Ignore all those rumours about Chronicle veteran Josh Trank not getting on with the Fantastic Four team: he was on fine form in the film's Comic-Con panel, sporting a Nintendo controller cap as he sat next to co-writer / producer Simon Kinberg and their cast, Miles Teller (Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic), Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm / Human Torch), Kate Mara (Susan Storm / Invisible Woman), Jamie Bell (Ben Grimm / The Thing) and Toby Kebbell (Victor Domashev / Doctor Doom).
“I’ve loved The Fantastic Four since I was a kid,” said Trank, who likened the film to a “prequel” to the established Fantastic Four team, best known for their all-blue skintight suits and big "4"s on their chests. “After we made Chronicle, I wanted to tackle the same subject again in a different way. I wanted to explore a side of these characters we haven’t seen before.” And that vision? “A more grounded, dramatic, character-driven story,” writer Simon Kinberg continued. “More science than science-fiction.”
To demonstrate what he was talking about, the new and final trailer showed off some of that origin story – it opens with a young Reed Richards frying the national grid with his teleportation device – before giving the fans something they haven’t seen yet: the team actually fighting Doctor Doom (here seen with a coppery-metallic skin that glows green, incidentally). "He’s more powerful than any of them," says Teller’s Mr. Fantastic at one point, "but not as powerful as all of them." See, kids? It’s all about teamwork.
“It's not just people blowing things up,” added Teller. Mara, meanwhile, explained that she’d originally been drawn in by the family focus of this adaptation. “We’re trying to make these superheroes feel as relatable as possible. You get to know who Sue is before she has all these powers.”
“This incarnation of Ben Grimm could be any kid in any town in America,” adds ol’ rock fists himself, Jamie Bell. “He has one friend – Reed Richards – and he’s a bit directionless when you meet him. He becomes the best version of a hero: one who looks out for his friends. He’s the muscle of the group and I consider him the heart of the group too.”
“He’s led by ego,” explained Kebbell of his supervillain, Doom. “Reed Richards may be a little bit better than him, so he wants to destroy him.” Makes sense to us.
Fantastic Four hits cinemas on August 6.