# The Fantastic Four: First Steps - pre-release discussion **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [February 4, 2025, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874 "2025-02-04T16:00:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/61 "2025-02-05T14:15:44Z")
As bad as the 2015 version was\*, they managed to make the stretching look plausible. (\*I maintain that the first half of it was pretty good before it fell off a cliff.) ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/62 "2025-02-05T14:26:06Z")
The Ben Grimm / Thing voice just doesn’t work for me. I know it’s become cliche at this point but you really do need some raspy/husky/gravely voice to match the physical stature of the character. Whomever they are using has waay too smooth of a voice. Which makes it look just dubbed over. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/63 "2025-02-05T14:26:46Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I feel like an alternate Tony Stark is increasingly becoming a likely candidate for being Dr. Doom. Art imitating life? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/64 "2025-02-05T16:18:43Z")
We have seen how the stretchy power will look already. There’s a bit of it in Doctor Strange 2. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/65 "2025-02-05T17:10:52Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Not so. Mr. Incredible is The Thing without thebroken plantr-pot complexion. Violet, of course, is the Invisible Girl, right down to her power to make invisible force fields (something that the FF introduced to the world). Dash, with his super-speed, is the only one who doesn’t fit. But there have been “What If…?”-type versions of the Fantastic Four with variant powers. Super-speed isn’t too far off existing powers. I’m very confused at how literal everyone is taking the The Incredibles/FF parallels. …Dash is the Human Torch. He’s young impulsive head-strong gets himself in trouble…like… come on, guys? He’s fast but doesnt catch fire…that’s a pretty minor disqualifier if we are talking big picture. The parallels are just as much about personalities and dynamics as they are powers. Regarding Pascal being too likable…the early comics treated Reed as a dashing adventure scientist…he didn’t become bland/rude/specturm-coded Reed until much later. Pascal works. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/66 "2025-02-05T17:40:51Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > Regarding Pascal being too likable…the early comics treated Reed as a dashing adventure scientist…he didn’t become bland/rude/specturm-coded Reed until much later. Pascal works. I agree. This is obviously the 1960s version of the FF. I’m really interested to see how they thread the needle of Stan and Jack’s chauvinism during their run. They shouldn’t ignore it. Pascal’s charm will initially let Reed seem to get away with all sorts of mansplaining until Sue gets a chance to cleverly upstage and invalidate the sexist attitudes of the day. I hope the retrofuture setting isn’t just about aesthetics but also addresses societal mores 60 years ago. [![](https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wives-kissed-not-heard.jpg) ](https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wives-kissed-not-heard.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/67 "2025-02-05T17:53:35Z")
I’m not a comic book fan, but I like comic book movies. I though this trailer looked like one of those AI-generated fan trailers that people make. I’ll likely watch it when it moves to streaming but don’t anticipate seeing it in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/68 "2025-02-05T17:56:35Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > I though this trailer looked like one of those AI-generated fan trailers that people make. That was my first thought as well - I had to double check that it was legit. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/69 "2025-02-05T18:09:24Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > The Ben Grimm / Thing voice just doesn’t work for me. I know it’s become cliche at this point but you really do need some raspy/husky/gravely voice to match the physical stature of the character. Whomever they are using has waay too smooth of a voice. Which makes it look just dubbed over. And he should have a Yancey Street accent! Whatever that sounds like… ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/70 "2025-02-05T19:03:14Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > And he should have a Yancey Street accent! > > Whatever that sounds like… Some manner of working-class New York accent, I would think, especially as Ben has always been depicted as being more of a blue-collar sort of personality, and grew up in poverty (despite later becoming a test pilot and astronaut). The way he talks (as depicted in the comic books) has always been more of a casual dialect. While Yancy Street is apparently fictional, it’s believed that it’s an homage to [Delancey Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delancey_Street), on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where Jack Kirby grew up. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/71 "2025-02-05T19:15:10Z")
I just remembered, you can hear the Yancy Street Gang here!: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lyndmAvpTTs/maxresdefault.jpg "The Thing : E01 - Picnic Panic") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyndmAvpTTs) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/72 "2025-02-05T19:17:34Z")
I’ve never understood the canon that says Ben was from Yancy Street. If that’s true, why does the gang pick on him? I always thought Ben must have grown up one street over and been a member of a different gang. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/73 "2025-02-05T19:25:39Z")
One thing I was hoping was that either WB or Disney would blink on the Superman or FF release dates. Having them so close to each other will just hurt both movies. Fantastic Four feels more like a Thanksgiving season movie anyway (the theme being family and all that). But it looks like both are sticking to their guns. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/74 "2025-02-05T20:02:17Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I’ve never understood the canon that says Ben was from Yancy Street. If that’s true, why does the gang pick on him? I thought it was that he’s the guy who got out: goes off to college, the way they can’t afford to — and the way _he_ can’t afford to, if not for that football scholarship — and then he’s the war hero, and then he’s the test pilot who becomes a super-powered celebrity, and they’re still, y’know, _there._ ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/75 "2025-02-05T21:06:19Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > One thing I was hoping was that either WB or Disney would blink on the Superman or FF release dates. Having them so close to each other will just hurt both movies. Fantastic Four feels more like a Thanksgiving season movie anyway (the theme being family and all that). But it looks like both are sticking to their guns. Since they are tied into future movies that are already rolling that would be difficult ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/76 "2025-02-05T21:18:14Z")
I like that the Thing is in pants. In Josh Trank’s 2015 version of the Fantastic Four, the Thing had no pants and that didn’t sit right with me. Grimm may look like a monster but he always had heart and wearing pants, to me, was a quick indicator that beneath that very rough exterior he was still a human. As another example, the Hulk has pants. In the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie, the Abomination gave up his humanity to fight the Hulk and loses his pants along the way. I admit it’s not a perfect theory, but it makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/77 "2025-02-05T22:04:29Z")
I’m just glad he’s not in a shirt with no pants, like Donald Duck or Winnie the Pooh. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/78 "2025-02-05T22:06:55Z")
Sure, when Donald Duck or Winnie the Pooh walk around with a shirt and no pants… ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/79 "2025-02-05T23:02:19Z")
I like the way the Thing _looks_, but I hate his voice. He should have a New York accent. Just a terrible decision IMO. I’m also not a fan of Pedro Pascal as Reed. He seems a bit short and the mustache doesn’t work. Those are minor nits though. I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2025, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874/80 "2025-02-05T23:25:05Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Personally I think using Dr. Doom or Galactus in the “first” movie is a big mistake, for the same reason using the Joker in the first Batman movie was a mistake. Captain America used Red Skull in his first movie; Thor used Loki; Strange used Dread Dormammu. None of those choices ended up being a problem. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fantastic-four-first-steps-pre-release-discussion/1013874.md?page=5)