The war for cinematic superhero supremacy enters its next stage.
With teasers for Disney's Star Wars: Force Unleashed and WB's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice going public in the past few days, 20th Century Fox has finally decided to up the ante and reveal the much-awaited second trailer for the Fantastic Four.
The trailer is longer than the first teaser of the film and shows a more detailed look into its story. It features Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards (Miles Teller); the Invisible Woman, Susan Storm (Kate Mara); the Human Torch, Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan); and the Thing, Benjamin Grimm (Jamie Bell) — collectively known as the Fantastic Four.
Fans also get to see the newest incarnation of the super villain, Dr. Doom, who is is simply referred to as Doom (Toby Kebbell).
The teaser clip opens in what appears to be a board meeting, with Dr. Franklin Storm (Reg E. Cathey) being confronted by another member about his latest project. The scene then shifts to Reed Richards, who is about to begin his work at the Baxter Building. Dr. Storm introduces Reed to his daughter, Susan Storm. Reed also meets Dr. Storm's son, Johnny, a hot-head who has problems with authority, and Ben Grimm, who is referred to as "the muscle" of the group.
The four then prepare to test an invention that allows interdimensional travel. They successfully travel to a different dimension where they encounter strange adventures while trying to survive.
When they are finally rescued from the other dimension, they are revealed to have somehow gained super powers. Reed is able to stretch out his arm, which is strapped to a medical bed; Johnny displays the ability to spontaneously combust and control fire; Sue can turn invisible and create force fields around her; and Ben has been turned into a being made of solid rock.
While Reed only wants to find a way to cure his friends, Johnny argues that they should use their new-found powers to help others. It is then that the group finds out about the threat posed by someone named Doom. Doom is shown as a man in a black hood with his face covered with a metallic mask.
Compared to the first two Fantastic Four films in 2005 and 2007, this movie is a reboot and features a brand new origin story for the superhero team. The characters closely resemble their Ultimate Fantastic Four counterparts, one of the current versions seen in the comics.
In the Ultimate Fantastic Four universe, the Fantastic Four get their powers from their journey to another dimension instead of traveling to space. The characters are also much younger than their Earth-616 versions.
As for this film, some of the changes seen so far are in character appearance and backstory. While Sue is still white with blonde hair, her father and brother are black. Dr. Doom, re-imagined as Doom, is not a Latverian count with the intelligence of a mad genius, but a basic computer programmer.
In a recent interview, actor Toby Kebbell spoke about this new take on the infamous super villain.
"He's Victor Domashev, not Victor Von Doom in our story," Kebbell said. "And I'm sure I'll be sent to jail for telling you that. The Doom in ours — I'm a programmer. Very anti-social programmer. And on blogging sites I'm Doom."
Fantastic Four is written by Simon Kinberg and Jeremy Slater, directed by Josh Trank, and produced by Matthew Vaughn, Gregory Goodman and Kinberg.
The film is set to hit theaters on August 7, 2015.
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