The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review

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**SPOILER REVIEW**
• 0:00:00 - Introduction 
• 0:04:11 - No-Prize Time 
• 0:10:14 - Peacemaker Season 2 Official Trailer 
• 0:14:07 - Aztec Batman: Clash of Empires First Trailer 
• 0:16:10 - Question of the Week 
• 0:16:54 - The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review 
• 1:00:59 - Sign off 
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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
This is a DynaMic Network Podcast. And I'm his twinbrother Johnny DC. And in this episode we are

(00:40):
reviewing the Fantastic Four First Steps filmthat came out this past week. I'm excited to talk
about it. I thought it was fucking fantastic.Hashtag FF. For fucking fantastic. Hashtag FFS.
Fantastic First Steps. Towards a better MCU. And Imean what a great time to be a comic book movie fan

(01:00):
right now. I mean not earlier in the year but rightnow. A Marvel fan for sure. I have the opinion that
it's never a good time to be a DC fan. So I mean we'llsee if the box office agrees with you right? What
does the box office have to do with anything? Idon't know. Superman just looks like he's coming
on top so I thought I would rub it in. You don't knowthat and the ongoing bet is for the final worldwide

(01:22):
box office figures. Not just opening weekend. Forthe entire theatrical run. That's fair. But a
movie does make a majority of its money in theopening weekend. I think that's true. I don't know
man. Superman's doing pretty well. I think a lot ofpeople are happy with both films really and they
should be because they were both great. Yeah.Marvel's put out three decent to great movies this

(01:42):
year. DC has put out one movie. That's great.That's super you could say. It was decent. So yeah.
This whole Marvel DC rivalry where Marvel'swinning is still going strong. Yeah winning gets
sucking. But we're going to talk all about ourthoughts on the Fantastic Four First Steps movie
later on in this episode. Before that we're goingto break down the latest comic book movie news to

(02:04):
come out this past week of which we got twotrailers. One for Peacemaker season two and one
for Aztec Batman Clash of Empires. As always welist our segment times in our episode description
so feel free to check out the show notes if you wantto skip ahead to a particular topic. Our
artificially intelligent dual simulator AJ andNK has a quick message for our listeners. So listen

(02:25):
up. Why hello there. Do you want even more from thispodcast. Then become a part of the dynamic dual
community on Patreon where you can choose fromthree tiers. The dynamic to a tier gives you access
to our discord chat server. The Fantastic Fourtier gives you two bonus episodes each month and
the X Force tier makes you an executive producer ofthis show. Lastly the Dynamite podcast network

(02:48):
tier lets you create your own podcast using thisMonte Carlo simulator. Johnny and Joe will help
you develop your show provide graphic support andconsultation and get you simulation results.
Pitch the twins your ideas via email at dynamicdual podcast at gmail.com. Check it out at
patreon.com slash dynamic dual. Pip pip cheerio.Thanks AJ9K and thanks to everyone who supports

(03:11):
the podcast. Be sure to tune into the other shows inthe Dynamite podcast network this week,
including the console combat podcast where hostsJohn and Dean simulate battles between popular
video game characters. In yesterday's episodethey determined who would win between solid snake
from Metal Gear and Gabe Logan from Siphon Filter.Over on the Max Destruction podcast hosts Scotty

(03:34):
and Gilly pick your favorite action heroes fromfilm and television against each other. This week
they will be finding out who would win between theDCU Superman, David Cornswet and the MCU's
Sentry. On the Sentry World podcast host ZacharyHepburn speculates on fights between fan
favorite anime and manga characters. In his nextepisode Zach is going to reveal who would win

(03:56):
between Enjin from Gachiakura and Naito Mudanofrom Tugin Anki. Visit dynamicpodcast.com or
click the link in our show notes to listen to all theshows in the Dynamite podcast network. But with
that out of the way, quick to the no prize! A no prizeis an award that Marvel used to give out to fans. Our

(04:17):
version, the Dynamic Dual No Prize, is a digitalaward that we pushed on Instagram for the person
that we feel gave the best answer to our question ofthe week. Last week we asked, for those of you who
have seen the Fantastic Four first steps in itsopening weekend, what did you think? Yeah we got a
few answers, let's go ahead and run down thehonorable mentions as well as the no prize winner.

(04:39):
Before we get any further, I do want to put a spoilertag on all of these answers. All of our reviews are
spoiler reviews for this podcast, so if youhaven't seen the movie be sure you go check it out
before listening to our review or even listeningto these no prize answers. There's your warning,
go ahead and hit the pause button now if you haven'tseen the movie go see it and our first honorable

(05:01):
mention goes to Alex Albro, who said, Hey guys justgot back, I'd read it at seven, my wife said six and a
half. I really liked Read and Sue, they were reallyreally well done, I'm sold on Pedro. The thing in
the Surfer I didn't really like, the thing was toocomedic like Smart Hulk and Endgame. Surfer
didn't feel integral to the story, but seeingGalactus for real was really cool and I can kind of

(05:21):
see where Franklin fits into Doom's potentialplan for Secret Wars. I thought that the Earth
moving was going to be the cause of incursions andkind of start the playing field for Secret Wars,
but they kind of spurred me there. Overall, Ithought it was a pretty good movie. Yeah, there's a
point in the movie where Reed tries to teleportEarth away from Galactus. I also thought that
maybe that was how the Fantastic Four were going tofind their way to the Earth 616 dimension since

(05:45):
they're from Earth 838, but the movie didn't dothat and actually for the end credit scene of the
Thunderbolts we see the Fantastic Four's shiparrival to the main 616 dimension. I thought they
were going to address the why of that in theFantastic Four film, we never got that answer so it
looks like we're not going to find out what's goingon there until the actual Avengers Doomsday
movie. Yeah, I guess the film would have beenpretty anti-climactic if it just ended with them

(06:09):
in a new universe, either superimposed over theexisting Earth or possibly on the opposite side of
the sun. Something like that, we really would havebeen able to see a final battle with Galactus if
that happened in that moment it was supposed to.Right, and I'm glad we did get that climactic
scene. In regards to the thing, the thing is not theHulk, he's not supposed to be dark. I mean he does

(06:32):
have moments of self pity, but he's theever-loving blue-eyed thing, you know? He is a
little bit witty and funny. Great answer, Alex.Our next honorable mention goes to Cornelius
Robinson, who said... Hey guys, this is Corneliusand I've just seen Fantastic Four and it is
literally fantastic. I just love the cast and thechemistry between them, which was a standout for

(06:56):
me. Galactus was terrifying and the visuals arejust out of this world for the MCU up to date. And
it's the most comic book MCU film that I have everwatched, aside from Superman, and it was one of the
best. Now, I should clarify, Superman is not a partof the MCU and it doesn't want to be. Yes, it does,

(07:21):
but yeah, I would say that the Fantastic Four moviewas comic book-y in the sense that it pulled a lot of
inspiration from the 1960s comic books written byStanley and drawn by Jack Kirby. It felt very much
of that era. Which is interesting consideringthat both Superman and Fantastic Four both kind of
kicked off their respective comic book universesin Action Comics Number One and in Fantastic Four

(07:43):
Number One, The Golden Age and the Silver Age ofComics, as it were. Yeah, I mean Marvel was around
in the Golden Age, but they didn't really becomethe pop culture supergiant that they were until
the 1960s. So it's kind of cool that both of thesefilms feel like they're among the most comic
book-y films of the genre. Great answer,Cornelius. Our final honorable mention goes to

