So, let’s spend some time talking about the new Fantastic Four trailer. The first words ever spoken on the trailer are “Dr. Storm.” We see him placed in front of what looks like a board of directors, and that board is berating him for not delivering on whatever he promised them. It’s revealed that this partnership started six years ago. One board member asks “What’s different now?” That’s when things get interesting. Dr. Storm answers with “Reed Richards. He knows answers to questions we don’t even know to ask yet.” This is clearly alluding to Reed Richards’ title in the comics, “The Smartest Man Alive.” The ages of the new Fantastic Four actors concerned me during the first teaser, but after seeing them more clearly now, I expect their characters’ ages during the film to be in the early twenties.
The next two characters to appear, in quick succession, are Sue and Johnny Storm. Dr. Storm, from the beginning, is shown to be their father. Another shot shows a man in his early twenties telling Reed, “Don’t let those labcoats give you any trouble.” Another shot of the same man hitting a baseball into a neon sign that says “Grimm”. This lets us know that this young man’s name is Ben Grimm, a childhood friend of Reed Richards. Later in the trailer, we see Ben standing next to Reed in the lab. The building they are working in, which Reed Richards is seen walking up to, says Baxter on it. The Baxter building, which has historically been the headquarters of the Fantastic Four, is where we can assume with considerable certainty that that is where the four will set up shop.
Inside the building, there is a shot of people working on a raised platform. Later in the trailer we see that the platform is being used to transport our young heroes into another dimension. There’s a very dramatic shot of the doors to the capsules on the platform closing, and once the machine powers up, they’re off. There has been much speculation as to where they’re going, and I have a few ideas. The three most likely places Reed Richards’ technology would take him and his friends are the Macroverse, the Microverse, or the Phantom Zone. In the comics, the Fantastic Four have visited those places many times, as have other heroes. Whatever dimension they enter, an accident occurs that will give the Fantastic Four their powers. The aftermath of that is shown in a powerful shot of a burned Johnny Storm, crawling through the wreckage.
The next few shots of the trailer reveal their powers. Reed, Mr. Fantastic, stretches his arm beyond human capability with a very impressive CGI effect, while Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman, becomes transparent and emits a powerful force field. Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, “flames on,” which is very well done and includes a level of detail not shown in the failed movies of the early 2000s. Also, Johnny’s Human Torch form looks darker, almost magma-like underneath all the red flame. Ben Grimm, the Thing, was affected the most by whatever event occurred, his body becoming solid rock. Earlier manifestations of the Thing show him to be a very uniform rock creature, so this new incarnation goes for the realistic approach by making the body seem irregular.
We hear a voice saying, “You opened a door..you don’t know how to close.” This could be referring to the portal that they made still being open. Next, that same voice says, “You don’t know anything about what’s coming.” This is when we see some sort of screen displaying the world, with Sue Storm at the controls. It zooms into Panama, for reasons not to be explained until most likely the movie’s release. The next line is Reed Richards replying, “What is coming?” And here enters the villain, the next line reveals a close-up of, as the trailer says, “Doom.” Victor Von Doom has the classic green hood, but with a darker shade in this movie. The metal mask Doom wears seems almost organic, as if it’s his real skin. It’s not clear who Doom was before this transformation, or even how he was transformed into that state. Clearly, however, he is the villain, and Doom and the Fantastic Four do battle in the dimension where our heroes received their powers, but I suspect that they will fight in our home dimension as well. All in all, this new Fantastic Four movie is shaping up to be one of the biggest movies of this summer, and is set to release on August 8th, 2015. I hope you’re all as excited as I am!
