This is my first pitch for a "Fantastic Four" film series!
In 1959 a young scientist named Reed Richards was accepted into the National Aeronautics & Space Administration's Moon mission. Reed was accepted for his knowledge in all fields of science and his creation of the first artificial intelligence the Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-Type, Integrated Electronics or HERBIE. His only competition in acceptance was his fellow student Victor Von Doom, who's alleged experiments got him sent back to his country of Latvaria by the US government. Reed brought his best friend and rookie pilot Benjamin J. Grimm with him. The two of them met the director of the Moon mission Professor Franklin Storm and his two children Susan and Johnny, who were both trained astronauts. These four formed a friendship the media quickly advertised. The papers called these ambitious young travelers "The Fantastic Four". Over the next two years, the FF and NASA worked on the Moon mission. Along the way Reed Richards and Susan Storm fell in love, Ben Grimm's family had gone into business with Leland Baxter to start a hotel company (Ben even had a relationship with a member of the Baxter Family), and Johnny Storm became a young celebrity. Unknown to the American public, The Soviet Union was planning their own Moon mission with Professor Ivan Kragoff determined to beat the Americans. Ivan studied the articles on the FF's mission and replicated Reed Richard's revolutionary engine for space travel. The day before launch, Reed Richards and Susan Storm got married on television as Reed claimed he wanted to take the biggest risk of his life with the greatest person in his life.
1961, The Fantastic Four board their rocket and prepare for launch. They wait with baited breath as Reed's special engine powers up and NASA gives the countdown. NASA receives word that Ivan Kragoff-without the permission of the Soviet Union-took three ape astronauts and launched his rocket. The two rockets fly through space towards the Moon, both getting ever so closer to each other. The closer they get the more energy pulsates from their engines. As Reed claims, their engines weren't built to respond to so much radiant energy. The waves begin to scare the apes and they cause Ivan to lose control of his rocket. The waves around the FF rocket send it flying at light-speed. They see Ivan's rocket crash into the Moon with a blue explosion before their ship travels faster and further into space until they black out. When the Fantastic Four wake up, their rocket floats aimlessly in ominous red space.
The four of them lose all concept of time and go through several phases of distress before Reed pulls them together and they begin repairing their engine. As they work they notice aliens approaching their rocket. The four manage to repair the engine and fly out of the area before the horde of aliens can catch them. Their rocket flies back the way it came-sending an electrical bolt to Ivan's rocket on the Moon-and ends up crashing on Earth. They wake up in a desert and are too tired and damaged to go anywhere. The next morning each of them starts changing: Reed's skin seems to sag off his body, Susan's limps vanish from sight, Johnny's fingers catch on fire, and Ben removes his blanket and finds his flesh has become stone. Reed theorizes the effects of the rocket engine and the radiation from that sector of space changed their physiology. US military appear on sight and their soldiers become restless when they see Ben's appearance, but they are ordered to stand down by the general in charge.
The FF join the military convoy back to their base in Nevada where the General claims the year is 2016 and the Fantastic Four were thought to have died 55 years ago. By Reed's logic, they were in a part of space where time moved differently. The General is also sad to inform them that the world has moved on without them and even Susan and Johnny's father-before his death-accepted that his children were dead. The General offers the best minds the government has to help fix the FF, but after their experiences the FF only trust each other. They are brought back to New York were Ben Grimm's childhood house has been replaced by The Baxter Building Hotel. Given his family ties, the hotel allows Ben and the FF stay in the top floor for free. Reed begins committing time into studying the nature of their powers: He can stretch his body to any shape or length he needs, Susan can turn herself invisible and create invisible constructs, Johnny can produce flames, and Ben has incredible strength as well as durability. While Reed and Sue look into ways to change them back to normal, Johnny and Ben go out to see the world.
