Superman Vs the Fantastic Four

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  Before I have to tell you to shut the fuck up, when you say 

"U caN't CompAre the 2 jus cuz tHey r boof comic books movies" 

Let me tell you, that is exactly why they should go head-to-head.  In a comic book match-up, Superman should wipe the Baxter Building with their corpses, unless we are talking about the Superman from whatever comic books James Gunn was reading leading up to the making of his film, in which case, Reed Richards beats him single-handedly.

When it comes to comic book movies, the assignment is simple: bring what we love about the comics to life on screen. Many movies have done this successfully, going back to Richard Donner's "Superman", but have also included "Iron-Man", Tim Burton's "Batman",  "The Avengers", "Captain America", "Dr. Strange", 'Sin City", "Blade" , "Howard the Duck", "Spider-man; Homecoming" and James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy" with the second movie in that franchise being the only one that was a bit clunky.  In fact, Gunn's horror take on Smallville, "Brightburn" showed he knew what could work.

Granted DC has struggled bringing their characters to the big screen, unless it's Batman, though even the last Batman film went down the drain halfway into the movie. Wonder Woman, the second Suicide Squad, "Black Adam" and the Flash are the only real working adaptations they have had, and the end of Wonder Woman felt like they dumped the rest of the budget into a CGI fight that stunk up the theater as if it looked like a video game. To this day, I have still not seen the second Aquaman movie, thanks to the Wonder Woman sequel being one of the worst ways I have ever kissed two hours of my time goodbye.

Fantastic Four has been poorly handled in the hands of filmmakers going all the way back to Roger Corman/s version. They were the staple of the Marvel Universe back in the '60s, more important than the Avengers. They had a lot of heart as the first family, and that is what Marvel tapped into with this version of the film. They knew they had to get it right; that meant no cosmic clouds, the real Galactus, leaving the only misstep being the depiction of the Silver Surfer. But they captured the essence of the characters. They did it in a way that stood apart from other Marvel Movies. 

The only thing that worked about Superman was his dynamic with Lois Lane. Krypto was fun, but overused, and in no way should Superman need him to pull himself out of a jam. Superman should be a god among men. Perhaps the focus group that signed off on this felt younger audiences could not see themselves in an invulnerable character, as they are too self-identifying with weakness as being an integral part of their personalities, so someone like the Henry Cavill Superman, who headbutts Wonder Woman into the ground, is too intimidating. The new actor donning the cape played a better Clark Kent, but Cavill embodied Superman more effectively, too bad he was surrounded by bad writing. 

Superman was entertaining, but mainly thanks to Nathan Fillion stealing the movie as Green Lantern, he needs his own movie in production ASAP. But Superman does not need the Justice League or Gang when he shows up, Green Arrow and Plastic Man breathe a sigh of relief. The scene that solidified how his weakness ruined the movie was needing to be pulled out of the Black Hole, it felt like the scene in "The Batman" when Cat-woman had to help Batman pull himself up onto a platform as he could not do a one-arm pull-up. Um, I can pull my weight up with one arm, and I am just a dude who goes to the gym. Bruce Way is a Billionaire who devoted his life to perfecting his body to the limits of human capabilities so he has state of the art equipment, much like Eddie Hall's basement to grant his muscles hi-tech recovery from both workouts and swinging aroung Gotham city, where he is also pulling his body weight with one hand on a nightly basis. This, like the handling of a Superman who gets his ass-kicked for the entirety of the movie, is not under the assignment.

Granted, there was online grumbling about how the movie was supposed to be 'Woke", claims that were also made about "Fantastic Four",  I saw none of that in either film, there did not seem to be an agenda. I think the studios know by 'woke-fishing" it creates a buz, and perhaps gets butts in seats as people think they are supporting something that is part of their indentity, who might have never cracked open a comic book. Otherwise, the only thing I could see would be, should  Lois and Mr Terrific had less screen time, in favor of placing emphasis on Clark? Sure, but I think that was bad editing. The same could be said of how Fantastic Four could have placed more emphasis on Ben Grimm, but at least when he was on screen, it was like he stepped out of the comic book. Superman would have been more like the 30-second fight the Thunderbolts had with the Sentry, that kind of speed, resilience, and power, it's who the character is, if you don't like who he is, then make another movie. This is why Fantastic Four proved to be a much better movie on most levels, from stylistically to bringing the characters to life. 

  

Film Review - "Fantastic Four - First Steps"

This film finally gets the characters that make up Marvel's first family right. Not only does it set itself apart from the other MCU films in the stylistic visuals that have more in common with the Jetsons than the Avengers. The tone of the film is different as they are family first, and the chemistry of the actors makes it click into place. It might not get everything perfect, but it gets them better, which was enough to make this work. Could there have been more Dr Doom to show how crucial he is to their DNA? Yes, but I understand why there wasn't since he is a contrast to Reed Richards first and foremost, and they needed a villain who was a threat to the family in a larger sense. 

They did have the Super-Apes on screen, which made my day. Was the Silver Surfer in this incarnation a weak link? Yes. They missed the chance to bring Norrin Radd in, but distinguished the difference between him and who was on screen. Mole Man was more impressive as he got the character. While not set in earth 616  they colored the world in such a fashion that made it work, while setting the stage for their return, which they faked out the audience on when it came to how they were going to run from Galactus. Speaking of the big purple guy, he was an impressive sight and presence.  One of the stronger effects moments, though Ben Grimm worked more often than not as well. 

Ben could have gotten to punch more things and do more. The same could be said for Reed who only showed a fraction of what he does in the comics, but the story was served, it never got bogged down into Disney's Hollywood politics and aside from not being a part of the larger universe, felt like it captured what it is that the team does and how they are set apart from the Avengers or the X-men. It was the best movie since "Spider-Man No Way Home" and they understood the assignment better than most filmmakers who have fumbled properties like Thor and Black Panther.