aging them up. Comics Rays are a helluva drug..err excuse for retarded aging for the adults. It would hardly be hard to accept that Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny might age at 3/4th the rate of your average human, frex. So let the kids age abit, play up that the FF were among the FIRST Heroes, and let it ride.

6) Give Sue a profession/role on the team. I've said this one so many times, Sue is the only one without a defined role and profession. Reed is the genius scientist, Ben is the pilot, Johnny is the mechanic. She should be the doctor or surgeon as that is the missing role that fits her character and could be a nice nod to her father's profession of a surgeon. It gives her a competent role that doesn't make the mistake of Ultimate Sue of being a genius scientist too, that role would always be overshadowed by Reed and a part of her appeal is that she is not like Reed she's like everyone else.

I always saw Sue best used as Lucille Ball.... not the funny I love Lucy Actress side but rather the often unmentioned brilliant business mind side of her that turned Dezilu productions into a force to be reckoned with. Let Sue be the one who puts the money from her husband's patents to work, who guards the FF trademark, and who can both handle public relations while trading stock in Stark and other marvel corporations smoothly. Sue should be the face of the FF to the public, that woman who middle aged housewives and career minded young women alike can relate to and any fellow underestimates at his peril. I'm sure I'd go full on Oprah with her, but I hope I'm making sense.

That said, I think the MD idea would work a lot better than being overshadowed by Reed as a scientist.

So yeah, I'd buy your take on the book if it started up.

Nice.


Oh, and speaking of other super families? Am I the only one who wants Pixar's Incredibles and the FF to share lunch and maybe a miniseries? I mean, that Disney Marvel connection should make it possible "Great seeing you again, Helen. Next time we do this at your Earth?"

[Mike]

For me the best thing Marvel could do is just like John Byrne did 35 years ago.
Back to the Basics!
Stories about the adventures of Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, The Invisible Woman and the Human Torch.
Add Alica, Franklin and maybe Wyatt and go from there.
Fantastic_Four_Vol_1_232.jpg

[Jokerz79]

What things would you do to bring the FF back to being one of the "big teams" of Marvel?


Here's what i'd do:


Bolded for tl;dr

1) I think first all the cinematic rights need to be back at Marvel. Fox has proven that they don't have a clue what to do with the concept and if they make another film it may kill off the team for good, their last attempt was literally one of the worst comic book films ever. A Marvel made FF film and cartoon will bring in new interest to the team both in outside media and the comics.

2) In comics the team should permanently expand to being the Future Foundation. The team is restricted compared to other teams in that there can only be four on the roster, Hickman's introduction of the Future Foundation was a great and natural evolution of the team that overcame this limitation. It's way to introduce new characters to the family.

3) Less focus on Reed. Too often has the team felt a Reed-centric book, while the others are supporting cast. Hickman even commented on this.... then proceeded to make the plot about Reed again. From now on the team should have more of an equal spot in the limelight as they are meant to be a team. They can be the odd story that centers a bot on a particular teammate, but it shouldn't be Reed for a while. He also shouldn't save the day with a Mcguffin that he cooks up, all the time. It happens too often.

4) More adventures, less heroics. I may get disagreement with this one, but the FF should hardly ever be on earth doing normal superhero stuff. They should usually be off-world on new imaginative worlds and planets, interacting with species we've never seen before (so not the skrulls and others for the 1000th time again). This is where the artist gets to let their imagination run wild and do really cool and fun stuff. The villain (if there even is one) should be something they stumble across instead of seeking out "because good vs bad blah blah blah".

5) Better writing for the kids. The kids have been written weird a lot of the time, especially Valeria. Valeria is meant to be a toddler, a genius toddler, but still a child. Too many write her like an adult in a child's body, which is both jarring and boring. Other media with genius/smart kids give them aspects that are still that of their age. Valeria is missing that and it makes a lot of people fail to connect with her. Franklin is usually written like the toddler when he is meant to be between 7-10, he needs to written more like a kid that age or age them up a bit like people ask for.

6) Give Sue a profession/role on the team. I've said this one so many times, Sue is the only one without a defined role and profession. Reed is the genius scientist, Ben is the pilot, Johnny is the mechanic. She should be the doctor or surgeon as that is the missing role that fits her character and could be a nice nod to her father's profession of a surgeon. It gives her a competent role that doesn't make the mistake of Ultimate Sue of being a genius scientist too, that role would always be overshadowed by Reed and a part of her appeal is that she is not like Reed she's like everyone else.

Other things like good writers and artists goes without saying, plus I can't think of any lol.


Also, 2000th post!!!