(08:04):
Lorenzo Valdez, who said, This is Lorenzo Valdez.I just came out of a Thursday screening of the
Fantastic Four First Steps. I loved it. It isMarvel Studios' best looking film from a visual
aesthetic standpoint. The final climacticbattle scene is super intense. The end credit song

(08:27):
is beautiful. The movie's still not as good asSuperman though. Clown of Forever and Always,
boba! You know what? I don't want Clark and Lana toend up together. I guess I never did before, but
like, I'm more for sure about that now. FantasticFour was a great movie. Superman was pretty good.
I'll say that the Fantastic Four's artisticdirection with the retro-futurism style was a lot

(08:51):
more interesting. I agree with Lorenzo in that theFantastic Four movie is probably one of Marvel
Studios' best looking films to date. Yeah, Idefinitely agree. I think the design approach
they took with the movie did a lot of favors. Forsure. We want to give a quick shout out to By Dear
Bangora for taking the time to reach out to us andleave an answer, but the winner of this week's snow

(09:11):
prize is Gil Camacho. Who said? Ili Macho. And I,Zezay Macho. And we are the Machos. Woo! That was a
good movie. We liked the movie. Only one word todescribe it. Fantastic. Zey, what time is it?
Clobbering time. You're darn right it'sclobbering time. Flame on! Hell yeah, it's

(09:34):
clobbering time! Although I gotta admit that dueto Scotty Camacho's answer, when we asked a
similar question regarding the Superman movie acouple of weeks ago, not gonna lie, I thought his
son was gonna say it's clobbering time bitch justfor continuity. I was also anticipating that.
Although Johnny didn't say flame on in the movie.Did he not? I don't remember. Yeah, I don't think he

(09:55):
did. That's fine because that was probablyanother catchphrase from the cartoon too, you
know? Marvel hates catchphrases. Jerks. Thanksfor the fun answer, Gilly. You win this week's snow
prize. If you the listener want a shot at winningGiro no prize, stay tuned to later on this episode
when we'll be asking another question of the week.And now that that's done, on to the news. Okay, so

(10:21):
this past week was Comic-Con. And though Marveland DC didn't really have any kind of major movie
presence there, Peacemaker did have a panel towhich James Gunn showed up and revealed a new
official trailer for Peacemaker season two.Peacemaker season one, which was a spin-off of

(10:41):
James Gunn's film, The Suicide Squad, was a reallygood show. If you guys listen to our review, you'll
know that I really liked it. It was surprisinglyreally heartfelt, as well as being freaking
hilarious. And it looks like season two is going tobe no different. Although now we have the gist of
the story in that Peacemaker is down and out in hisuniverse. And thanks to his father, he has portals

(11:07):
to other dimensions where he could go and findbetter worlds to live in. It looks like Ric Flagg
Sr., the father of the man that Peacemaker killedin The Suicide Squad film, doesn't like that. And
he wants to either shut down or confiscatePeacemaker's portals. But it looks like it's
going to be good times. I love the cast of this show,from Harcourt to Johnny Conomos, but my favorites

(11:31):
are definitely Adebio and Vigilante. Yeah,they're fantastic. Does it seem like this season
is really setting up what the DC multiverse is andhow the DCU will compare to the DC EU? It kind of
seems that way, right? It almost seems like thisshow is a way to bridge the gap between the DC EU and
the DCU, which is kind of strange because it'scoming out after the start of the DC EU. But

(11:56):
honestly, any kind of clarification is betterthan none. And so like why some elements from the
DCU are the same, like John Cena as Peacemaker andwhy some aren't. Like David Cornswet as Superman.
Right. I'm guessing in both dimensions though,Peacemaker still killed Ric Flagg. Why would you
think that? Because otherwise the story would beabout Peacemaker escaping Ric Flagg senior

(12:19):
through an alternate dimension and then theconflict is kind of just settled in that way. I
think there's something more to it. I don't know ifthere's any more to it. What I think would be
hilarious is if it would kind of be like that oneTreehouse of Horror episode in The Simpsons,
where Homer Simpson messes with a toaster and endsup traveling like through time and creating
different parallel worlds. And like each one hassomething wrong with it. I kind of see that

(12:43):
happening here in a sense. Like in the end, though,he kind of finally realizes maybe that his world is
best for him. Yeah. And then deal with theconsequences of his actions. Right. Exactly. The
portals to the other dimensions through thesedoors, it reminds me a lot of the Shazam Rock of
Eternity. I wonder if they're going to make somekind of tie into that considering the producer of

(13:05):
the Shazam films was Peter Saffron, who is also nowa producer on all of the DC Studios projects. But
we'll see. I loved the doorway to that like giantskull spider dimension. And Tim Meadows just
looks at the other person is like, no, let's not gothere. That was good. There's a lot of really funny
moments like that, including the beginning of thetrailer when vigilante is like tossing beers to

(13:29):
economist and he just can't catch them. And then atthe very end, when vigilante is like, we're going
to my secret layer, you're not allowed to come tohis mom. And she just follows them and starts like
blabbing about how he thinks economists is a hugedork, something like that. Season two is starting
up here soon on the redubbed HBO Max, no longer justcalled Max. It's coming out to August 21st, and

(13:54):
we'll definitely be reviewing it. The trailerdefinitely got me excited. I don't know if it was as
good as the first teaser, but this one definitelygot me intrigued as to what explanations could be
offered regarding this new DCU. In other DC news,we got the first trailer for Aztec Batman Clash of
Empires, which is a direct video animated filmthat's coming out in mid September. Now we've

(14:19):
known about this film coming out this year for awhile. And I've been looking forward to it,
particularly the animation style, becauseapparently all of the animation was done in
Mexico. Oh, interesting. Yeah, in the same waythat the Batman ninja films were done all in Japan,
I do have to say I thought the art style would bedifferent, like a lot different than what we're

(14:40):
getting. I'm kind of disappointed by that. But thepremise seems intriguing, at least. It's sort of
like revisionist history, where the conqueringof the Aztec Empire by the Spanish conquistadors
leads to the creation of an Aztec Batman.Apparently this Batman is named Yo-Haw-Li

(15:02):
Ko-Waddle, probably not the correctpronunciation, and Cortez murders Maktuzuma in
front of him. So Yehwalee has to flee and train withone of the Aztec priests in the Temple of the Bat
God, Sina Kang. It was interesting to see the Aztecversion of other characters like Catwoman and
Poison Ivy as well. Oh yeah, Catwoman is actuallygoing to be called Jaguar Woman, and I guess she was

(15:27):
like a female Jaguar warrior. It was interestingthat Poison Ivy was kind of like this forest
goddess, and that Cortez himself apparently isgoing to be Two-Face. Yeah, it's a pretty cool
concept. I'm really wondering how many of these,like, what-if scenarios DC is planning on putting
out for Batman, because we've had, you know,Lovecraftian Batman, there's Ninja Batman, of

(15:49):
course, there was Steampunk Batman, a whole bunchof different kinds of Batman. Now we have Aztec
Batman, what else does DC have in store, I wonder?Well, I mean, Steampunk Batman and Lovecraft
Horror Batman, those are both based off of graphicnovels, but the Batman Ninja and Aztec Batman
projects are original. It's pretty interestingto see where else they could take this for sure, and

