Despite the objectionable dud that was Fan4stic, Fox has no intention of relinquishing the rights to Marvel’s first family anytime soon. Earlier this year, I reported on the the development of a Doctor Doom stand alone film, written and directed by Legion and Fargo scribe, Noah Hawley. I, like most, feel that the Fantastic Four are due for a well-deserved recess from live-action adaptations, both for the sake of preserving the brand, and on behalf of the guiltless moviegoers that have been subjected to two decades of what has consistently been some of the worst the genre as to offer. Although Twentieth Century Fox’s involvement notwithstanding, the Doom project seems to have everything going for it.
Along with the confirmed Doctor Doom film, which is yet to be casted or slated for a release, the rumor mill has been speculating over another project under development over at Fox that would focus on the children of Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) and Sue Storm (The Invisible Woman), with Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) and The Thing playing crucial, yet to-be-specified roles. Apparently, the film would be an out and about children’s film, initially being sold as “ Incredibles-esque.”
Hitherto not much about the plot is known, but we might have a little bit of a better idea of what to expect in this regard thanks to our friends over at Bleeding Cool . According to the site, the young Valeria and Franklin, who both exist and sometimes helm their own adventures in the comics, will be the center of a film that doesn’t take the bulk of its plot from any particular Fantastic Four comic, but from an unpublished children’s book by funny book writer, Mark Millar, called Kindergarten Heroes. Mark Millar is said to have adapted the work into a screenplay, of which he pitched to Fox back in 2013, with Carter Blanchard taking over scripting duties at some point.
Seth Grahame Smith, who you might know as the author of the bestsellers, Pride and Prejudice and Vampires , Abraham Lincoln Vampire Slayer and the MTV series The Hard Times Of RJ Berger , is reportedly incorporating elements from Kindergarten Heroes into the untitled Fantastic Four children’s film, presumably after he finishes work on the upcoming sequels to Gremlins and Beetlejuice.
My reservations will remain, though if Fox is determined to keep flogging this dead horse, this is the sort of way to do it. This, alongside the planned Doctor Doom solo project, seem to be deliberate departures from the elements that have not worked with the previous live action adaptations. The Fantastic Four is a tough property to contemporize on the big screen, and instead of taking another multimillion dollar swing at it, Fox is opting for an entirely new approach to the material. Good on ‘em, I guess. If they promise to give The Thing pants in this outing, they’ll have my tenuous vote of confidence.
