Would the crappy film actually have been Fantastic if it looked like this?
This is Henry Gilbert, and if you’ve listened to my comic book podcast called Cape Crisis (via the support on the Laser Time Patreon), you I love the Fantastic Four characters and REALLY disliked the recent Fantastic Four movie. Based on the poor box office and review scores, I don’t think I was alone, and there have been so many stories about what that film could’ve been before it turned into a clusterfuck. Now, thanks to artist Steve Jung, we even get a chance to see what was once planned for the film, when said disaster was just a twinkle in Josh Trank’s eye. Feast your eyes on the original look of Planet Zero/The Negative Zone.
So, that and the pic at the top aren’t all that different from the Planet Zero we saw in the film, though I’d say there’s a little more atmosphere to them. Additionally, based on the number of space travelers pictured, it looks like even early on that their weren’t four people on the trip. Was Sue always left out of the group of explorers?
But Jung’s other two pics are a little more telling about what was cut…
Huh, what’s that off in the distance on Planet Zero? That looks like a castle of some kind. Perhaps even Dr. Doom’s castle. Let’s take a look inside…
Jung describes it as an “ideation on Victor’s castle” so it would seem Doom was doing more than just stumbling around Planet Zero for the whole year he was stranded there. Him using his vague powers to craft a castle before he came back to Earth at least makes a little more sense than Doom immediately building a death ray. Also, even in the earliest shots The Thing is nude, which still bugs me. Just put on some damn pants!
These were drawn early in the films creative process, so it’s not all that surprising the film shifted a bit from Jung’s concept art. What’re his feelings on the resulting film? “(N)one of my work made it to the movie (kinda glad) since it got changed many times after I left the project.”
And if you have a similar bad taste in your mouth from the FF film, check out 10 Fantastic Four comics better than the movie, and our review of the FF menu at Denny’s…
I mean the movie would have still sucked, but at least Doom would have had his castle.
Those pictures are gorgeous and not even close to what the final product looked like. I can’t believe we ended up with “Doom staggers through barren wasteland. Get’s transported back and…….”. Forget it. I can’t even finish that. The movie made no fucking sense. NONE. Here’s a quick plot of what should have happened.
Mr. F transports to Zero while in hiding. Finds out that “Doom” has constructed a palace and lost his mind with the intention of destroying earth. Doom asks Mr. F to join him but Mr. F refuses and escapes to warn the others about “what’s coming”. Doom shows up, FF take him out.
There ya go FOX. Sure it may be cliche but at least it makes more sense than what we got in the movie. It also justifies that entire “Mr. F in hiding” scene. I mean, what the hell was that about??
The east wing of the castle was actually intended to house a denim factory, where the team would find a pair of slacks that best fit Thing before proceding to the throne room.