(16:10):
that brings to our question of the week. If youcould reimagine a Marvel or DC superhero in an
ancient culture, what superhero and culturewould you choose? Yeah, this should be a fun one for
you guys. Just let us know, like, what thecharacter would be like, and how it would affect

(16:31):
their origin and or power set. Record your answerat dynamicdool.com by clicking on the red
microphone button in the bottom right hand cornerof the screen, which will prompt you to leave us a
voicemail. Your message could be up to 30 secondslong, and don't forget to leave your name in case we
include you on the podcast. We'll pick ourfavorite answer and award that person a Dynamic
Duel No Prize that we'll post to Instagram. Be sureto answer before August 2nd. But that does it for

(17:02):
all the news for this episode, so let's go ahead andmove into our main event where we review the latest
Marvel Studios film to hit theaters, TheFantastic Four First Steps. Okay, The Fantastic

(17:27):
Four First Steps was directed by Matt Shackman andstars Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss,
Bach Rock, and Joseph Quinn. It is the start ofphase six in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and
it's the second reboot of the franchise in as manydecades. The Fantastic Four have always kind of
struggled on the big screen with the earlierentries under 20th Century Fox being okay to just

(17:51):
like fucking downright awful. And the big hurdlethat this latest iteration of the franchise had to
clear was giving fans and audiences an actualworthwhile story. And in my mind, The Fantastic
Four First Steps movie just soared over thathurdle and gave us not only a movie that's better
than previous attempts, but also one of the bestfilms that Marvel has ever put out, period. Yeah,

(18:13):
doing better than the past attempts was a low bar.Yeah, totally soared over that, becoming my new
favorite Marvel Studios film of all time. And thisis coming right off of Thunderbolts, which was my
previous. They just keep getting better andbetter and better. I don't know if it's my favorite
Marvel Studios film of all time, but it'sdefinitely one of my recent favorites. And I'd

(18:37):
probably put it like in the top five. And that'spretty high praise considering the quality of
some of the movies that Marvel has put out. If youhaven't seen the film, that's really all you need
to know. Like what more recommendation do you needto go out and see it? Like don't spoil this movie for
yourself by listening to this review. Go see thefilm. There are some wonderful visual and
emotional moments in this movie that you don'twant to ruin the impact of by knowing what happens

(19:00):
beforehand. Just trust me. Go see the film, thencome back and listen to this review. Now,
Jonathan, you know that I've been a big FantasticFour fan for a long time and like it killed me to hear
other people over the years. Like even Marvel fanssay that they think the Fantastic Four are lame.
I'm always like, yeah, maybe they haven't had likethe cool factor of the X-Men or Spider-Man or the

(19:22):
Avengers and they never really had a good movie,but they've always had kind of a soft spot in my
heart because they're the ones that reallyrevitalized Marvel comics back in the 1960s under
Stanley and Jack Kirby. Those early books reallycaptured the fantastical side of like science
fiction and had heartfelt character dynamicsthat no other comic books at the time were really

(19:42):
doing. Yeah, honestly, I don't see how you can'tsee the appeal of the Fantastic Four. I've always
thought they were interesting back when I likedMarvel and even when they moved on to DC Comics,
they're really kind of the perfect team. Likethey're a more solid team in regards to not only
their personalities, but their powers than even alot of DC teams like the Justice League. Yeah, they

(20:04):
play well off each other and that's the big appeal.Their books kind of tapered off for a long time, but
I think that Mark Waits work on them in their earlyaughts and then Jonathan Hickman's run in the
2010s brought them right back to some of Marvel'sbest comic book stories at the time. They're rich
characters, they go on amazing journeys andbecause of that, I always knew that their
potential on the big screen was massive and I'vejust been spending decades waiting for that to

(20:29):
manifest. And I'm thrilled to say that thatpotential finally came to fruition. Like if you
see this movie and you don't like the FantasticFour still, I don't know what to say, there's no
hope for you because this really feels like thequintessential Fantastic Four movie. Not only
did it tell the story of one of the team's greatestadventures against the coming of Galactus, but it
also gave a spot on characterizations of theheroes from the books and it captured the tone of

(20:52):
who the Fantastic Four are. And it also capturedthe theme that has been with the Fantastic Four
since its inception that family is paramount andit did it here in a really profound way, I thought.
For sure. Yeah, the Fantastic Four are a family.They're not, you know, a cheesy band of one
dimensional cartoon characters like in the 2005franchise and they're not like a reluctant

(21:13):
alliance of simple acquaintances and estrangedrelatives like in the 2015 franchise. They're a
family in like the strongest sense of the word wholove and protect each other while exploring
what's beyond the unknown. And they're soversatile, you know, like they can save Manhattan
like the Avengers, but they can also take a journeyto the edge of space like the Guardians of the
Galaxy. They can also travel past the edge of timein reality like Doctor Strange. The fact that they

(21:37):
journeyed light years in this movie to talk to aspace god like it was a walk in the park, I think
really captured that whimsy from the books in a waythat made it seem like anything was possible. Oh,
absolutely. Yeah. The ambition of this film blewmy mind. Like it was much higher than I thought it
was going to be. It was almost like the samereaction I had to the Pocket Dimension in the

(21:58):
Superman film. It was just very high concept and Iloved that. Yeah, I thought it was fascinating
that in the movie they were like, let's go talk tothis galactus guy. Tony Stark wasn't scanning
deep space for Chitauri energy signatures likeyou probably should have after the first Avengers
film because he was too busy building the Ultronprogram. And yeah, Tony Stark cracked time travel

(22:19):
via the Quantum Realm in Avengers Endgame, butthat kind of like out-of-the-box problem solving
was always more of the Fantastic Four's bread andbutter. I'm really glad that they captured that in
this movie. I think another thing that makes theFantastic Four as a team so appealing is the
emotional heart of their stories. Like as afamily, they just care about each other a little
bit more as families should. And so when they're indanger, it hits a little bit harder because you're

(22:44):
going to have more at stake when you're fighting toprotect your sister or your father or whatever
close relative you have as opposed to fighting toprotect like a co-worker or something like that in
the case of the Avengers. And you know, every teamhas interpersonal conflict, but when Riden Tsu
argue, it's more like your mom and dad arefighting. It feels more personal. It's like a
whole new set of emotions with family. And I thinkthe Fantastic Four first steps nailed that

(23:08):
because I felt for these characters. Like whenFranklin was being born as they tried to escape the
gravity well, that was like such a beautifulmoment. And when Tsu fucking died, trying to save
her baby, holy shit, like I'm going to tear up againjust thinking about it. And I bawled my eyes out in
the theater when that happened. And I don't know ifit's just because I'm a father now and like

(23:30):
becoming a parent kind of rewires your emotions,but I thought there was a lot to connect to in this
movie in terms of being a new parent. I don't thinkany movie I've ever seen has nailed the anxiety of
having a newborn quite like this movie did or likeshowing the vulnerability of being a new mom or the
strength that you muster when it comes toprotecting those you love. This movie just had
that in spades. Yeah, I mentioned that the film wasprofound, not only in regards to how well it

(23:55):
captured the feeling of being a parent, but alsojust in the notion that they were asked to give up
their only child to save humanity. It's almostbiblical in proportion. The stakes right off the
bat were so much larger, I think, than yourstandard superhero fare and so much more
personal, so much more real. 100% the stakes inthis film is how you do stakes in film with

