Over the summer we had two superhero movies come out, from competing companies, that felt a bit different than what has come before. They were colorful, bright, and most glaringly, hopeful. Here in the real world, it’s quite the opposite. People are being snatched off the streets, it’s expensive to do anything, whether that’s get a house, eat, or go anywhere to do anything. We are on the precipice of yet another unjust war. The internet itself, once a safe haven for weirdos and a place full of new and exciting things, has now been so enshitified that it’s almost been rendered useless. So is it any wonder we have become so starved for anything that has a glimmer of hope in it? I think these movies are sign that people are desperate for change, for something to look forward to. And a new iPhone or Marvel movie just isn’t cutting it anymore. Everyone is looking for light at the end of this very dark tunnel. Ultimately, these movies try to put our hopes into two different ideas. The question is, are we buying it?
Let’s start simple by just talking about these movies individually before we get into their shared themes. I’ll start with the latest from the MCU, Fantastic Four. It’s no secret that Marvel has had a bit of a rough patch lately. Between middling movies full of loose ends and behind the scenes drama making them scuttle their big bad, things have been feeling like the whole thing is on the downward trend (which also explains the seemingly desperate move to bring back RDJ and Chris Evans, but that’s for another time). This is also the proper introduction of Marvels first family to the MCU after two versions of these characters from another studio that, let’s face it, were not great. So there was a lot riding on this film working. And for the most part I think they succeeded!
Fantastic Four is a bright, fun film set in a very hip retro futuristic 60’s like that of The Jetsons. Every building and piece of tech is just eye candy. I would actually chop off my pinky toe to have the Fantasticar sitting in my driveway. I love the design throughout the film as it really drives home that post war era of optimism we had here in America. This is a time when every sci-fi book was like “by the year 2000 we will live on the moon!”. Meanwhile, here in 2025, most people are barely able to live on Earth. In this alternate 1960’s though, they have a reason other than blind faith in the American dream and a strong urge to stick it to the Rooskies, to believe in a brighter future. They have the Fantastic Four. This family of miracle workers inventing magical technologies from seemingly thin air and bringing long lasting peace to a war torn world through diplomacy. How could you not believe in a bright future with them around.
Against this colorful and bright backdrop, we have our four leads doing a (I’m gonna try and avoid the word “fantastic” as much possible here) brilliant job playing these iconic characters. I admit, I was a little hesitant about Pedro Pascal as Reed Richard’s. I thought he’s too naturally charismatic to be the often cold and obtuse Mr. Fantastic. But he brought his A game and really dialed into how out of place Reed is with the rest of humanity. I probably still would have preferred a bunch of unknowns for the roles, but the whole cast was terrific and brought a palpable chemistry to the screen. Though, to completely contradict that, Robert Innes was perfect casting as Galactus. That guy just sounds like that all the time. Imagine working a drive thru window and that voice comes over the headset. Crazy.
While overall I liked the movie, with its beautiful setting, stellar cast and stunning FX (especially the black hole baby scene), it was not without its hang ups for me. Let’s start with that Galactus casting. I just would have liked to have seen more of him. I understand it’s a bit of a heady concept to convey, so they likely chose to focus on Silver Surfer instead, which I get. In fact, that’s probably the right choice even. But I just could have used a bit more of Galactus, maybe talking about how much he needs the baby to be free of his curse, or something.
The same goes for Ben Grimm. I wanted more. We get just glances of him in his old neighborhood, kind of flirting with who I assume is Alicia Masters. But we never really dive into it and that seems like a shame. Ben seems to be the only member of the family to want to stay connected to everyday people, even though he is the most obviously outwardly changed by the accident. You could have used him as a window into what the man on the street is thinking about all the other there sci-fi nonsense going on in their world. Overall he just feels sidelined.
Another character was also sidelined in this movie, straight onto the cutting room floor. It seems crazy to me to cut John Malkovich out of any movie, but I guess the cut out a story line and action sequence with his character and some super apes. God dammit, I wanna see some super apes fight a stretchy man. I guess, now that I’m writing this, it’s a good sign that my main complaint about this movie seems to be that I just wish there was more of it. I wanna go deeper into these characters and with the way Marvel has been introducing and then seemingly abandoning characters lately, it’s not clear if we will get that chance. I guess we will see what Doomsday has in store. Oof.
But Marvels first family wasn’t the only colorful superhero spectacular to light up the silver screen with an introductory adventure featuring alien visitors this summer. We also had the much anticipated return of Superman to the big screens and to my cold dead heart. I did not like the Snyderverse. I think those movies sucked ass. His version of Superman was especially grating to me because he just hated being Superman. He hated being a human as well. He was just a bummer. All the while there were amazing portrayals of Superman on the small screen, from Tyler Hoechlin to Darren Criss and Jack Quaid in the DCAU and My Adventures with Superman respectively. So it was extra frustrating to see it be fumbled so hard on the big screen. Just do the cartoons with real people. Seemed pretty obvious to me.
So I went into this movie NEEDING a different kind of Superman. Because I love Superman. He was the first superhero I obsessed over. According to my mother, I had a Superman outfit when I was a toddler that refused to take off. She would have to trick me out of it to wash it. I needed a Superman I could look up to and fall in love with. And not only did I need this new Superman to work, DC did as well, seeing as this movie was the first major entry into the new, James Gunn helmed, DCU. There were a lot of high hopes hung on this flick.
Luckily for all of us, James Gunn and company knocked it out of the park. Finally a Superman worth emulating. He’s just a good dude trying to do the right thing that just happens to have god like powers. The story takes almost no time explaining itself and instead just drops you into the colorful, saturated world full of heroes. You know who Superman is already, no need to retread it. As for all the other heroes and villains, I love the fresh approach of just letting watch the character be cool instead of having to build them up through a typical origin story. Just let me Mr. Terrific steal the show and then, when people want to see more, explore the character deeper.
