The trailer for Fantastic Four: First Steps debuted yesterday and provided lots of chatter and excitement: people are looking forward to this more than any MCU film in recent memory. Director Matt Shakman’s retro sensibilities – first fully displayed in WandaVision – were all over this, with a nostalgic haze of color, an insistence on Sunday dinner for all, a super retro Fantasticar and crowds right out of the 1964 World’s Fair.
Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm Richards/Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch all acquitted themselves with charm. John Malkovich in an unknown role and the shadow of a Kirby-accurate Galactus provided menace and July 25th is definitely circled on my calendar.
But the trailer was not without controversy. And here is a Beat Listicle in Gripe-o-Vision.
Controversy #1: Were the teaser posters AI generated? While the trailer itself met with wide acclaim four teaser posters that were released teasing “Launch Day” were quickly pegged as potentially having been AI created. The biggest red flag was a tell-tale three-fingered hand.
But there was also a woman (mysteriously wearing arm sleeves) who doesn’t know how to use a twin-lens camera, another fellow who is holding a camera to his face at an awkward angle, and lots of other anomalies, like repeated faces.
The Wrap quickly got a statement from Marvel denying that they had used AI for the posters…and this may actually have been the truth. Art experts suggested it may have just been some sloppy Photoshopping, the biggest evidence for that was repeated faces, otherwise known as the clone tool.
Of course the first thing everyone said was “Why didn’t they just hire Alex Ross?” who made a huge painted comics set in the early 60s called Marvels. Well, an original Alex Ross painting goes for $20,000 and Lord knows what his commission rate is so Marvel was just being thrifty.
That said, these posters, taken as a whole, were kinda mid. That “blur background” filter used on the one of the kid is also pretty sloppy.
We’re all sick of the internet picking everything to pieces in five minutes, and I’m hesitant to chastise actual humans who did work. From last year’s Galactus drone show and flying car, Marvel Studios is putting a lot of effort into the FF revival, so we will probably see lots of spiffy promos before the movie debuts. However it’s worth noting that Marvel has come under fire for AI use before. The Thunderbolts poster released last fall also had some suspicious fingers, and the admittedly AI-created Secret Invasion credits were unpleasant. Plus, several of the last few MCU movies didn’t look too good. The world is watching, Marvel.
Controversy #2: Why didn’t Reed stretch? While we saw Sue, Johnny and Ben Grimm using their powers, Pedro Pascal’s limbs remained at normal length. As reported at SlashFilm, stretchy limbs have a tendency to look really weird in live action.
If you’ve had a chance to witness the hilarious hand-wave Reed Richards (Alex Hyde-White) gives in of Roger Corman’s unreleased 1994 “The Fantastic Four” movie or the equally amusing Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd) dance scene in “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007), you know that stretching powers can easily come across as ridiculous in live-action. Perhaps this is why the MCU has steered away from portraying them. In “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” John Krasinski’s Reed Richards shows only the barest hint of his powers before the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) gives them a horror twist by disintegrating him into human string cheese. The biggest difference between Ms. Marvel’s MCU and comic book powers is also stretching: Iman Vellani’s live-action version drops the original’s limb-elongating and “embiggening” abilities in favor of more screen-friendly hard light constructs.
As we might recall, Marvel’s Phase Five has thus far been marked by controversy over very short lead time for the VFX, particularly evident in the well nigh Corman-esque Quantumania. Perhaps Reed’s stretchy abilities are being given the time and care needed to make them not look stupid, and that’s a very good idea.
Supplemental: While one pal I chatted with about the trailer admitted to being sick of Pedro Pascal, I can tell you that ladies I spoke with are still 100% Team Pedro.
#3: Who does John Malkovich play? Most folks think Malkovich will play Red Ghost, aka Ivan Kragoff, an early FF villain who assembles a team of Super Apes and battles the Watcher for the Moon. A tussle with Super Apes would obviously be very much in the mood of this retro adventure. Frankly I would race to my local theater to see a film called Red Ghost and the Super Apes.
While The Red Ghost is clearly a character John Malkovich was born to play, J. Gonzo pegged an alternate possibility:
While we need to admit that the Earth-X characters are an unlikely swerve, Fantastic Four: First Steps will probably have some kind of time switcheroo to bring the FF into the current day MCU. We shall see.
#4: Where are the Easter Eggs? The FF trailer is obviously full of easter eggs and references but I was sad to find so few listicles of Easter Eggs on the internet. Most of them are videos, but dammit, I just want to read a
bout the Easter Eggs with obscure references to comics. So kudos to Fay Watson at Games Radar for the best, most comics-accurate listing. Still, while everyone was happy to see H.E.R.B.I.E in the trailer, no one noted the lovable robot’s bizarre origin: as a replacement for Johnny Storm in the 1978 cartoon. While legend has it that H.E.R.B.I.E (Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics) replaced the Human Torch because kids might try to set themselves on fire, the reality is more mundane. The Human Torch had already been optioned to another studio. Thank god there was no internet in 1978 because can you imagine the hellstorm? While H.E.R.B.I.E. has fully been integrated into the comics since then, it’s nice to see he’s overcome his troubled origins for the new FF.
Runner-up in the Easter Egg roll to Men’s Journal for noting that the Fantastic Four make their debut on a set very much like the one used when the Beatles debuted on the Ed Sullivan Show.
But my fave egg: the Marvel Studios logo is based on the Cinerama Dome logo. This is a very specific esthetic and it’s nice to see the MCU go hard on it.
(Okay maybe this last Easter Egg controversy is just my own personal controversy, but I was trying to find four because..FANTASTIC FOUR, get it?)
BONUS: Four things I LIKED:
A look at previous versions (but minus the unreleased Roger Corman squad)
Kurt Busiek noted that Phil Sheldon from Marvels seems to appear in the poster, although he’s looking through a camera with his bad eye but if Sheldon apepars in the movie that would be cool.
AlsoI really liked this Michael Giacchino theme.
Finally: JACK KIRBY! Nuff said!
Between Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps, July is looking like a lot of fun at the theater.
More important criticism is that all four actors, despite their talents, are all grossly miscast in this.
Also how do you get the general public excited for a FF movie, I honestly don’t know.
Be good, be good, be good fingers crossed
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