| For other uses, see Fantastic Four (disambiguation) |
- "A new day is dawning. The day of the Fantastic Four!"
- ―Johnny Storm
Fantastic Four is a 2005 American superhero film based on the superhero team of the same name, and released by 20th Century Fox. It is the second live-action Fantastic Four film to be filmed. The previous attempt, a B-movie produced by Roger Corman only for the purpose of retaining the film rights, was never intended for a theatrical release. The film is directed by Tim Story and stars Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm/Invisible Woman, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom/Dr. Doom and Kerry Washington as Alicia Masters. Despite getting major hype on its release and becoming a box office success, the film was quite negatively received by critics. The film was released in the United States on July 8, 2005.
Plot[]
Physicist Dr. Reed Richards is convinced that evolution was triggered millions of years ago on Earth by clouds of cosmic radioactive energy in space, and has calculated that one of these clouds is soon going to pass near Earth. Together with his friend, astronaut Ben Grimm, Richards convinces Dr. Victor von Doom, his former classmate at MIT and now CEO of Von Doom Industries, to allow him access to his privately-owned space station to test the effects of a biological sample with exposure to the cloud. Doom agrees in exchange for control over the experiment and a majority of the profits from whatever benefits that it brings. Richards brings aboard his ex-girlfriend and Von Doom's chief genetics researcher, Susan Storm, and her hot-headed ex-astronaut brother, Johnny.
The quintet travels to outer space to observe the cosmic energy clouds, but Richards miscalculates and the clouds materialize ahead of schedule. Richards and the Storms leave the shielded station to rescue Grimm, who had gone on a spacewalk to place the samples. Grimm receives full exposure in outer space, while the others receive a more limited dose within the station. Back home they soon develop superpowers: Richards can stretch his body like rubber, Susan Storm can become invisible and generate impact resistant force shields, Johnny Storm can engulf himself in fire and fly unaided, and Grimm becomes a rocklike creature with superhuman strength and durability. Meanwhile, von Doom faces a backlash from his stockholders because of the publicity from the space mission, and has a scar on his face that came from an exploding control console on the station.
Grimm's fiancee Debbie cannot handle his new appearance and leaves him. Grimm goes to brood on the Brooklyn Bridge and accidentally causes a traffic pileup while preventing a man from jumping off the bridge. Grimm, Richards and the Storms use their various abilities to contain the damage and prevent harm. The media dubs them the Fantastic Four. They move into Richards' lab in the Baxter Building to study their abilities and seek a way to return Grimm to normal. Von Doom, himself mutating, offers his support but blames Richards for the failure of the spaceflight, which has lost him his company.
Richards tells the group he will construct a machine to recreate the storm and reverse its effects on them, but warns it could possibly accelerate them instead. Meanwhile von Doom's arm has become organic metal, allowing him to produce bolts of electricity, and he begins plotting revenge. He drives a wedge between Grimm and Richards, who has rekindled his relationship with Susan Storm. Using the machine, von Doom restores Ben to human form, while accelerating von Doom's condition, causing much of his body to turn to metal. Von Doom knocks the human Grimm unconscious and captures Richards.
Now calling himself Doctor Doom, he puts on a metallic mask to hide his disfigurement, tortures Richards and fires a heatseeking missile at the Baxter Building in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Johnny Storm. Susan Storm confronts Doom but is outmatched. Grimm arrives to assist her, transformed into the Thing again by reusing the machine (speaking his signature line, "It's clobberin' time!"). The battle spills into the streets. The Storms combine their powers to wrap Doom in an inferno of intense heat, and Grimm and Richards douse him with cold water, inducing thermal shock and freezing Doom in place. In an epilogue, Grimm informs Richards that he has accepted his condition with the help of Alicia Masters, a blind artist for whom he has developed feelings, and the team embraces its role as superheroes. Richards proposes marriage to Susan Storm, who accepts. Meanwhile, Doom's statue-like remains are being transported back to his homeland of Latveria when the dockmaster's electronic manifest briefly undergoes electromagnetic interference, suggesting that Doom is alive.
Cast[]
- Ioan Gruffudd as Dr. Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
- Jessica Alba as Susan Storm / Invisible Woman
- Chris Evans as Johnny Storm / Human Torch
- Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm / The Thing
- Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom / Dr. Doom
- Kerry Washington as Alicia Masters
- Laurie Holden as Debbie McIlvane
- Hamish Linklater as Leonard Kirk
- Maria Menounos as Nurse Kelly
- David Parker as Ernie
- Kevin McNulty as Jimmy O'Hoolihan
- Michael Kopsa as Ned Cecil
- Kenny "Cowboy Kenny" Bartram as himself
- Ronnie Renner as himself
- Stan Lee as Willie Lumpkin
Appearances[]
Locations[]
- New York City, New York
- Von Doom Industries Medical Center
- Von Doom Industries Space Station
- Latveria (mentioned)
Items[]
Organizations[]
Mentioned[]
Home Release[]
The main dvd version of the film was released in December 2005 which had changes from what was shown in theaters. Changes include:
- There is a scene where Reed and Sue are in a storage room of the Baxter Building where we see on one of the shelves is a robot that is supposed to be H.E.R.B.I.E. from the 1970s Fantastic Four cartoon.
- The biggest change is in the theatrical version showed a scene with Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffudd's character looking toward the Statue Of Liberty. Similar lines are used that was in the dvd version but it ends with Alba's Susan turning invisible before Gruffudd's Reed can kiss her. When Reed described Victor as a "a stronger man" he creates a square jaw emphasizing that. The dvd version replaces that with the pair in the planetarium, where they communicate their feelings for each other without an argumentative tone. The dvd includes the theatrical version as a bonus feature but instead of the square jaw he makes his skin look like X-Men's Wolverine. Actor Gruffudd breaks the fourth wall and looks directly at the camera as he does this. The extended cut includes this as part of the movie along with a longer version of the planetarium scene.
- When Doom fires the heat-seeking missile, there is no beep sound before it.
- The theatrical version shows Doom saying "And to think I was going to spend the rest of my life with you" when attacking Sue Storm but in the dvd version it depicts him laughing instead.
- Three slightly modified scenes concerning the attack on Doctor Doom - one in which Reed uses his body as a funnel to direct a stream of water at Doom, one in which he doesn't, and one in which Doctor Doom's line "Is that the best you can do, a little heat?" is cut short, having the "..a little heat?" portion removed.
The novelization of the film contained a number of scenes not in the final cut, including a small number of scenes that developed the character of Alicia Masters.
Extended Cut[]
In June of 2007, an extended cut of the film was released, incorporating over 20 minutes of deleted scenes and also includes a preview of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It expands on the Thing's relationship with Alicia Masters, Doctor Doom's manipulations to break up the group, and how the Human's Torch's womanizing backfires, among other scenes.