While Johnny is interested in experiencing stardom again, Ben is constantly stared at. Several children even teasingly call him "Thing". Ben goes off on his own while Johnny uses his powers to embarrass a group of bikers who made fun of them. Ben goes to the home of his fiance and finds a man and his blind daughter have moved in and his lover is long gone. While the man is terrified, the blind girl Alicia is fascinated after touching Ben's face. Meanwhile, on the Moon, a blue tone surrounds the area of Ivan's crashed rocket. The reactivation of the rocket wakes Ivan and his apes from their cryogenic sleep. Ivan finds that the crash created by the rocket has created a blue pocket of air on the Moon, allowing them to walk freely out there. Ivan also finds that the electrical output from the FF's rocket spread whatever cosmic radiation onto himself and his apes: Ivan gains the ability of intangibility, Mikhlo the gorilla gained super strength, Igor the baboon gained the ability to change the surface of his body into any material, and Peotr the orangutan gained the ability to manipulate gravity. By repairing the engine of the rocket Ivan and his apes manage to spiral back to Earth and land in Russia, where he is told by government agents of the shift in time and on how-while the FF returned with mass appraisal-the world forgot about him. Ivan kills these men and plans his revenge.
Over the next few days the Fantastic Four become celebrities again, Johnny even redesigns the test suit Reed made for him into a costume and begins calling himself The Human Torch (named after a superhero of the 40's). Reed creates suits for himself, Susan and Ben too with hopes that they will help ease the stress of their powers. Johnny finds Ben at a bar just trying to have a drink. Ben sees the suit Johnny is trying to give him as a sign that Reed has stopped trying to fix them and storms out of the bar. Ben stands on a bridge later that night and considers killing himself, but he is stopped by Alicia the blind woman. When Ben asks how she found him, Alicia claims she could hear him stomping by her house and she followed him here. Alicia tells Ben that people stare at her too because she is blind and that-just because she is blind-it doesn't mean she doesn't feel them looking. People think Ben is monster, but Alicia felt his face and all she felt was a sad man trapped in a stone. Ben is convinced to keep living.
Susan meets the Baxter Building mailman Willie Lumpkin and is told that after the FF vanished the world saw the rise of superheroes. Not just people the FF knew about like Captain America-though he's still around too-but Norse Gods and men in armors and sorcerers. Susan finds it awful that the world is in so much distress that heroes became a necessity, though Willie ledgers that The Fantastic Four came around when the world needed them-a family from the past to bring light to the present. In a way, The Fantastic Four were heroes to the public when they shot into space. Susan and Willie eventually talk about Ivan and what happened and when Susan brings that news to Reed, he uses a telescope and notices Ivan's rocket isn't on the Moon. Alicia brings Ben to her art club and she tries to teach him how to craft clay, though his big hands make it hard. The class is attacked by Ivan's three apes and Ben is forced to fight them. One kidnaps Alicia and leaves Ben a note.
Reed, Susan and Johnny see what happened to Ben on the news and try calling him, but get nothing. They can't even track him because he refused to put on his suit. While they go search, Ben follows the directions on the note to an old mill. There he meets the three apes and Ivan Kragoff. Kragoff claims he can turn Ben human again in exchange for the rocket engine Reed saved in the Baxter Building. Ivan even uses Alicia as a hostage. Reed, Susan and Johnny return to the Baxter Building to find Ben and the apes loading the engine into Ivan's newly build hovercraft. Ben tries to stop the apes from attacking the others, but Ivan openly betrays Ben. Ivan and the apes fly off with the engine as the four lay in distress.
Susan and Johnny watch as Reed and Ben argue about Reed's view on their powers and about Ben's betrayal. It is only Susan who stops the fight and reminds them Alicia is in danger. Reed hypothesizes that Ivan wants both of the special engines to recreate the energy output. Ben finally puts on the suit and Johnny puts on a back-up suit so that The Fantastic Four have their matching outfits. In his spare time Reed had built a hovercraft from the remains of their original rocket. The FF hop in this "Fantasticar" and arrive in the Russian mountains where Ivan has turned a military base into his fortress. While Reed, Ben and Johnny fight the apes, Susan sneaks into the base and finds the two engines being prepared. Ivan springs a trap that makes Susan unable to stop the engines activation. As he claims, the resulting wave of energy given off by the engines will cause a global blackout. And out of this day of mass panic the world will remember the name Ivan Kragoff. After defeating the apes, Reed, Ben and Johnny run into the base. Reed and Johnny go to find Susan and Ben goes to find Alicia. Lesser energy waves start coming out of the engines, these waves make it difficult for Reed and Johnny to battle Ivan and save Susan. Johnny remembers what Reed said about those apes being intelligent and he runs back to see the apes and while they seem violent the apes actually understand Johnny's distress. Ben finds Alicia and frees her, wallowing in guilt as he does so. Ben already lost one woman he cared about because of his messed up life and now he put this blind woman in danger. Alicia forgives him, before they can kiss he gets a call on his communicator.
