What happened to the Fantastic Four? 1 1

[NoMan]

Fantastic Four used to BE Marvel Comics. 

What happened beyond some lackluster movies? Getting into reading some great back issues and got me to thinking what the heck happened. 

Thanks for all your erudite opinions!

Edited June 26, 2017 by NoMan

[OrangeNemesis]

the same could be said for almost every marvel title currently....

[lizards2]

1 hour ago, NoMan said:

Fantastic Four used to BE Marvel Comics. 

What happened beyond some lackluster movies? Getting into reading some great back issues and got me to thinking what the heck happened. 

Thanks for all your erudite opinions!

San Francisco sensibilities?

[miraclemet]

Simple. 

When the MCU took off Marvel put their focus on the properties that they owned the movie rights to (Avengers, Ironman, Cap etc). Spiderman would have probably suffered the same fate, but Joe Q loves spidey, so no way he was getting back burnered. But since there was no one banging the drum for the F4 in the marvel offices, they moved down a rung since marvel didnt own the movie rights, so why put efforts into promoting a property you can only profit off in print? 

[NoMan]

31 minutes ago, miraclemet said:

Simple. 

When the MCU took off Marvel put their focus on the properties that they owned the movie rights to (Avengers, Ironman, Cap etc). Spiderman would have probably suffered the same fate, but Joe Q loves spidey, so no way he was getting back burnered. But since there was no one banging the drum for the F4 in the marvel offices, they moved down a rung since marvel didnt own the movie rights, so why put efforts into promoting a property you can only profit off in print? 

What a drag

[adampasz]

Don't worry, they're rebooting the franchise again.

Based on the law of averages, I'm sure they'll get it right at some point.   4th time's a charm, right?

http://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-reboot-kid-friendly-rumor/

 

[NoMan]

4 minutes ago, adampasz said:

Don't worry, they're rebooting the franchise again.

Based on the law of averages, I'm sure they'll get it right at some point.   4th time's a charm, right?

http://screenrant.com/fantastic-four-reboot-kid-friendly-rumor/

 

Too bad they dont start with making a nice comic

[Ken Aldred]

I enjoy reading FF, whether classic, early Silver Age Lee / Kirby, John Byrne's run from the 80s, or the more recent Waid and Hickman runs.

It's often been pointed out online that the team feels like something rooted in the Silver Age, is quite retro and difficult to update.  As a big, lifelong fan, I hope someone eventually manages a filmic reimagining which proves that bias to be completely wrong.  

[Artboy99]

8 minutes ago, Ken Aldred said:

I enjoy reading FF, whether classic, early Silver Age Lee / Kirby, John Byrne's run from the 80s, or the more recent Waid and Hickman runs.

It's often been pointed out online that the team feels like something rooted in the Silver Age, is quite retro and difficult to update.  As a big, lifelong fan, I hope someone eventually manages a filmic reimagining which proves that bias to be completely wrong.  

therein is the problem. They don't need to reimagine anything just simply do the great silver age stories from the comics and do a well done translation and it will be successful.

[adampasz]

From what I've heard, they're doing a live-action version of The Incredibles, which has been the only good Fantastic Four movie.

[grebal]

A couple of thoughts of maybe why FF has so lost it's roots.

With most successful comics I've noticed a good blend between the 'soap' parts, and the story/sci-fi parts of.  Peter Parker had his love life and Flash Thompson, DD had his Froggy and Karen, etc.

Imo, with FF they lost sight of the soap part of FF that used to keep the story together and interesting - the core family aspect.  I never minded the substitute muscle for Ben Grimm, like Thundra or Medusa or as things went on She Hulk etc., because the family aspect remained central to story. 

And poorly depicted some characters and villains - e.g. Doom is a good character that's been poorly handled in the movies and blundered with the Reed-Sue-Victor love triangle or overdose of teen angst.

For FF most of the storylines/villains tended to draw more from sci-fi and monster, than the usual comicbook fantasy (galactus eating worlds, annihilus/negative zone, watcher), which might not translate as well to film.

Anyway, the movies s u c k e d pretty bad, and the FF comics in the 90s and last decade that I've skimmed through also were pretty mediocre, as I recall.

[Ken Aldred]

8 minutes ago, grebal said:

Imo, with FF they lost sight of the soap part of FF that used to keep the story together and interesting - the core family aspect.  I never minded the substitute muscle for Ben Grimm, like Thundra or Medusa or as things went on She Hulk etc., because the family aspect remained central to story. 