(24:20):
superheroes. Like honestly, watching this, I waslike, Superman should have done that. Like the
stakes shouldn't have been the city of Metropolisbeing destroyed, but the world, because that's a
Superman level threat, in my opinion, and maybewe'll get down that road in a sequel with like
Brainiac or something like that. And I guess Ishouldn't have been surprised that yes, the fate

(24:42):
of the world was in the Fantastic Four's handsconsidering the villain was Galactus, but they
did such a good job of showing the reaction of thepeople and what they expected of the Fantastic
Four and how much faith they put in this team thatyeah, it's like, how could you let all of these
people die? It was a true conundrum and they did itreally. Yeah, it was like a trolley problem, but

(25:05):
like on a global scale. Yeah, absolutely. You haveto appreciate a truly epic ethical dilemma like
this film, and I wish more superhero films hadsomething like this. Yeah, it's always neat when
the story is dive into the philosophical, right?It's my favorite part of superhero media. I'll say
for as much as I connected with the characters inthis story, it took a while for me to get there

(25:28):
because the first act was entirely a montage.Almost, yeah. The film really struggled to hook me
in the first act, actually to the point where I waslike concerned that I wasn't connecting at all
with the heroes, because it's all set up anexposition and background for like a solid 30 to 40
minutes, I think, until the movie starts itsnarrative flow and we settle into the actual story

(25:50):
right around the point that they venture intospace to confront Galactus. And that's when you
see the stakes beyond what's just being told to us.And right after that, you know, we got the birth
scene and the press conference scene, and by then Iwas like, okay, I'm in. And I really thought that
the second and third acts went a long way in savingthe film. Yet, narratively, the plotting of this

(26:11):
film is kind of strange because there's so muchthat happens offscreen as it were. And then you
kind of get these cute little interludes inbetween that with the family just kind of
reinforcing how much of a family they are. Butyeah, I would agree, the film definitely picked up
once they went to go seek Galactus. The first act tomontage was a much different way of introducing

(26:34):
audiences to this new universe than say the recentSuperman film, which began with like eight lines
of text on the screen and then dove right in. In theend, I'm not sure what approach worked best
because Fantastic Four First Steps felt moresatisfying in terms of worldbuilding, but more
clunky in execution, where a Superman felt lesssatisfying in terms of worldbuilding. But that

(26:56):
movie was able to get to the story right away. Idon't know what was the right approach, but either
way, I don't envy the writers of the film becauseit's got to be so hard to get people to forget like
some of what they may know from previous franchiseversions of the characters, but still remember
some of the things like the origin. Reboots havegot to be so hard in terms of writing because it's

(27:17):
all just a delicate balancing act. Yeah, I mean, Idon't love the fact that we're kind of moving on
from origins because I personally love originstories. I would have loved to have seen them get
bombarded by cosmic radiation. I feel like thatwhole thing was sorely missing from this film.
Well, I would have liked to have gotten a scene ofSuperman being rocketed to earth from Krypton,

(27:39):
but we don't get origin stories anymore,Jonathan. Fuck! Which, yeah, I agree. I don't like
that. But speaking of things that I did not like,let's talk about Shalabal. If you've listened to
this podcast, you'll know that we were neverentirely sold on Shalabal, but like I held out hope
that this movie would actually have a good reasonfor going with her instead of Norrin Rad, who is the

(28:03):
traditional silver surfer from the comic books.And this movie never had a reason. The only reason
was to make Johnny Storm his kind of classicplayboy ladies man type character. And I don't
think that's a solid reason. No, I mean, becausethey barely even touched upon that. Like she was a
real love interest for Johnny Storm. They shouldhave leaned more into that to make the gender swap

(28:26):
to Shalabal worth it. But then maybe they alsoshould have gone with Frankie Ray instead. You
know, the Herald known as Nova, who isromantically tied to Johnny Storm in the comics.
And she still would have looked cool too, beinggold instead of silver. That's what I was thinking
the entire movie. I'm just going to imagine this isFrankie. I mean, beyond the Johnny thing, it's

(28:47):
also possible that they were going for like amotherly theme with the character of Shalabal to
draw a parallel between her sacrifice for Zenlauand Sue's sacrifice. But I also think that you
could have played on that theme with Nora and Radjust as well, just saying that, you know, as a
father, he sacrificed for his daughter and for hisplanet. Right. So really, there was no good

(29:09):
reason. Marble definitely dropped the ballthere. And it doesn't really negatively affect
the movie so much as piss me off as a silver surferfan. I don't think fans are happy at all with the
fact that they went with Shalabal. And it sucksbecause like as soon as Julia Garner was
announced, everybody was decrying the choice.Like they knew better than to do this. And yeah,

(29:30):
Julia Garner was fine in the role, but it shouldhave been Nora and Rad. Because if and when we
finally do see him in Earth 616, he's going to feelredundant, and his best story has already been
told. Yes, everything that we were afraid wouldhappen is going to. Right. And Julia Garner is a
good actress. I thought that was the main reasonwhy they wanted to work with her. Mm-hmm. But it's

(29:50):
not like she gave a fantastic performance here.Like it was pretty by the book, I would say. It was
pretty hidden in the special effects, too.Absolutely. Yeah, the best parts of the Silver
Surfer were seeing her surf different things,whether it's like a wormhole or a lava wave. Yeah. I
loved seeing that. I loved what they did with thespecial effects here. Just it could have been

(30:12):
Noren. Right. Imagine how cool it would have beenif it was. Well, I feel like I would have connected
with the character more just because I know himfrom the comic books. You know, Shalabal was the
Silver Surfer for all of a few panels in the Earth-Xgraphic novel. But you know, I don't think that's
enough precedent to give the character thespotlight in a whole movie. But where they went
wrong with the Silver Surfer, I am happy to say thatthey finally went right with Galactus. Like he's

(30:37):
not a cloud this time for sure, but we'lldefinitely talk more about Galactus in our
character breakdown. So let's dive into that,starting with Mr. Fantastic, aka Reed Richards,
played by Pedro Pascal. Prior to seeing the movie,I was never fully sold on Pedro Pascal as Reed
Richards. Like, I knew he'd do fine because he's agreat actor with a general affability that makes

(30:58):
him likable in any role he's in. But mostly, Ithought John Krasinski, you know, who played Reed
Richards and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse ofMadness, and his wife Emily Blunt would have
crushed these roles without breaking a sweat. AndI really hope they're fucking kicking themselves
right now, because Fantastic Four first stepsgave Reed and Sue their greatest arcs yet as they

(31:19):
stepped into the world of parenthood. And yeah,Pedro Pascal did great. You know, he's an
inoffensive actor who I think is mostlybelievable as the world's greatest mind. But
where I think he really shined in this movie was inhis performance of parenthood anxiety. You know,
as he mentions in this film, his mind is constantlyrunning through worst-case scenarios in order to
be prepared to handle them. And when you're thefather of a potentially genetically altered

(31:43):
infant on the world stage where you have multipleenemies and even more responsibilities, yeah,
there's a lot to worry about. And Pedro Pascal'sperformance was full of subtleties. Like, it was
really easy to pick up on his internal struggles ashe dealt with the things around him. Yeah, I could
have said that better myself. And I think it wasn'tjust parental anxiety. I think he's probably