The apes have turned against Ivan and prevent him from advancing the engines output. Reed calculates a way to stop the engines before they can cause a blackout. First-by using his stretching limbs-Reed cuts the wiring to the engines cooling units. Johnny focuses his powers and intensifies the heat the engines are generating inside. Susan uses invisible walls to push the engines closer together, this causes more heat to build and the fortress to begin to crumble. Ben shows up and tells the others to get Alicia and the apes out of there. Ben also sees finds out Johnny got the apes help and jokes only Johnny could have a heart-to-heart with three dumb monkeys. He then gets up high and lines up his jump, ready to destroy the engines. Ivan-crushed under rubble-phases out of the debris and tries to stop Ben, he tries to convince him he can be saved. Ben says "What are ya, stupid? I'm the one doing the savin'". Ben yells "it's clobbering time" and leaps fist first into the engines, causing an explosion that blows up the fortress. Reed, Johnny and the apes search the rubble as Susan and Alicia wait in fear. Reed finds Ben under some metal and begs his best friend to say something. "Remember how Dad used to tell me I'd never do anything important with my life" Ben asked, "Remind me to give this week's newspaper to his tombstone". The FF, Alicia and the apes have a group hug.
While Reed was able to cleanse the powers of the apes, he finds that he and his family were exposed to far much more cosmic radiation and their powers could be permanent. Ben isn't miserable anymore though, he has his family of freaks and the best girl a guy could ask for. Plus, he saved the world. Johnny begs Reed to let them be a superhero team and Reed agrees they could use an extracurricular activity. Deciding on names, Johnny calls Susan "The Invisible Girl" (to which she corrects him "The Invisible Woman"), he calls Reed "Mister Fantastic" given his fatherly role among the team, but Johnny can't pick a name for Ben. "Call me The Thing" Ben says. Reed recreates HERBIE and employs the apes as his lab helpers. And with that, people all over the world praise the heroics of The Fantastic Four.
After the credits The FF sit down for a meal, but are interrupted when a portal opens in the room. Out of the portal walks a man in a metal suit, draped in a green cloak. He claims he heard of Reed's return, he needed to see him for himself. Reed recognizes the voice as Victor Von Doom. Reed asks what happened to him and-as Doom begins to walk into the portal-Reed reaches out and offers their help to him. "Doom does not need help" Doom claims, "Doom needs no one". Doom enters the portal, leaving Ben to ask, "Who the hell was that".
Thanks for reading
Next week, enjoy your stay in Latvaria. "Doctor Doom" is up next.
1961, The Fantastic Four board their rocket and prepare for launch. They wait with baited breath as Reed's special engine powers up and NASA gives the countdown. NASA receives word that Ivan Kragoff-without the permission of the Soviet Union-took three ape astronauts and launched his rocket. The two rockets fly through space towards the Moon, both getting ever so closer to each other. The closer they get the more energy pulsates from their engines. As Reed claims, their engines weren't built to respond to so much radiant energy. The waves begin to scare the apes and they cause Ivan to lose control of his rocket. The waves around the FF rocket send it flying at light-speed. They see Ivan's rocket crash into the Moon with a blue explosion before their ship travels faster and further into space until they black out. When the Fantastic Four wake up, their rocket floats aimlessly in ominous red space.
The four of them lose all concept of time and go through several phases of distress before Reed pulls them together and they begin repairing their engine. As they work they notice aliens approaching their rocket. The four manage to repair the engine and fly out of the area before the horde of aliens can catch them. Their rocket flies back the way it came-sending an electrical bolt to Ivan's rocket on the Moon-and ends up crashing on Earth. They wake up in a desert and are too tired and damaged to go anywhere. The next morning each of them starts changing: Reed's skin seems to sag off his body, Susan's limps vanish from sight, Johnny's fingers catch on fire, and Ben removes his blanket and finds his flesh has become stone. Reed theorizes the effects of the rocket engine and the radiation from that sector of space changed their physiology. US military appear on sight and their soldiers become restless when they see Ben's appearance, but they are ordered to stand down by the general in charge.
