Fantastic Four (2015 film)

Fantastic Four was a 2015 live-action film based on the comic book, directed by Josh Trank and featuring an ensemble cast of Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, and Toby Kebbell. It is the first reboot of the Tim Story Fantastic Four film series. It was noted for being a Troubled Production because of Trank's abusive behavior on the set. The film was a Box Office Bomb and got unanimously negative reviews for the tone, story and acting. It was intended to have a sequel in 2017 but got scrapped.

Due to the critical and financial failure of the reboot, the film rights for Fantastic Four reverted to Marvel once Marvel acquired 20th Century Fox.


 * Adaptational Jerkass: Unlike his comic counterpart who's a Jerk With a Heart of Gold that is unfailingly loyal to his friends, Johnny Storm is an outright Jerkass who can't resist stirring shit up with his teammates.
 * Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: The Fantastic Four basically get their powers because most of them were ridiculously drunk at the time, and thought that a trip to another planet would be fun.
 * Big Bad: In true Fantastic Four fashion, Dr. Doom is this.
 * Cain and Abel: Ben had an abusive older brother, and his "It's clobberin' time!" catchphrase was originally what his brother would say before beating him up.
 * Darker and Edgier: Josh Trank's comparisons to David Cronenberg movies like The Fly are fairly apt considering the movie's dark tone and liberal use of body horror.
 * Dull Surprise: It's rare that you hear anything more emotive than a neutral tone from the cast, especially Reed and Sue. Oddly enough, this was a deliberate choice on Josh Trank's part as opposed to an unintentional screwup from him or the actors.
 * Eldritch Location: Planet Zero, since it is the Negative Zone in all but name.
 * Flipping the Bird: Victor Von Doom does this to Harvey Allen.
 * Forgot About His Powers: At any point while fighting the Four, Doom could have easily used his powers to blow their brains into paste. This is how he's introduced killing people and there's no indication that he can't do the same to Reed and friends. But when he fights the Fantastic Four, he forgets about this overpowered ability and fights them normally.
 * Generic Doomsday Villain: Upon returning from Planet Zero, Doom has inexplicably become a mass-murdering maniac with barely anything resembling a personality. He may have been driven insane thanks to being trapped there for so long, but it isn't really clear.
 * In Name Only: There is very little in common with the comics aside from the names and powers. This goes double for Doctor Doom, who is a nerdy programmer turned murderous psychic megalomaniac instead of the sorcerous tech genius dictator that he is in the comics.
 * Kick the Dog: Johnny makes a hobby out of petty insults and being a dick to people, especially to Ben. Shoutout to him flippantly referring to him as "The Thing nobody wanted" after his transformation, something he's very insecure and upset about.
 * MacGyvering/Gadgeteer Genius: Reed has a knack for creating the most incredible gadgets with improvised tools.
 * Origins Episode: One for the Fantastic Four.
 * Race Lift: Johnny and his father are black in this film while Susan stays white as in the comics, with the justification being that she was adopted.
 * Sadist Teacher: Reed's science teacher during his school days, to hilariously unreasonable extents. How does this man react to nine-year-old Reed comprehending and talking about college-level scientific concepts? With scorn and disdain. How does he react to high school-aged Reed creating a working teleporter for a science fair? He disqualifies him for cheating, and calls it a magic trick on top of that. It really makes you wonder if this man just hates Reed and Reed specifically.
 * Younger and Hipper: The main characters are younger than they have previously been portrayed.