(32:04):
suffered from that for a long time. It was almostlike an OCD level of intrusive thoughts of
worrying about the worst and just needingobsessively to find a way to solve that. They
captured Reed in this film so much better than anyother films. It's embarrassing. And this is the
way the character should have always been. It's afantastic take. For sure. It was interesting,

(32:28):
like, as you could tell just by looking at him, thathe knew that the ethical action from, like, a
utilitarian perspective would be to hand over hisonly child. But, like, what's great is that Reed is
too smart to be bound by such limitations. And Ilove how he was always able to think of a solution
and adapt to the problem at hand. Whether it wassucking Silver Surfer down a gravity well or

(32:49):
teleporting the earth or, you know, gettingGalactus to walk into a teleporter. He just always
had a solution and that felt very true to characterto me. Yeah, this is the first time I feel like we've
seen Mr. Fantastic as a genius over prior films,because I never really got that sense. He was made
up like BS junk science, but like, oh, techie onpulse and stupid stuff like that. But here he was

(33:10):
actually coming up with solutions to problemsthat we understood. Yeah, they made sense. You
could see his thought process. He didn't try toflash freeze Galactus by having Johnny goes
supernova and then break a fire hydrant and squirthim with water like chemistry 101 stuff in the 2005
Fantastic Four movie. What happens when you supercool molten metal? One thing that the 2005 movie

(33:33):
did get right, though, was the suits. I think Idon't love the suits in Fantastic Four first
steps. I don't love the color. I don't love thematerial. I don't love the inconsistency in their
uniforms. I know that the film is set in the 1960sand these outfits are like for sure better than
like Adam West's spandex that we saw superheroeswear in the 1960s. But I do think that there was a

(33:56):
better solution to keep the outfits in the timeperiod and still not make them look like cotton
sweatsuits. Yeah, seeing Mr. Fantastic suit rip.I was like, no, yeah, that shouldn't happen. No,
yeah, it's supposed to be unstable molecules. Whyis it ripping like a cotton sweater would? That was
definitely a gripe I had with the movie. And thatpertains to all the members of the Fantastic Four,

(34:18):
including Invisible Woman, a.k .a. Sue StormRichards, played by Vanessa Kirby. Dude, Vanessa
Kirby fucking cooked in this role and she ate. Shecooked and then she ate what she cooked. She was
such a good Sue Storm. I don't think I've ever seenVanessa Kirby in anything else. Like I knew her

(34:39):
name when she was cast and was generally pleasedwith the casting. But I didn't like know that she
would fucking embody the character of InvisibleWoman as much as she did. Yeah, I'd seen her in The
Crown. The television series. And it was acompletely different performance. She's a
really talented actress. I thought she nailed theemotional strength of Sue, who really is the glue

(35:03):
that binds the team together. I thought sheperfectly encapsulated the power and the grace
and the beauty, but also the vulnerability thatcomes with being a new mother and how moms will
fucking pull up when they think their kid is indanger. Yeah, she got pretty aggressive at times,
especially with Reed. Actually, I was sittingnext to a lady in the movie theater when I went to see

(35:23):
the movie and I heard her lean over to her partnerand say, wow, she's kind of a bitch. That lady could
fuck off because like Reed is pulled in a milliondifferent directions, you know, with his
anxiety, you know, always thinking of the worstcase scenario, all these responsibilities. Sue
is the one that really is always focused on whattruly matters. And that's always been an

(35:44):
interesting dynamic in their relationship andthe comic books. You know, they don't have a
relationship where they never argue, but they dohave a perfect compliment in each other. Yeah,
that was clearly evident in this film. I love whatthey did with her speech in front of the crowd
because I was with Reed. I was like, I mean, I thinkyou kind of should ethically give up the kid. And I

(36:06):
couldn't understand like where she was comingfrom in regards to her not wanting to do that or
feeling like she just was refusing to do it. And Iwas like, come on, be reasonable. But her speech
sold me in the same way that I think it soldeveryone. Yeah, I mean, like she didn't give a fuck
about utilitarian ethics. She knew that there wasno way she was even considering handing over her

(36:26):
son. And to the rest of the world, yeah, that mayhave seemed selfish, but I do think she said it best
when she said, I will not sacrifice my son for thisworld, but I will not sacrifice this world for my
son. You know, she had faith in her family that Ithought was on spiring. And, you know, her
willingness to sacrifice for that family was tearjerking. Like I was just amazed by this

(36:47):
characterization of Sue. Yeah, ultimately, shewasn't willing to sacrifice her child, but she was
willing to sacrifice herself. You know, there'sfew things sadder in this world than seeing a baby
cry over his dead mom. And yeah, my eyeballs werereally leaking during that last scene,
especially with the wonderful actingperformance of Petra Pascal. Yeah, and Johnny.

(37:07):
Yeah. The thing I'm not so sure about because it washard to tell what his emotions were. But let's go
ahead and talk about the thing, a.k .a. Ben Grimmplayed by Ebon Moss Bachrock. Ebon Moss Bachrock
was in this movie. Don't get me wrong, I like theguy. I also thought he was a great micro in the
Punisher series as well. But his approach to BenGrimm in this movie was so low key that it bordered

(37:32):
on almost generic. Like the special effects, ofcourse, did a lot of the heavy lifting, but it was so
hard to see Ebon's performance behind the specialeffects. Even in those quiet moments where you see
Ben's internal struggle in his eyes. I actuallythink he needed to go a little bit bigger with his
acting to actually have it come through Ben'srocky exterior. Yeah, he should have been more

(37:53):
what's the word I'm looking for? Gruff, I guess.Yeah, I would agree that I did not see his
performance in the role in the same way that you seeMark Ruffalo's performance in the Hulk or even saw
Michael Chickless's performance in hisinterpretation of the thing. Yeah, I mean, the
character design was great. But as it was, youwould barely even know the guy had an arc. You know,

(38:14):
basically it was that he felt closed off from theworld. And as everything came under threat, he got
the push he needed to open up and reconnect with theworld around him, specifically through the
Jewish day school teacher, Natasha Leon'scharacter. And think is a deep character. You
know, this whole arc is a far cry from the this man,this monster story in the comic books where he's

(38:36):
like in full self pity mode. And that just makes mehope that Eben has more to do with the thing in
future installments. Yeah, this version of thething definitely feels like a psychologically
healed version of the thing. Yeah, like theydidn't really delve into the self pity that the
character is known for. Right. So you kind of lostthe tragedy of the thing, which I thought has

(38:58):
always been the most interesting thing about thecharacter. Yeah, I mean, they kind of touched upon
it. And like you saw more of Reed dealing with hisguilt regarding Ben's appearance, then you saw
Ben worry about his own appearance. You know, thatwas a little bit weird. It was like Ben reassuring
Reed about the situation. Usually it's the otherway around. I said that the character design was
great, but I do have to ask what the fuck was up withthe thing's beard? Like, is that something I'm

(39:23):
just going to have to get used to now? Because fuckthat. It wasn't just the beard. He was growing hair
on his head. And I was like, why is this necessary? Idon't know. Like he grew it because of the world
energy conservation efforts for theteleportation machines, but like those efforts
were just temporary. Right. Like, did he end upkeeping the beard just because Johnny said it

(39:44):
looked good? And like, was Johnny fucking with himwhen he said that? And if so, where was the payoff
where he made fun of him for keeping the beard? Ihave so many questions when it comes to the thing
manscaping and none of them are fun to ask. And all Iknow is that the beard has got to fucking go. I was so
disappointed that he didn't have his classic lookfor the film's climax or even by the film's end.