The FF join the military convoy back to their base in Nevada where the General claims the year is 2016 and the Fantastic Four were thought to have died 55 years ago. By Reed's logic, they were in a part of space where time moved differently. The General is also sad to inform them that the world has moved on without them and even Susan and Johnny's father-before his death-accepted that his children were dead. The General offers the best minds the government has to help fix the FF, but after their experiences the FF only trust each other. They are brought back to New York were Ben Grimm's childhood house has been replaced by The Baxter Building Hotel. Given his family ties, the hotel allows Ben and the FF stay in the top floor for free. Reed begins committing time into studying the nature of their powers: He can stretch his body to any shape or length he needs, Susan can turn herself invisible and create invisible constructs, Johnny can produce flames, and Ben has incredible strength as well as durability. While Reed and Sue look into ways to change them back to normal, Johnny and Ben go out to see the world.
While Johnny is interested in experiencing stardom again, Ben is constantly stared at. Several children even teasingly call him "Thing". Ben goes off on his own while Johnny uses his powers to embarrass a group of bikers who made fun of them. Ben goes to the home of his fiance and finds a man and his blind daughter have moved in and his lover is long gone. While the man is terrified, the blind girl Alicia is fascinated after touching Ben's face. Meanwhile, on the Moon, a blue tone surrounds the area of Ivan's crashed rocket. The reactivation of the rocket wakes Ivan and his apes from their cryogenic sleep. Ivan finds that the crash created by the rocket has created a blue pocket of air on the Moon, allowing them to walk freely out there. Ivan also finds that the electrical output from the FF's rocket spread whatever cosmic radiation onto himself and his apes: Ivan gains the ability of intangibility, Mikhlo the gorilla gained super strength, Igor the baboon gained the ability to change the surface of his body into any material, and Peotr the orangutan gained the ability to manipulate gravity. By repairing the engine of the rocket Ivan and his apes manage to spiral back to Earth and land in Russia, where he is told by government agents of the shift in time and on how-while the FF returned with mass appraisal-the world forgot about him. Ivan kills these men and plans his revenge.
Over the next few days the Fantastic Four become celebrities again, Johnny even redesigns the test suit Reed made for him into a costume and begins calling himself The Human Torch (named after a superhero of the 40's). Reed creates suits for himself, Susan and Ben too with hopes that they will help ease the stress of their powers. Johnny finds Ben at a bar just trying to have a drink. Ben sees the suit Johnny is trying to give him as a sign that Reed has stopped trying to fix them and storms out of the bar. Ben stands on a bridge later that night and considers killing himself, but he is stopped by Alicia the blind woman. When Ben asks how she found him, Alicia claims she could hear him stomping by her house and she followed him here. Alicia tells Ben that people stare at her too because she is blind and that-just because she is blind-it doesn't mean she doesn't feel them looking. People think Ben is monster, but Alicia felt his face and all she felt was a sad man trapped in a stone. Ben is convinced to keep living.
Susan meets the Baxter Building mailman Willie Lumpkin and is told that after the FF vanished the world saw the rise of superheroes. Not just people the FF knew about like Captain America-though he's still around too-but Norse Gods and men in armors and sorcerers. Susan finds it awful that the world is in so much distress that heroes became a necessity, though Willie ledgers that The Fantastic Four came around when the world needed them-a family from the past to bring light to the present. In a way, The Fantastic Four were heroes to the public when they shot into space. Susan and Willie eventually talk about Ivan and what happened and when Susan brings that news to Reed, he uses a telescope and notices Ivan's rocket isn't on the Moon. Alicia brings Ben to her art club and she tries to teach him how to craft clay, though his big hands make it hard. The class is attacked by Ivan's three apes and Ben is forced to fight them. One kidnaps Alicia and leaves Ben a note.
Reed, Susan and Johnny see what happened to Ben on the news and try calling him, but get nothing. They can't even track him because he refused to put on his suit. While they go search, Ben follows the directions on the note to an old mill. There he meets the three apes and Ivan Kragoff. Kragoff claims he can turn Ben human again in exchange for the rocket engine Reed saved in the Baxter Building. Ivan even uses Alicia as a hostage. Reed, Susan and Johnny return to the Baxter Building to find Ben and the apes loading the engine into Ivan's newly build hovercraft. Ben tries to stop the apes from attacking the others, but Ivan openly betrays Ben. Ivan and the apes fly off with the engine as the four lay in distress.
