Back in 2015, when Fox still had the rights to the Fantastic Four characters, the studio made a last-ditch attempt to hold onto them by rebooting the franchise with Fant4stic. This was a dark take on characters that arguably didn’t suit a dark tone. Josh Trank directed it as a body horror movie, then Fox recut it as a more conventional comic book movie. Trank disavowed the film and audiences quickly swept it under the rug. Unsurprisingly, after the director trashed his own movie and it tanked at the box office, Fox cancelled the sequel. So, here are 10 Things We Could’ve Seen In The Cancelled Fant4stic Sequel.
The actors settling more into their roles
The 2015 Fantastic Four reboot was nothing if not well-cast. The script was poorly written, especially after the many rewrites imposed by the studio, and the characters arcs were literally explained to us in really, really on-the-nose exposition. However, the actors themselves were selected well. Miles Teller was a great Reed Richards, Michael B. Jordan a stellar Johnny Storm, etc. It would’ve been interesting to see these actors settle into their roles more in a sequel, if they were given more freedom to explore the characters. Fox would’ve had to play ball creatively, but there’s a chance it could’ve worked.
A dark take on Galactus
As long as the Fant4stic franchise was built on giving audiences the dark versions of the Fantastic Four characters, the sequel might have offered a great opportunity for a grim portrayal of the team’s greatest foe: the planet-devouring overlord that is Galactus. Depending on how they went about it, a really dark take on Galactus could’ve been breathtaking. The team would’ve come face-to-face with a gargantuan cosmic entity that feeds on planets completely without remorse. If they didn’t make Galactus a big, spooky cloud like they did in Rise of the Silver Surfer, there could really have been something here.
More cosmic exploration
One of the many problems with Tim Story’s initial Fantastic Four movies was that they were too bound to Earth. In the comics, the Fantastic Four jet all over the cosmos. Hell, they got their powers in a cosmic storm. The team’s most exciting adventures have been set in outer space, with the heroes encountering aliens and battling otherworldly forces. A Fant4stic sequel could’ve taken that dark iteration of the team to new worlds populated by extraterrestrial beings. It would have been fun to explore more cosmic settings with this grim visual palette — it could’ve been Prometheus with superheroes (but hopefully good).
A director’s personal vision
If Fox did make a sequel to Fant4stic, then there’s very little chance that the studio would want to bring back director Josh Trank, who badmouthed both the movie and the studio on social media before its wide release, or that Trank would even want to return. But the studio could’ve learned from its mistakes and put more trust in whichever director they ended up hiring for the sequel.
Whether they got Matthew Vaughn or Peyton Reed or any other director who’s thrown their hat in the ring, it would have been interesting to see Fox finally have some faith in a filmmaker and allow them to turn out their personal artistic vision for a Fantastic Four movie.
Problems with Reed and Sue’s relationship
True to Fant4stic’s dark take on the characters, the sequel could’ve seen problems growing in Reed and Sue’s relationship. In the comics, they’ve had a few marital hiccups here and there, but they’re more or less happy-go-lucky #RelationshipGoals. Fant4stic 2 could’ve been a good opportunity to explore their relationship in depth and look at any problems that might arise. Sue could feel neglected as Reed focuses on his work, or Reed could get unhealthily jealous and cause Sue to second-guess their union. Whatever would’ve happened, hopefully they would’ve gotten rid of that dreadful love triangle between Reed, Sue, and Victor that they rehashed from the Tim Story movies for who knows what reason.
The characters growing up
Josh Trank’s idea with his 2015 Fantastic Four movie was to give audiences an incarnation of these characters where they were college-aged. Reed and Ben had been friends since childhood, Sue was a promising young student, and Johnny was supposed to be a kid — even though the obviously adult-aged Michael B. Jordan was cast. The sequel could’ve continued their stories by having them grow up. A couple of years after the original, they would’ve been well into their twenties. In a threequel, they could’ve faced 30 as Reed and Sue got married and contemplated starting a family. There was a really creative opportunity to depict long-term growth here that was squandered.
A crossover with the X-Men
It was reported recently that a few years ago, Fox was planning to unite its X-Men and Fantastic Four properties in a giant MCU-style crossover movie. This was cancelled when Fant4stic bombed. If Fant4stic had connected with audiences and warranted a sequel, then Fox might have started to build towards a shared universe. Whether this meant Reed Richards would collaborate with Charles Xavier on a scientific project, or Johnny Storm and Scott Summers would have an arrogance-off, or Ben Grimm and Hank McCoy would combine their brawn to take on a C-list villain, it could’ve been a lot of fun.
The Fantastic Four going public
In Fant4stic, the titular superhero team is portrayed as a military project, designed specifically to carry out secret missions for the armed forces. In the sequel, they could’ve gone public. The world would’ve had to interpret their superpowers, and with the gritty, grounded tone of the 2015 reboot, this could’ve led to some real social commentary about the fear of “the other.” Some people would praise the heroes, but others would treat them like outsiders or have prejudices against them or even call for them to be regulated by law enforcement agencies. The Fantastic Four going public could’ve been a fascinating storyline within the context of this narrative.
Doctor Doom getting a bigger role (and a makeover)
Toby Kebbell has said that only a couple of brief shots of his portrayal of Doctor Doom were used in the final cut of Fant4stic, and every other shot is just some guy that the studio hired to act out their terrible ideas. Doctor Doom is one of the most fearsome and iconic villains in comic book history, and Fant4stic turned him into a crash test dummy.
In Fant4stic, we’re told that Doom is terrifyingly powerful, but he’s rarely actually shown to be that. He was easily defeated in the final battle. The sequel could’ve given Doom an expanded role and a new, more faithful look.
Developing the team’s dynamic
In the comics, the beautiful thing about the Fantastic Four is that they feel like a real family. Since the 2015 movie had the characters getting together for the first time, their dynamic wasn’t fully established. Reed and Ben were set up as childhood friends and Sue and Johnny’s sibling relationship was spelled out in on-the-nose expository dialogue, but the sequel could’ve explored Johnny and Ben’s playful rivalry or Reed and Sue’s romance. It could’ve even built a fun rapport between Reed and Johnny, or Ben and Sue, as these are arguably the two weakest links in the Fantastic Four.