(40:06):
Yeah, I guess the beard is going to have to carryover into Avengers Doomsday, which better not.
Yeah, it better not. I'm convinced that the thingshould never grow rock hair. Like that's just not a
thing that should happen. Weird choice for sure.Let's go ahead and move on to the human torch, aka
Johnny Storm, played by Joseph Quinn. I thoughtJoseph Quinn was a solid Johnny Storm, but more

(40:26):
than his performance, I appreciated thecharacterization of Johnny here. Like, sure, it
wasn't as funny as Chris Evans' role, but it didfeel more real. Like Johnny is a ladies man in the
comic books, but I wouldn't say that's hisdefining trait. Like to me, Johnny was always an
adventurous, immature, mechanic with his heartalways in the right place who could just never
really settle down. I think they captured most ofthat in this movie. And Joseph Quinn seemed

(40:50):
entirely capable of taking on even moresubstantial work in the future if the story calls
for it. They definitely made him smarter in thisfilm than he has been depicted in past films, and it
kind of makes sense because Reed was saying, youknow, I'm going up into space with the smartest
people I know. And if they didn't make him smart,I'd be questioning why Johnny was a part of that
team. Yeah, they made him maybe a little bit toosmart because I could understand Johnny being a

(41:15):
skilled mechanic, but I can't understand himbeing a skilled Xenolinguist. Right. That just
made no sense to me. But his attempt to connect withthe Silver Surfer did lead to a change of heart that
ultimately saved the day. And that was a goodculmination of his arc in that he was yearning for
adventure. You know, he was wanting to go back intospace, trying to get new spacesuits made and

(41:38):
looking into outer space transmissionrecordings. I think the Silver Surfer really
filled that void that he had at the start. And maybethat's why he was so motivated to get to know her
language. Right. Yeah. I think that was prettyexplicit that he wanted to get to learn her
language because he was attracted to her. Youknow, it was just his driving force, I think. On a
small note, I'll say that Joseph Queen does lookmore like Invisible Woman's brother more than any

(42:03):
of the previous film adaptations. I know like theyhad Kate Mara be adopted in the Fantaphore stick
movie, but I didn't think Chris Evans lookedanything like Jessica Alba. I could kind of see
where Joseph Queen could resemble Vanessa Kirby.I could kind of see where Joseph Queen resembles
Robert Danny, Jr. What? Yeah, I heard someone saythat he looked like the splitting image of Robert

(42:25):
Danny, Jr. when he was younger. And when I waswatching the film, I actually couldn't unsee it.
Like even with his mannerisms, it's pretty spoton. Never say that out loud again. Like I don't want
to get stuck with that in my head. It's it's true.Like if they were ever going to recast Tony Stark,
maybe like DHM, Joseph Queen would have made a goodone. You would have, but he can't know. Hey, it's

(42:47):
the multiverse. Anything is possible. Yeah,which is not always a good thing. Let's go ahead and
move on to Galactus, who was played by RalphInneson. There's not too much to discuss here
regarding Guinness's performance because it waslargely hidden under the special effects and that
helmet. But I got to say that the design of Galactuswas inspired. He looked so damn cool in this movie.

(43:08):
Like why did they ever make him a cloud in the Foxfilms? Because the creative potential to render
this space God on the screen visually is such agreat opportunity and they totally seized on it in
this film. He looked badass like when his eyeswould light up and stuff like that. Oh, it was so
good. It was perfect. It was absolute sheerperfection. And I really wish we would have seen

(43:31):
this version of Galactus before we saw like anycelestials. Yeah, that's interesting regarding
the celestials because, you know, this movienever touched on why Galactus hungers for
planets. In the comic books, it's insinuated thathe eats planets as part of some universal balance.
And in Earth X, they explained that the celestialswould seed life on planets as a means to protect the

(43:55):
celestial embryo growing at the core and thatGalactus served as a sort of check on the celestial
population. And considering that they didaddress that there was a celestial growing inside
of Earth 616 in the Eternals movie, I thought itwould have been interesting if they addressed
Galactus's cosmic purpose here. I'm honestlyreally hoping that Reed accidentally teleported

(44:17):
Galactus to the 616 universe, although I guessthat would mean Silver Surfer went with him. Never
mind, I take it back. I just hope eventually we getto see Galactus again one day. That would be cool
for sure. I do want to touch on one other characterreal quick. I'm going to state it right off the bat.
I don't like Herbie. I thought he was annoying inthe movie. Is it because I said crypto was

(44:38):
annoying? Like every time he was not on screen, Iwas really off. Herbie was a total scene stealer,
but like in the wrong way. You just got to get overthe fact that crypto sucks and that I hate him.
Don't take it out on Herbie. It's totally innocentin this situation. I also hate Herbie. How does
that feel? No one does. No one does. It would feelbad if I believed you, but I don't. Let's go ahead

(45:00):
and move into our story highlights. In a worldwhere fantasies collide and heroes clash, one
podcast network rises above the rest. Prepareyourself for the ultimate showdowns in comic
books, video games, movies, and anime. TheDynamite Podcast Network presents Consul

(45:23):
Combat, where video game legends brawl everyMonday. Dynamic Duel, where comic book titans
smash every Tuesday. Max Destruction, where TVand action heroes battle every Wednesday. And
Sendro World, where anime champions clash everyThursday. Join us as we speculate on the matches
and armed with the power of mathematicalsimulations, discover who will emerge

(45:46):
victorious. Visit dynamicpodcast.com where wesettle the debate and settle the score. In 1964, on
Earth 828, Reed Richards and Sue Storm learnedtheir pregnant on the fourth anniversary of the
day they were bombarded by cosmic rays while on amission in space. The world celebrates them and

(46:08):
Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm as superheroes andrecounts their efforts protecting the planet
from villains such as the Red Ghost, and theirdiplomatic efforts such as garnering federal
rights for the Mole Man and Subterranean. Thatnight, during their weekly dinner, Reed and Sue
reveal the pregnancy to Ben and Johnny, and thefour begin preparing for the baby's arrival over
the next few months. Reed conducts tests on Sue todetermine if their cosmically altered DNA has

(46:33):
affected the baby. He also meets with Johnnyregarding their suit designs while testing a
teleportation machine and recording deep spacetransmissions. The robot assistant Herbie
baby-proofs the house while Ben meets a friendlyteacher at a Jewish day school. One night before
dinner, the Silver Surfer arrives to herald thecoming of Galactus who will soon devour the Earth.
Reed tracks the Surfer's energy signature to thedisappearance of a half a dozen planets, and the

(46:57):
team decides to meet Galactus in space. Now thatwas a lot, but that was all mostly told in montage.
Dude, yeah, that was way too much. That was like thewhole first third of this movie. There was a lot to
get through. Interestingly, a lot of littletidbits and Easter eggs thrown into the montage,
like references to Red Ghost and Mole Man. We got tosee the team fight Giganto as their very first

(47:20):
villain, which was true to the comic books, as wecan all see on the very first cover to the very first
issue of The Fantastic Four. Which is a totalripoff of Justice League of America number one. I
just want to say that. There were a lot of nicetouches here, I thought. Like the Future
Foundation, which is like their philanthropicscience foundation in the comic books, but here