And steal the show he does! Which is a feat with everyone in the cast shining so bright. The only way you can jump straight into a world like this is if every supporting character feels deep and believable, which this cast does with ease. I mean, we got Metamorpho in this thing and due to the brilliant casting of Anthony Carrian, you love him. But all the supporting characters won’t help if your lead is no good. So once again it’s a relief that David Cornsweat inhabits the character so fully. This is exactly why I’m always harping on about casting unknowns for main roles in these movies. It’s just so easy to fall into his portrayal of the character and therefore the world being showcased, and to root for him the whole way though. He is the glue that holds this magical world together.
Now, this is not to say that this movie is perfect. I definitely have some nit picks here and there, including with the David Cornsweat portrayal I just praised. Mainly that he is just a little too down home, awe shucks, naive for my taste. Maybe it’s because I’m more Louis Lane with my world weariness but you have to be pretty oblivious to not think people might have a problem with an all powerful being stopping Isrea- I mean a country that is totally not Israel from attacking a country that is totally not Occupied Palestine. *wink* But then again, I completely believe his justifications. He sees himself just like everyone else. We all want to do whatever we can to help and stop the obvious injustices we see in the world. Superman just happens to have a lot more power to take direct action than most of us. I mean, Superman is supposed to be aspirational like that. He is meant to inspire us to see past our cynicism that was born from our powerlessness and to take action in spite of the powers stacked against us. Shit. I think I just talked myself out of this nit pick. Regardless, I still think Ma and Pa Kent have the wrong accent. They’re from Kansas, not Alabama.
While I’m nit picking character choices, let me run through some that didn’t quite hit for me. For example, I was only lukewarm on this version of Lex Luthor. I’m more a fan of the cold emotionless Lex. Whose only emotion is anger. A crying, petulant, no matter how accurate it might be to real life billionaires, wasn’t really working for me. But then again, I could probably talk myself out of this one too, since this does seem to be early in his criminal career. Maybe he heads to prison and it hardens him up a bit. I also just did not understand the ongoing bit about every woman fawning over Jimmy. In no way am I saying Skyler Gisondo isn’t a good looking guy. After all, look at this mug. I have no room to talk. But it was just strange how badly every woman was trying to jump on Jimmy. So much so that it’s a pivotal plot point. It was just odd. Other than those small things though, I loved the movie and can’t wait for more.
Both movies have more than a few similarities. They are both colorful, lighthearted takes on the superhero genre filled with a stacked cast acting their asses off. But the main theme I sensed in both movies was the search for a source of hope in the face of a hard world. Both films offer up a cast of heroes as beacons for or saviors of humanity. That by following their example there is a way out of this whole mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. Where they diverge however is exactly where we should draw that hope from.
Fantastic Four would have us think that hope for the future should be found in two places. The advancement of technology and future generations. This is less than satisfying personally and not just because it’s a bit of a trope. First off, technology alone will save no one. We can all see that right now as tech giants shove psychosis inducing, pedo creating, content stealing AI into every nook and cranny and site and device in the god damn world. That helps no one but about six peoples net worth. Depending on technology to save us without first changing the systems of exploitation and profit seeking will only lead to more efficient exploitation and profit seeking. If we don’t create technology solely for the purpose of uplifting all humanity, it will only be created and used by the already too powerful to hasten our demise.
Secondly, as for putting our faith in some future generation solving the problems we’ve either created or ignored is fool hardy at best. It’s a tired trope of family over self that I personally have never understood. *Karen LoveJoy Meme* Putting aside the weird pronataist, you-have-no-value-unless-you-can-continue-your-bloodline of it all that people like JessieGender have gone into better than I ever could (link below), it’s just a bad plan. If you just think about it for one minute you realize, the only way to have a future generation around is to take action now. Has kicking the can down to the next generation worked for us so far? Just look at climate change. The problems just get bigger and more entrenched. I’m not saying we can’t find some hope in the kids. I know I feel a little warm and fuzzy every time I see a young person flick off a cop or make up a new derogatory term for anyone standing in the way of justice. But we can’t rest it all on their shoulders. We must foster hope in them as well by leading by example and passing on what we’ve learned.
Superman on the other hand finds its hope in a source I firmly believe in, humanity. Humans are a funny thing. We are capable of such atrocities and yet we can put a lot of time, effort and resources into silly stories about a flying alien strongman. I have a long standing disagreement with my roommate in which I believe humanity is inherently good. I think it’s the system that we live under that sour people and dim the light of their true humanity. If people weren’t rewarded for stepping on each other’s neck to get ahead in the world, or more likely just survive in it, very very few people would do it. Superman is much more aligned to how I see things, that you can find hope by living the best you can now and helping those around you. That millions and billions of these small actions will snowball into a better world. Superman recognizes by the end of this movie that all the power a yellow sun can give is nothing without values worthy or upholding. And he gets his values from his human upbringing and the people around him that connect him as just art of the human race. You don’t have to wait and pray for some tech overlord or future generation to come save you. You have the power to do it now as part of humanity. And if that doesn’t inspire hope, I don’t know what will.
But we don’t have a Superman and Fantastic Four coming to save us. So we must find hope in each other. Community is more impactful than anything else on combatting that which is the opposite of hope, despair. Collective action will open you up to your own power as well as that of your community so, even when you lose, you will find it hard to not have hope when you start feeling that power. Hope is a dangerous thing. We have been sold hope by many a politician and it has turned out to be false. But if you look at history and your neighbors and yes even the kids, you’ll realize that humans don’t put up with bullshit for long. Better days are coming but only if you fight for them. It’s what Superman would do. Until next time, death to the algorithm.
