The Fantastic Four Movie Marvel Doesn't Want You To See

charliejane — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:23:23 PST

Here's the action-packed climax of Roger Corman's Fantastic Four, which Marvel reportedly paid millions to suppress. In this version, Reed Richards' main superpower is the ability to telegraph his punches worse than Tom Selleck. And the Thing's greatest gift is the ability to move as though he were in a full-body cast. As B movies go, Fantastic isn't so bad, but it makes some very questionable story choices.

The biggest mistake in this movie? The inclusion of an evil leprechaun named The Jeweler, who somehow becomes crucial to the FF's mythos. It's the Jeweler who steals the crucial crystals that power the Four's spaceship (while dancing a jig across a laser security system). Later, he adopts the Thing into his family of freaks and also kidnaps the Thing's girlfriend. Finally, he has a thrilling stand-off with Doctor Doom. If you've ever wanted to see the evil Latverian genius face off with a comedy leprechaun, this is your chance. Oh, and Doom's "I will destroy New York" speech is campy in a very, very bad way.

How did this disaster happen? A German production company owned the rights to make a Fantastic Four movie, but was unable to raise the $40 million it needed before the rights were due to expire. So the company turned to Roger Corman, who said he could make the movie cheap and quick. (As commenter ManchuCandidate points out, Corman was willing to take chances.) At $1.4 million, this movie had a huge budget compared to a usual Corman spectacle. After the film was completed, Marvel paid a few million to suppress it. The team worked in secret to complete post-production on it, but then Marvel ordered all prints destroyed. So it's a minor miracle that you're able to suffer through this clip.

Spider-Man Is Trapped In A Web Of Pitch Meetings

charliejane — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:22:43 PDT

Do you wish Sam Raimi had thought through all the story angles before plunging into the sticky mess that was Spider-Man 3? It sounds like maybe he does too. Raimi hinted that he won't commit to Spider-Man 4 until he hears a really compelling story pitch from the army of writers traipsing to his door:

"Right now, Sony is meeting with different writers to try and bring a fresh new story and approach to the 'Spider-Man' franchise," Raimi told us, "so I've been in meetings with Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, the producers, and Amy Pascal. Different writers have been coming in and spinning different tales of where 'Spider-Man' can go from here."

Maybe the next Spider-Man can build on the idea that Spidey's fame is corrupting him? It was one of the few compelling ideas in the third movie, but it got lost in the plot overload. Also on Raimi's to-do list: A movie of The Shadow, the pulpy character he owns the film rights to.Image by Mshades.

Sam Raimi On Spider-Man 4 And The Shadow [Superhero Hype]

io9: avi arad

The Fantastic Four Movie Marvel Doesn't Want You To See

Spider-Man Is Trapped In A Web Of Pitch Meetings