I don't know if you ever read the Tom Defalco & Paul Ryan run from the 90's but it did pretty much all of this and was really good IMO. It gets over shadowed by the Lee/Kirby run, John Byrne run, and Hickman run but it's easily my fourth favorite run. Reed was dead and Franklin was aged to a Teenager thanks to Nathaniel Richards so Sue became more independent and led the team, they did various adventures even time travel and going to parallel dimensions, they expanded the team with Lyja, Scott Lang's Ant-Man, Kristoff Vernerd, even Namor was hanging around due to Sue being single.

[Michael Watkins]

I wonder how they'll handle their villains being killed off. Captain America killed the Red Ghost. Doom killed Diablo and Mad Thinker (although I think the latter escaped). and he's currently trying to kill the Wizard. I guess that the Maker might have saved all of them (except Red Ghost).

I would like to see the Four solve problems in the actual Marvel Universe for a change. I want the big adventures and explorations of other worlds. but I'd also like them to be known for improving the main universe. if Reed and his family were real, I could imagine them building irrigation systems in Africa or addressing world hunger.

[Somecrazyaussie]

How would i revitalize it? By picking up the phone and calling Grant Morrison. Give him the Fantastic Four and agree not to editorially interfere with anything he does by forcing mandates or tie-ins to other events upon him. Pair him off with top notch artists and let them go wild.

See what crazy, off the wall concepts they come up with. If there was ever any comic property in existence that suited the psychedelic, sci-fi concepts Morrison is known for, it is the Fantastic Four.

[Michael Watkins]

Morrison treats villains like garbage. I don't know that I'd want to see that.

[Somecrazyaussie]

Depends on the villain. But he does have a fondness and love for Silver Age concepts. The Fantastic Four, for me anyway, works best when there is strong characterization that helps with solidifying the family dynamic and a great emphasis is placed on really out there Sci-fi ideas. Big, bombastic cosmic stuff in manner that screams Kirby-esque.

[beetee]

I want The Thing stronger.... Please stop making him Marvel's Mook. Have Ben get a clean win over The Hulk.

[Michael Watkins]

Depends on the villain. But he does have a fondness and love for Silver Age concepts. The Fantastic Four, for me anyway, works best when there is strong characterization that helps with solidifying the family dynamic and a great emphasis is placed on really out there Sci-fi ideas. Big, bombastic cosmic stuff in manner that screams Kirby-esque.

trying to think like Morrison for a second, I would really hate the idea of the Four being a happy nuclear family. so that's what I'd screw up, first. and a narcissistic individual like Johnny Storm would take the brunt of it. but it'd definitely be, at least, pseudo intellectual/high concept.

[Michael Watkins]

I want The Thing stronger.... Please stop making him Marvel's Mook. Have Ben get a clean win over The Hulk.

but that would make the Hulk marvel's mook.

[Digifiend]

I wonder how they'll handle their villains being killed off. Captain America killed the Red Ghost. Doom killed Diablo and Mad Thinker (although I think the latter escaped).

Yeah. Mad Thinker was in this week's Monsters Unleashed.

[beetee]

but that would make the Hulk marvel's mook.

Why? The Hulk is never supposed to lose? He's overpowered as it is.

[Michael Watkins]

Why? The Hulk is never supposed to lose? He's overpowered as it is.

Hulk's the strongest there is. if you have him overpowered in a strength match, what is he?

[Alan2099]

The Fantastic Four should be the exact opposite of drawn out decompressed stories. There should be so much going on that they can wrap up plots that other titles would use for a six month crossover in a few panels. We need bright larger than life energetic silver age stories. Frankly, I think it would work because it's something nobody else is doing.

There should also be more travel. We used to get stuff like the Negative ZOne, Latveria, the Inhumans Kingdom, The Blue Area of the Moon, but we just keep going back to them. let's have them explore MORE.

The problem with having only four members of the team could be fixed by having a substitute team. The Fantastic Four are Ben, Johnny, Reed, and Sue... BUT they have a four man reserve team ready for whenever one of their members goes down or missing.

What can Sue do? She runs the public relations for the team. She handles their public appearances, fundraisers, guest speakings, reminds Reed he has to actually show up for things once in a while, chooses when they switch costumes, and all that.

Another thing I think could be interesting is taking an old idea from the Excalibur comic. Early in their run they did a story called the Crosstime Caper where the team was lost traveling from reality to reality and encountering other versions of themselves. Honestly, I think that kind of idea would work wonders for the team.

[beetee]

Hulk's the strongest there is. if you have him overpowered in a strength match, what is he?

The point is he can be the strongest and still lose. Actually it would be interesting if The Thing handed Hulk's ass to him; so much of what makes The Hulk what he is his unshakable belief in his invincibility... It would become his "Unworthy" moment.