The New Fantastic Four: Meet The Silver Surfer
The second installment in the Marvel Comics Fantastic Four series is set to be released in theaters on Jun 15, The Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer.
This is the summer for blockbusters with several big movies coming out over the course of the summer including Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End set for release this Thursday, May 24th just in time for Memorial Day Weekend, Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix July 13th (the world premier is set for Jun 28th in Tokyo) and the new Fantastic Four nestled in the middle of these likely box office blockbusters.
The first FF was ok by "comic book" to "big screen" standards. It filled all the requirements of setting up the origin of how our superheroes Mr. Fantastic aka Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), The Thing aka Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), The Human Torch aka Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and of course, The Invisible Woman aka Susan Storm (Jessica Alba) get their powers - as well as their arch-nemesis - Dr. Doom aka Dr. Victor von Doom (Julian McMahon).
A "cosmic storm" (a full blast of intense radiation - it's Marvel, what'd you expect) is the catalyst for the genetic mutations that transform the team of scientists and pilots. The original comic series, the four of them minus Dr. Doom, attempt a risky space trip to test our Reed's latest invention, a space exploration starship. Faced with bankruptcy after spending all his inheritance working on his aeronautical inventions, Reed made a last ditch effort and asked two pilots, the quiet and gentle Ben Grimm, and the hotshot Johnny Storm to help him pilot his craft, along with his former flame (and older sister to Johnny) genetic scientist Susan Storm to accompany him on a mission in an attempt to keep his government backing for the project (gee that sounds familiar, see Green Goblin/Harry Osborn).
As we know, the cosmic storm bombards them with radiation and instead of dying a ghastly death, they are instead transformed into supercool superheroes: with the power to stretch, there's Mr. Fantastic, the power to be really strong and durable, The Thing, the power to fly and create supernova strength heat, Human Torch and the power to turn invisible and create otherworldly force fields, Invisible Woman.
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