(47:41):
they made it more like a diplomatic typeorganization. So they were affecting the planet,
not just through their super heroics and theirinventions, but also through like politics. It
was all pretty interesting. Yeah, Sue was prettymuch a politician in this film the way it came
across. She was like a UN ambassador. Well, yeah,that's what it seemed like the Future Foundation
was to me, was the UN. And it almost seemed like TheFantastic Four were the head of the UN. Not the

(48:06):
head, because that one lady was the CEO, but theydefinitely helped facilitate it. And like
apparently the country of Latveria never showedup to their gatherings, which I thought was like a
funny little Easter egg too. Well, it just made mewonder where Dr. Doom was during this whole thing.
Like, I don't think he would have been OK with TheFantastic Four's actions in this film. Like, if
anyone would have had an issue with The FantasticFour willing to sacrifice, essentially, the

(48:31):
entire planet for their son, it would have been Dr.Doom. Well, if I had to play devil's advocate,
knowing the character of Dr. Doom, he probablywould have been mostly focused on why Galactus
would want their baby, which was a question thatthe rest of the world wasn't really asking. Yeah,
not even read and sue themselves. Well, theydidn't know. But Doom would have definitely put
his resources to work on figuring out why and thenprobably just try to steal the kid for himself or

(48:56):
usurp his power. And I think that's exactly what'sgoing on in the midcredits scene of this movie.
That's fair. What did you think of the way they didthe Mole Man? Like, it wasn't really Mole
Creatures. It was like under grand constructionworkers. Don't get me started on Mole Man. I hated
Mole Man in this movie. What really annoyed me wasthat when he was on screen, a lot of people in the

(49:19):
theater were laughing, even though I didn't thinkhe was doing anything funny. Like, I always
thought the perfect Mole Man actor would be likeDanny DeVito or something. I always thought Mole
Man should be wearing rags and not really be welldressed and wearing gold rings and stuff like
that. It was a very different take on the characterthat I wasn't entirely pleased with. Yeah, I
suspected it as much. I don't really care too muchabout the character, but I'm not surprised that

(49:42):
fans of the comic didn't care for theinterpretation. Some might. I don't know. To me,
Mole Man is just a very different character fromthe books that I read him in. Red Ghost was in the
movie, though, for a little bit. Originally, hewas played by John Malkovich, but they cut him out
of the film and then they just got some random guy ormaybe he was a CGI creation. I don't know. I thought
that was a little weird. I knew that Natasha Leonewas going to be in this movie. I wasn't sure who she

(50:06):
was going to play. I thought maybe she was going tobe, I don't know, some kind of gender swapped
villain or something like that. But I wassurprised that she wasn't Alicia Masters. She was
like this random original character to the moviewho taught at a Jewish day school and seemed to be
romantically interested in the thing. I don'tknow really what was behind her character. Yeah, I
don't really think any of that was needed in themovie. It was really just a way to give more screen

(50:30):
time to the thing, I think. I think so. They neededto give him something to do. So they had him like go
on these frequent walks through Yancy Street.Back to the story. Venturing through a wormhole
device, the Fantastic Four followed the surfer'senergy signature to a distant planet and
witnessed its destruction. Pulled intoGalactus' ship via a tractor beam, the team learns

(50:50):
that Galactus is a cosmic being who feeds on thelife force of planets but is willing to spare Earth
in exchange for Reed and Sue's son, sensingimmense power within him and believing he can
transfer his hunger into the boy. He induces Sue togo into labor as the team escapes back into the ship
with the silver surfer in pursuit. Theytemporarily lose her in the gravity of a neutron

(51:12):
star as Sue gives birth to baby Franklin and theyreturn home. There are a lot of terrifying scenes
in the sequence, which was a fantastic sequence.Like when the scanner was going across the ship and
then settled on Sue's belly, I was like, oh, crap.Yeah. And then seeing the planet explode and stuff
like that. That was incredible. That was insane.The scale of that planet exploding with this drill

(51:36):
coming out of it did such a good job of setting thestakes of what could happen to Earth. The team lost
their minds. They were like, what the fuck? Ithought that was great. I also thought the silver
surfer was a really effective villain in thisscene when she was chasing their light speed ship.
You know, they thought they lost her by going intothe wormhole. But then all of a sudden she went into

(51:57):
the wormhole. I remember my wife was like, holyshit. When she saw that because she doesn't really
know that the silver surfer can traverse thegalaxy at light speed. But yeah, that whole thing
was a lot of fun. Yeah, she was like Michael Myers.There's just no stopping her, no escaping her. She
was like the terminator. She was like T1000. Oh,yeah. Yeah, exactly. Although I have to say I was
really confused what happened near that blackhole because she was like chasing the ship and then

(52:21):
she like saw the ship get destroyed or something.And then it turns out that wasn't true. How did that
happen? They turned the ship invisible and had herfollow the light speed engine portion to the point
where she got too close to the gravity well. So thatwas all Sue's doing. OK, she saw the light speed
engine. Wait, didn't they need that to get back toEarth? They were still able to approach near light

(52:44):
speed with their ship without the assistance ofthe external engine. OK, makes sense. I guess so.
The scene where Sue gave birth to Franklin was sotense. I don't know, it just felt very real. And it
kind of reminded me of like the tension that I feltin the delivery room when my wife was giving birth
to our daughter. Yeah, I loved it when Sue was like,Johnny, killer. Yeah, that was nuts. Back to the

(53:10):
story. After revealing the situation to thepress, the public turns against the team
believing they should give up their baby toprotect the planet. The Fantastic Four work on
finding a solution to stop Galactus and read in Sueargue over potentially handing over their child.
Sue reinstills public trust by ensuring they willmove heaven and earth to protect the planet, which
inspires Reed to use his teleportation device torelocate Earth and the team rallies the world to

(53:34):
build teleportation towers across the globe.However, those towers are destroyed just upon
activation by the Silver Surfer who returns to theplanet. Johnny stops her from wrecking the final
tower in Times Square by playing for her the criesof destroyed planets from Reed's deep space
transmission recordings, having deciphered theZen law language. Johnny reveals he knows of

(53:55):
Shalabal's sacrifice to protect her planet andpleads for her help in stopping Galactus as she
flees in anguish. I was really surprised howhonest Reed was with the world. Like, he didn't
have to tell them everything that happened, likehow Galactus wanted their son. Yeah, I think it
would be entirely reasonable for someone towithhold that information from the earth. Yeah,

(54:18):
and I don't know why he told the truth. I guess he'sjust a really good guy or maybe it just slipped out.
I don't know. But yeah, I probably would have keptthat to myself. I'm no Reed Richards, though.
Moving back to the story, now planning to lureGalactus into the final teleporter using
Franklin as bait, the team relocates Manhattan tosubterrania with help from the Mole Man. When
Galactus arrives, he avoids their trap andsnatches the baby from the Baxter building. Sue

(54:43):
uses her powers in an attempt to push Galactus intothe tower and succeeds with help from the thing
knocking down a building. Reed rescues the babyfrom Galactus's grasp, though the cosmic being
proves too powerful to be held in the portal. AsJohnny prepares to sacrifice himself to push
Galactus back in, the Silver Surfer arrives andknocks her master into the beam, teleporting them
both to the edge of the universe. Sue collapses anddies from her efforts. However, baby Franklin

