You guys remember that failed Fantastic Four reboot? Don’t strain too hard. I know, it’s painful to think about. Well apparently new details have emerged about the original idea for the movie and they sound pretty exciting!
According to Screen Crush, we could have seen a much different version of Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot if not for the numerous cuts made to the film. How different? We could’ve had the Mole Man! MOLE MAN!
In an interview with screenwriter Jeremy Slater, Slater revealed his original plans for Fantastic Four:
“In addition to Annihilus and the Negative Zone, we had Doctor Doom declaring war against the civilized world, the Mole Man unleashing a 60 foot genetically-engineered monster in downtown Manhattan, a commando raid on the Baxter Foundation, a Saving Private Ryan-style finale pitting our heroes against an army of Doombots in war-torn Latveria, and a post-credit teaser featuring Galactus and the Silver Surfer destroying an entire planet. We had monsters and aliens and Fantasticars and a cute spherical H.E.R.B.I.E. robot that was basically BB-8 two years before BB-8 ever existed. And if you think all of that sounds great…well, yeah, we did, too. The problem was, it would have also been massively, MASSIVELY expensive”
The original plans had a lot of potential. Mainly, it sounds like the reboot would have a much better version of Doctor Doom instead of the one we got in the final version. Also, what’s really cool is seeing the world of Marvel’s first family expand a little to feature characters like the Mole Man. Mole Man! (can you tell I really like Mole Man?)
In the end, Slater’s plans were far too expensive for Fox’s liking so they ended up scrapping it. Bummer. It would’ve been cool to see Fantastic Four finally get the big screen justice that it deserves.
Maybe we’ll get a better version soon? Or the rights revert to Marvel Studios? One can dream.