The Fantastic Four Trailer Raises the Ultimate Question

With this weekend's second trailer for Fox and Josh Trank's upcoming Fantastic Four dropping and being legitimately exciting in a number of respects, we started thinking a bit more deeply about what the film's obvious inspiration from Marvel's Ultimate Universe could mean either in this film or its already-planned sequels.

Wait…you don't know what Marvel's Ultimate Universe is? Well, don't worry because it isn't going to be around much longer if the hype about Marvel's upcoming Secret Wars event is to be believed. That being said, the Ultimate Universe is a reality within Marvel's multiverse which exists separate from the main Marvel Universe (traditionally identified with the numerical designation 616). The Ultimate Universe was created as a new playground where writers and artists could essentially rebuild the Marvel Universe from scratch and tell new, exciting stories with a more modern sensibility and without being tied down to decades of often Byzantine continuity.

Why are we bringing this up? Because Fox's rebooted Fantastic Four is obviously pulling a lot from the Ultimate version of the FF. For instance, in the 616 Universe the Fantastic Four were created by an accident in space involving cosmic rays, while in the Ultimate Universe their powers come from a teleporter accident. In 616, Doctor Doom has no powers and relies on science and a mastery of magic, while in the Ultimate Universe he gains powers from the same accident that creates the FF. In 616, the FF are a range of ages from the young Johnny Storm (basically a teenager) to Reed Richards (early middle-aged), while in the Ultimate Universe the team are all young twenty-somethings. In 616, Reed Richards is a maverick scientist who is self-financed, while in the Ultimate Universe he is part of a think-tank at the Baxter Building with ties to the military under the leadership of Franklin Storm, Johnny and Sue's dad. In 616… The list goes on and on.

If you've paid even the slightest amount of attention to the trailers and buzz around Fox's latest attempt to make the FF work on screen then you can see just how much they are pulling from the Ultimate Universe. Intriguingly, it is worth noting that Doc Doom gaining powers in the same accident that creates the FF was such a compelling idea that it was even used in the last two FF flicks. Aside from streamlining the narrative, I'll never know why this is so compelling to movie studios but I digress.

Anyway, we were wondering what less obvious items we could glean from the Ultimate Universe connection and what we can speculate about the future of the franchise. Let's start with Reed Richards (to be played by Miles Teller) and Susan Storm's (Kate Mara) relationship. In the 616 Universe, they are a couple from the very beginning of the Fantastic Four's eponymous series and its never really in doubt that they'll end up together. Despite flirtations with Namor the Sub-Mariner, supposed deaths, and boneheaded decisions by Reed, they stay together. That cannot be said about their Ultimate Universe counterparts…

Ultimate Reed and Sue, while on good terms, aren't really a given from the get-go. On top of that, things take some pretty dark and terrible turns after the Ultimate Fantastic Four series ends. In a nutshell, Reed turns evil (like Doc Doom levels of evil), and Sue and Ben Grimm become an item. In fact in the series Ultimate FF, Sue ends up having Ben's child. Knowing this, I'm more than a little intrigued by the interchange depicted in the latest trailer:

Sue: I've gotta say, it's fun having you here.

Reed: Really?

Sue: No.

This could just be a cute moment on their way to an eventual predestined coupling but I wonder if this film and this franchise could actually head down the road of a legitimate love triangle. Given this reboot's grounded, gritty nature, is it much of a stretch (pun not intended) to think that an angsty fight over teammates' romantic affections would be mined as a source of drama?

By a similar token, I have to wonder if this film spawns a series that continues for a number of sequels, what is the possibility of seeing an evil Reed Richards? This is probably an extreme longshot given possible damage to the brand and likely fanboy grousing since Reed's turn to evil wasn't the most visible event in comics and most people know Reed as a straight shooter, albeit one who occasionally makes remarkably bad decisions while attempting to do good. It is worth noting that rather than Reed making this traditional pronouncement, it is Johnny Storm who is given the line, "We should use these powers to help people!" in the latest trailer. Again, with such an attempt to take a grounded and gritty look at the FF, would their leader turning into their greatest villain feel very much out of place in this world?

These developments are only two possible future plot elements that could be presaged by the strong connection of this Fantastic Four to the Ultimate Universe. Others include the Human Torch potentially joining the X-Men (possible given Fox's ownership of both properties) and Ben Grimm eventually gaining the ability to change back and forth from rocky to human at will. For our money, the most intriguing of these items remain the potential love triangle and Reed's future heroic or villainous trajectory.

So, what do you think, folks? Do we want a Reed, Sue, and Ben love triangle? Do we think that Miles Teller would be a fantastic villainous Reed Richards? Or do we think that those developments have about as much chance of happening as Galactus going on a diet?