(55:08):
revives her with his awakened cosmic powers whenplaced on her chest. I got to say, power scale wise,
I was a little miffed that Sue was so successful inpushing Galactus, which I don't think she should
ever really be able to do. She's not that strong.She definitely had like mom power going for her
within this climax. But I do think that the scriptwas able to rectify that situation by, you know,

(55:33):
having her die from her efforts. That kind ofseemed to make it a little bit more OK from a power
scaling perspective. I did question why everyoneneeded to go to subterranean when they could have
just left the city like they did in Metropolis inthe Superman movie. I guess that's true. Yeah,
they could have just traveled to Jersey, you know,Manhattan has a big population, but there's

(55:56):
plenty of bridges to go elsewhere. Boats, I don'tthink they necessarily needed to go underground.
That almost seemed more dangerous. Like I'mpretty sure Galactus is heavy enough to crush some
tunnels. I don't know that New York bedrocksupposedly pretty sturdy. I was actually shocked
when Sue died because I didn't see how they weregoing to resurrect her and I was like, wait, what is

(56:16):
Sue actually going to die? For some reason, Ididn't make the connection to Franklin's reality
warping powers being given her back. Yeah, myfirst thought was, oh, maybe they're going to have
a multiversal Sue join the team later. But thenonce the baby entered the frame, I was like, OK,
yeah, he's going to bring his mom back. It was just abeautiful moment. Yeah, great climax, great

(56:39):
stakes again. This film had so many surprises. Iwas so happy with it by the end. Back to the story.
The team is celebrated for their victory and ridesoff for another adventure in their fantastic car
with Franklin along with them in a car seat. Fouryears later in 1968, Sue finds Dr. Doom holding
Franklin in an after credit scene. We see theopening to the fantastic fours in universe

(57:02):
cartoon. I loved the kind of three man and a babyapproach they took to getting the car seat in the
fantastic car with Ben, Johnny and Reed all tryingto do it. I thought that was really funny. Those
things are not easy to get in. They are not. They arecomplex pieces of engineering. Let me tell you
that. So I had a good chuckle at that. But like I feltlike the air leave my lungs during the mid credit

(57:25):
scene when Sue returned back to see Franklin andthere was this green hooded figure holding him.
There was such a good cliffhanger and tease forwhat's to come. Yeah, it looks like Franklin got to
take a peek at Dr. Doom's real face. He's like, oh,you look just like my uncle. No, he would never say
that. He would never say that. It wouldn't evenenter his mind. It is interesting to see how

(57:48):
Franklin would play into Dr. Dooms plans. I thinkthey're going to substitute the beyonders from
the comic books with Franklin Richards. I thinkhe's going to be the catalyst for Dr. Dooms
universal reality warping that ends theincursions and forms battle world. That's my
theory. One nitpicky sticking point I had duringthe mid credit scene, though, was that Herbie

(58:09):
offered the origin of species by Darwin aspotential reading for Franklin Richards. But
Franklin Richards has never been particularlybright. You know, he's just a normal kid. It's his
sister, Valeria Richards. That's the prodigy.And I immediately became concerned that they were
going to combine the characters of Franklin andValeria and make Franklin a prodigy like his

(58:31):
father. Well, hey, if Johnny could decipher alienlanguages, Franklin can freaking read origin of
species. Whatever. All right. Everyone's agenius. Did you like the end credit scene? No, I
mean, it was a waste of time. It was not more so thanlike the Superman end credit scene. But the song
was OK. It wasn't anything special. The score as awhole was special. Yeah, the music was good in this

(58:54):
film. I'm going to disagree with you about theSuperman end credits scene because you're
completely wrong. Hearing Superman saying, man,I could be such a jerk sometimes. Just showed how
humble he was. No, that was stupid. Way to turn theconversation towards Superman and your
Fantastic Four review. Yeah. And how it'sinferior is what I'm doing, because Fantastic
Four was definitely the better movie. It hadeverything really that I ever wanted from a

(59:18):
Fantastic Four film, even beyond the retrovisuals and the cast chemistry. I thought the film
most importantly leaned into the emotional coreof the story, which is the team's familial bond,
and it did it with sincerity and real stakes. I'mgoing to rate the film four and a half stars out of
five. A fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Yeah,I'll agree with that. I really enjoyed this film a

(59:44):
lot more than I wanted to. I went to this wanting toreally dislike this movie and just I just wanted to
trash on it and be like, oh, Superman is so muchbetter. I can't really say that. I enjoyed both of
the movies immensely. It is kind of refreshing tohave a series of superhero movies that really
focuses more on like hope and the lightheartednature of these stories. There's a lot of

(01:00:09):
parallels between the Fantastic Four andSuperman. And I think it's signaling that people
are kind of over the sort of cynical cloud that hasbeen permeating society, I feel like, for a good
long while now. Yeah, I wonder if we're maybe pastthe whole dark era of superhero films. These two
films, Superman and Fantastic Four First Steps.One of the things I like most about them is their

(01:00:32):
messages, like you mentioned, being kind, familyis paramount. Those are great messages to hear
from superheroes. And the Thunderbolts, too, youknow, they're like, don't do meth. Group hug,
everyone. Let's do it. Like everyone. I don't knowwhat Captain America Brave New World's message
was, but maybe that's why it's been the weakest outof the superhero films released this year so far.

(01:00:54):
It's still a decent movie, though. Go listen tothat review if you haven't already. But that does
it for this review. AJ and IK help close us out.Thanks for listening to Dynamic Jewel. Visit the
show's website at dynamicjewel.com and follow uson Instagram at Dynamic Jewel podcast. You can
support the show on Patreon at patreon.com slashdynamicjewel and joining a tier that works for you

(01:01:17):
or by rating and reviewing Dynamic Jewel on Applepodcasts, Spotify, Podchaser or on our website.
Don't forget to listen to the other shows in theDynamite podcast network, including Max
Destruction, Senjo World and Console Combat. Ournext episode is going to be another review. We are
going to talk about Sandman Season 2. Now, Season 1of Sandman was killer. Season 2, I'm almost

(01:01:42):
certain, will be uncomfortable to watch due to theNeil Gaiman revelations that have come out
between the seasons. I'm not even thinking aboutthat as I'm watching it. I'm actually really
loving Season 2. I'm only halfway through it, butdamn, it is so good. I'm just taking the time to
relish each and every episode because I know I'mgoing to be frigging heartbroken when it's over.

(01:02:02):
Yeah, I got to binge it. I'm just going to I'm justgoing to speed watch it while also being on my
phone. I'll slap that phone out of your hands andthen slap you right in the face. But that does it for
this episode, guys. We want to give a big thanks toour executive producers, John Straussky,
Zachary Hepburn, Destin Balcom, MiggyMathen-Geehan, Nathaniel Wagner, Levi Yatyn,
Austin Wazalowski, AJ Dunkerly, Nick Obanto,Scott Camacho, Gil Camacho, Adam Spees, Dean

(01:02:25):
Maleski, Devin Davis, Joseph Kirsting, JoshLeiner, Mike Williams, Oscar Galvez and Paul
Graves for helping make this podcast possible.And we'll talk to you guys next week. Up, up and 674 01:02:35,340 --> away. True believers. I'm going to run the stats on a Gary versus Herbie fight.