Hey everyone, sorry for the longer wait. I dislocated my shoulder back in October, as of Monday, I’ve made a full recovery, and now can wrap up Marvel Month.
PLOT
A silver object enters Earth’s atmosphere, radiating cosmic energy that creates massive molecular fluctuations and causes deep craters at locations across the Earth. The government approaches Reed Richards to track the movements of the object.
Reed and Sue Storm prepare for their wedding. As the wedding begins, Reed’s systems detect the phenomenon approaching New York City. The object destroys the sensors while the Fantastic Four protect the crowd. Sue’s brother Johnny, the Human Torch, pursues the object, discovering that it is a humanoid, a “Silver Surfer”. He confronts the Surfer, who drags Johnny into the upper atmosphere then drops him back toward Earth. Johnny manages to reactivate his powers and survives the fall, landing in a desert. Later, when Sue tries to comfort Johnny, she touches his shoulders and their powers switch—he becomes invisible, and she is set on fire; when they touch again their powers revert. Reed’s examination of Johnny reveals that exposure to the Surfer has set Johnny’s molecular structure in flux, allowing him to switch powers with his teammates through physical contact.
Tracing the cosmic energy of the Surfer, Reed discovers that a series of planets the Surfer visited previously had all been destroyed eight days after and that he has been creating deep artificial craters around the globe for some unknown purpose. Reed determines that the next crater will appear in London, and the team travels there. They arrive too late to stop the crater, and the Thames drains into it. Afterward, both Reed and Sue contemplate abandoning their lives as superheroes in order to provide a normal life to raise a family. The Surfer’s movements around the globe bring him past Latveria, where the cosmic energy affects Victor Von Doom, freeing him from two years as a metal statue. Doom, able to move again but scarred, traces the Surfer to the Russell Glacier and makes him an offer to join forces. When the Surfer rebuffs him, Doom attacks. The Surfer returns fire, blasting Doom through the ice, though the cosmic energy of the Surfer’s blast heals Doom’s body instead of killing him.
Doom returns and leverages his experience into a deal with the United States military, who have the Fantastic Four work with Doom reluctantly. Deducing that the Surfer’s board is the source of his power, Reed develops a pulse generator that will separate him from it, while Victor works on an unknown remote-like device. In the Black Forest, Sue is confronted by the Surfer, during which he reveals he is merely a servant to the destroyer of worlds and regrets the destruction he causes. The military opens fire on the Surfer, which distracts him and allows the four to fire the pulse, separating the Surfer from his board. The military imprisons the Surfer in Siberia, while they torture him for information. Sue uses her powers to sneak into his cell, where she learns his master is known on his homeworld as Galactus, a massive, cloud-like cosmic entity which feeds on life-bearing planets to survive, and that the Surfer’s board is a homing beacon leading Galactus to Earth.
Doom, pursuing the power in the board, steals it from the compound, using the wrist-pad device he created in secret to gain control of the board and its powers. Doom subdues several soldiers, kills General Hager and escapes to Shanghai. The Fantastic Four rescue the Surfer, and pursue Doom in the Fantasticar, confronting him in Shanghai. During the battle, Sue is mortally wounded when Doom shoots a silver stake that penetrates her shield. With the Surfer powerless, Johnny absorbs the combined powers of the entire team in order to battle the cosmic energy-empowered Doom. Johnny succeeds in breaking Doom’s control over the Surfer’s board, while Ben Grimm uses a nearby crane to knock Doom into the harbor; however, Galactus has already arrived, and Sue dies in Reed’s arms. The Surfer regains the control of his board, and his power is restored, which he uses to revive Sue and to defend Earth, flying into Galactus with help from Johnny. The conflict results in a massive blast of energy, engulfing Galactus in a cosmic rift, destroying it, and seemingly the Surfer as well.
Shortly after the events in Shanghai, Reed and Sue get married in Japan, only to be interrupted yet again by an alert that Venice is sinking into the sea; to Reed’s delight, she has the wedding finish quickly before they race off to save the city, using the Fantasticar to draw a “4” in the sky above.
REVIEW
This was awful, I remember seeing the previews for it back in Middle School, and then I actually saw the movie and was so disappointed. I liked some ideas the movie came up with, I liked seeing Human Torch swapping powers with the other members of the team, I liked Stan Lee’s cameo, it was a reference to Reed and Sue’s wedding in the comics, and he and Jack Kirby weren’t allowed in as they didn’t have invitations, I liked Reed standing up to Gen. Hager (who was supposed to be Nick Fury, but Fox couldn’t get the rights due to him being used in another project), and I liked Doug Jones/Laurence Fishburn as Silver Surfer, I also liked the Fantasticar, at least until the product placement showed up. The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that Galactus was a giant cloud monster ala Ultimate Marvel, but we do get a glimpse of Galactus when the Surfer goes inside him. Overall, despite it’s few positives, it’s very disappointing end to an average film series.
RANK: 2 out of 5
Next we conclude Marvel Month with the thing that made Disney buy Fox, Fant4stic!
The Cutting Room Floor 