Susan and Johnny watch as Reed and Ben argue about Reed's view on their powers and about Ben's betrayal. It is only Susan who stops the fight and reminds them Alicia is in danger. Reed hypothesizes that Ivan wants both of the special engines to recreate the energy output. Ben finally puts on the suit and Johnny puts on a back-up suit so that The Fantastic Four have their matching outfits. In his spare time Reed had built a hovercraft from the remains of their original rocket. The FF hop in this "Fantasticar" and arrive in the Russian mountains where Ivan has turned a military base into his fortress. While Reed, Ben and Johnny fight the apes, Susan sneaks into the base and finds the two engines being prepared. Ivan springs a trap that makes Susan unable to stop the engines activation. As he claims, the resulting wave of energy given off by the engines will cause a global blackout. And out of this day of mass panic the world will remember the name Ivan Kragoff. After defeating the apes, Reed, Ben and Johnny run into the base. Reed and Johnny go to find Susan and Ben goes to find Alicia. Lesser energy waves start coming out of the engines, these waves make it difficult for Reed and Johnny to battle Ivan and save Susan. Johnny remembers what Reed said about those apes being intelligent and he runs back to see the apes and while they seem violent the apes actually understand Johnny's distress. Ben finds Alicia and frees her, wallowing in guilt as he does so. Ben already lost one woman he cared about because of his messed up life and now he put this blind woman in danger. Alicia forgives him, before they can kiss he gets a call on his communicator.
The apes have turned against Ivan and prevent him from advancing the engines output. Reed calculates a way to stop the engines before they can cause a blackout. First-by using his stretching limbs-Reed cuts the wiring to the engines cooling units. Johnny focuses his powers and intensifies the heat the engines are generating inside. Susan uses invisible walls to push the engines closer together, this causes more heat to build and the fortress to begin to crumble. Ben shows up and tells the others to get Alicia and the apes out of there. Ben also sees finds out Johnny got the apes help and jokes only Johnny could have a heart-to-heart with three dumb monkeys. He then gets up high and lines up his jump, ready to destroy the engines. Ivan-crushed under rubble-phases out of the debris and tries to stop Ben, he tries to convince him he can be saved. Ben says "What are ya, stupid? I'm the one doing the savin'". Ben yells "it's clobbering time" and leaps fist first into the engines, causing an explosion that blows up the fortress. Reed, Johnny and the apes search the rubble as Susan and Alicia wait in fear. Reed finds Ben under some metal and begs his best friend to say something. "Remember how Dad used to tell me I'd never do anything important with my life" Ben asked, "Remind me to give this week's newspaper to his tombstone". The FF, Alicia and the apes have a group hug.
While Reed was able to cleanse the powers of the apes, he finds that he and his family were exposed to far much more cosmic radiation and their powers could be permanent. Ben isn't miserable anymore though, he has his family of freaks and the best girl a guy could ask for. Plus, he saved the world. Johnny begs Reed to let them be a superhero team and Reed agrees they could use an extracurricular activity. Deciding on names, Johnny calls Susan "The Invisible Girl" (to which she corrects him "The Invisible Woman"), he calls Reed "Mister Fantastic" given his fatherly role among the team, but Johnny can't pick a name for Ben. "Call me The Thing" Ben says. Reed recreates HERBIE and employs the apes as his lab helpers. And with that, people all over the world praise the heroics of The Fantastic Four.
After the credits The FF sit down for a meal, but are interrupted when a portal opens in the room. Out of the portal walks a man in a metal suit, draped in a green cloak. He claims he heard of Reed's return, he needed to see him for himself. Reed recognizes the voice as Victor Von Doom. Reed asks what happened to him and-as Doom begins to walk into the portal-Reed reaches out and offers their help to him. "Doom does not need help" Doom claims, "Doom needs no one". Doom enters the portal, leaving Ben to ask, "Who the hell was that".
Thanks for reading
Next week, enjoy your stay in Latvaria. "Doctor Doom" is up next.
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