And just like that, here we are, at the conclusion of this Fantastic Four-centric storyarc of the Phil Wrede Marvel Action Figure Comic Universe (please, take a look at parts one, two, and three, if you haven’t already – or, even if you have)… Now that they’ve made their grand appearance, the FF aren’t going to hang out in their own little corner of the multiverse; I hope to be able to position them to be the sort of major players in the story they deserve to be!
My last little entry on the FF for this go-around is on how I’ve felt about adaptations of the characters over the years, and how finding these action figures has actually made me reassess those feelings!
I don’t have a revolutionary opinion on the various Fantastic Four movies that’ve made their way (or not) to the big screen: I don’t think they’ve been very good! They’ve all had their good points, I think, from Joseph Culp in the unreleased 1994 film, to Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis in the 2005 and 2007 movies, to the whole darn cast in the 2015 version (talk about a cast let down by their movie – Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, and Toby Kebbell?), but generally speaking, I’ve long thought the FF were an unfilmable cast of characters. Their physical appearances, the manifestations of their powers, were, I thought, so best represented on the page, that I never thought they’d truly work in all three dimensions.
I actually put these thoughts together while watching the 2015 Fantastic Four, and its slouching towards the “body horror” of the FF’s power set. Fundamentally, their powers are all horrifying: Johnny Storm’s a man perpetually on fire, when he wants to be; Reed contorts his body in impossible ways that would kill a person who successfully attempted the most mundane of his movements; Ben is a monster made of living rock, with uncontrollable strength and no real ability to touch another person ever again; and Sue, she’s living out the shared fear of incalculable woman across history, as she literally disappears from sight. All of these images bring thrills and smiles to the faces of readers as they poured from Jack Kirby’s pencil, but in a live-action film, they reside firmly in the uncanny valley on their best day.
At least, that’s what I thought, until I got the action figures who starred in these last couple weeks of comics out of their packaging! I think we’re in an age of incredible toys, at the moment, and the fact that I have wonderful and faithful representations of the Fantastic Four in my collection is my number one argument for why. If they can look this good in plastic, perhaps they can look good on the big screen!
There’s a reason that people have referred to The Incredibles as the closest thing we’re likely to get to a good Fantastic Four movie; pure animation is still probably the best place to go for truly fantastical sights like the ones the FF can give us. But, weirdly, and unexpectedly, these toys have given me hope that maybe, just maybe, the universe might be able to oblige us with a great live-action FF movie yet. It’s not a bad hope to hold onto.
So, how about we get Anson Mount to finally throw his hat into the ring to play Reed already?
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