As polarising as Jonathan Hickman's FF run was, I liked the way he emphasised the importance of the family dynamic of the team.

Edited June 26, 2017 by Ken Aldred

[Hamlet]

2 hours ago, grebal said:

A couple of thoughts of maybe why FF has so lost it's roots.

With most successful comics I've noticed a good blend between the 'soap' parts, and the story/sci-fi parts of.  Peter Parker had his love life and Flash Thompson, DD had his Froggy and Karen, etc.

Imo, with FF they lost sight of the soap part of FF that used to keep the story together and interesting - the core family aspect.  I never minded the substitute muscle for Ben Grimm, like Thundra or Medusa or as things went on She Hulk etc., because the family aspect remained central to story. 

And poorly depicted some characters and villains - e.g. Doom is a good character that's been poorly handled in the movies and blundered with the Reed-Sue-Victor love triangle or overdose of teen angst.

For FF most of the storylines/villains tended to draw more from sci-fi and monster, than the usual comicbook fantasy (galactus eating worlds, annihilus/negative zone, watcher), which might not translate as well to film.

Anyway, the movies s u c k e d pretty bad, and the FF comics in the 90s and last decade that I've skimmed through also were pretty mediocre, as I recall.

I actually thought that the first FF movie would have been okay if they hadn't butchered Dr. Doom.  They did such a bad job with him that it really destroyed the movie for me.  I thought the rest of the casting and general acting was fine.  Maybe not stellar, but good enough for me to have enjoyed the movie.

I'd love to see a "Doom Rising" movie of the FF annual 2 origin, but that would require them making a good FF movie introducing him first, and I  really don't want to see another FF origin movie.

 

[reed_richards]

3 hours ago, grebal said:

A couple of thoughts of maybe why FF has so lost it's roots.

With most successful comics I've noticed a good blend between the 'soap' parts, and the story/sci-fi parts of.  Peter Parker had his love life and Flash Thompson, DD had his Froggy and Karen, etc.

Imo, with FF they lost sight of the soap part of FF that used to keep the story together and interesting - the core family aspect.  I never minded the substitute muscle for Ben Grimm, like Thundra or Medusa or as things went on She Hulk etc., because the family aspect remained central to story. 

And poorly depicted some characters and villains - e.g. Doom is a good character that's been poorly handled in the movies and blundered with the Reed-Sue-Victor love triangle or overdose of teen angst.

For FF most of the storylines/villains tended to draw more from sci-fi and monster, than the usual comicbook fantasy (galactus eating worlds, annihilus/negative zone, watcher), which might not translate as well to film.

Anyway, the movies s u c k e d pretty bad, and the FF comics in the 90s and last decade that I've skimmed through also were pretty mediocre, as I recall.

+1.  Stick to Silver Age story lines.  Find the right actress to play Crystal.  Integrate the Adam Warlock origin.

That's my 2 cents worth.  I love FF (hence my Board name).

[Martin Sinescu]

Marvel seemed to be putting the majority of their eggs in the "X-" or "Spidey-" Baskets by the late 80's, so I'd say they probably had already lost the plot by then.

[darkstar]

The characters and their powers have the perception of being lame. 

[jjonahjameson11]

10 hours ago, NoMan said:

Fantastic Four used to BE Marvel Comics. 

What happened beyond some lackluster movies? Getting into reading some great back issues and got me to thinking what the heck happened. 

Thanks for all your erudite opinions!

The FF haven't been relevant for 30 years.  Where you been all this time?

[NoMan]

6 minutes ago, jjonahjameson11 said:

The FF haven't been relevant for 30 years.  Where you been all this time?

Drug Rehab

[Spidey 62]

7 hours ago, Ken Aldred said:

 As a big, lifelong fan, I hope someone eventually manages a filmic reimagining which proves that bias to be completely wrong.  

Anytime I see that word, it ends up bad.  No offense.  I would prefer some type of minor tweaking that make a movie work in our era.  The Doom/Richards dynamic (if Doom is in the movie) needs to be explored an is the history of the comic.  Plan out a trilogy where Reed and Doom can be seen back in their school days, then intro him as a villain in the 3rd movie, or something like that.  That kind of hatred/envy does not happen overnight. 

Edited June 26, 2017 by Spidey 62

[kimik]

The FF are not a top tier property today and have not been since the late 60s. I was not around for the dawn of the Marvel SA, but if the FF had launched in the lates 60s/early 70s I doubt the title would have been as popular. It benefited a lot from being the first new wave Marvel hero book. By the end of the 60s Spidey had surpassed it.