Fantastic Four gets new character bios, picture and website upgrade

Let’s be honest, the Fantastic Four film has had some fairly bad press over the last several months. Numerous reports from various press organisations have painted it as a troubled production. On top of all of this, what little had been leaked about the story, sounded like a far cry from the source material.

However, with all of this is mind, I have been pleasantly surprised by the trailers we have seen, thus far. They present an interesting premise, focusing on the Fantastic Four as scientists first and foremost. Given this renewal of interest for the project, and the film’s imminent release, Fox has done an overhaul of the Fantastic Four’s website.

I quite like this redesign of the site, mostly due to the opening page. It features four individual bios for each of the lead characters (we’ve put them below), all narrated by Reg. E Cathey (Who plays Franklin Storm in the film). Cathey gives a brief insight into the characters’ personality, while a text dossier sits beside each image, describing the four’s powers.

One of the most notable things about these bios is that it confirms what many fans have suspected for some time: this movie seems to be drawing heavy influence from Marvel’s Ultimate interpretations of these characters. This is particularly noticeable in section of the site, devoted to Reed Richards. In this section, it makes note of Reed’s troubled home life, a staple of the Ultimate version of this character.

I must admit that this disappoints me deeply. How hard would it have been to put Reed’s classic interpretation of his Father on screen? It’s a tale as old as time. A man has to leave his son to partake in Hunger Games style, inter-dimensional clash, where he must kill all other versions of himself, across all realities. I mean it’s pretty basic.

Here’s the new official descriptions and a new pic of the team too:

Reed Richards

REED RICHARDS IS A SCIENTIFIC PRODIGY WHO HAS BEEN QUIETLY EXPLORING THE UNIVERSE’S DEEPEST MYSTERIES IN HIS GARAGE, AFTER SCHOOL. AFTER BEING TRANSFORMED BY ONE OF HIS EXPERIMENTS, HE CAN WARP THE SPACE AROUND HIM, AND APPEAR TO STRETCH HIS BODY INTO IMPOSSIBLE FORMS AND TO INCREDIBLE LENGTHS.

Susan Storm

SUE IS BRILLIANT AND BEAUTIFUL, INDEPENDENT AND SARCASTIC. THE POWER TO BECOME INVISIBLE AND TO GENERATE HER OWN FORCE-FIELDS CAN MAKE HER HARDER TO REACH THAN EVER—BUT THAT WON’T STOP SOME OF HER TEAMMATES, ESPECIALLY REED, FROM TRYING.

Johnny Storm

A TROUBLEMAKER AND A THRILL-SEEKER, JOHNNY IS THE ROCK STAR OF THE TEAM. HIS POWERS ALLOW HIM TO SHOOT FIREBALLS, FLY AT BREAKNECK SPEEDS, AND REALLY LIGHT IT UP.

Ben Grimm

A RARE BREED OF BRAWN AND HEART, BEN IS WARM, EVEN SENSITIVE, DESPITE HIS
ROUGH-AND-TUMBLE UPBRINGING. HE IS ROCK-SOLID—IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE. A LOYAL AND PROTECTIVE FRIEND, HIS STONE BODY GIVES HIM EPIC STRENGTH AND MAKES HIM VIRTUALLY INDESTRUCTIBLE.