Mr. Fantastic and His Powers Were Underutilized in THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS; He Deserved Better — GeekTyrant
What should've been a display of inventive, wild, and over-the-top visuals turned into a muted, limited showcase that felt more like an afterthought than a highlight.
Now, credit where it's due, the film did a decent job of portraying Reed's intellect and leadership. He's thoughtful, composed, and clearly the brain of the group. But that's only half the picture. In the comics, Reed has a subtle charm and awkward charisma that makes him both relatable and admirable.
That side of his personality was barely explored. He didn't need to crack jokes or go full Tony Stark, but a bit more emotional depth and nuance would've made him feel more alive.
The biggest letdown, though, was how the film's creative team handled his powers. Mr. Fantastic can stretch, mold, twist, flatten, inflate… you name it. There are comic book moments where he's used his body as a net, wrapped himself around massive cosmic entities like Galactus, and turned into practically any shape needed to solve a problem.
But in the film, his powers a very underutilized and limiting. At one point in the film we are watching Galactus strech Mr. Fantastic like a rubber band and he's screaming in pain.
When you see how far is stretching ability goes in the comics, Galactus stretching him like that shouldn't have been an issue for him because it was nothing compared to what we've seen him do in the comics!
We barely see any of those cool visuals from the comics in this film. His action moments are stiff and uninspired. Instead of showing Reed's resilience, it just made him look weak. The movie ignored everything fans know about how cool and versatile his powers really are.
The creativity behind Reed's abilities is what makes him stand out in the superhero landscape. His power set should be a director's playground. You can do so much with the elasticity and adaptability of his body, yet the movie seemed afraid to go there.
We didn't see him shape-shift in creative ways, use his body as a shield or slingshot, or even do something as simple as multitask with extended limbs in a high-stakes moment. They kept his abilities small, which is the opposite of what Mr. Fantastic should be.
At the end of the day, The Fantastic Four: First Steps didn't give Mister Fantastic the treatment he deserved. His powers were underused, his moments of brilliance were too few, and his potential was left on the table.
Reed Richards is a genius, yes, but he's also a one-man Swiss Army knife of superpowers. Hopefully, future film will fully embrace what makes Mister Fantastic truly fantastic.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'They Are Next': Trump Sends Chilling Warning To Jimmy Kimmel, Other Hosts
President Donald Trump on Wednesday fired another salvo against late-night TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon as well as radio icon Howard Stern, saying they could soon follow in the footsteps of 'Late Show' host Stephen Colbert, who was canceled last month by CBS. 'Colbert has no talent,' he said. 'Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. They're next. They're gonna be going.' Colbert's show was canceled as CBS' parent company, Paramount, attempted to complete a merger that required federal approval. The company also paid Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit that most legal experts believed was without merit. Critics said the company was trying to win Trump's favor to help the deal pass FCC muster. It was approved shortly after Colbert was canceled, despite being the highest-rated late-night show. CBS said Colbert was canceled because his show was losing money, with some reports claiming the show was losing between $40 million and $50 million a year ― a number Colbert has seemed skeptical of during his evening monologues. Trump predicted the other shows would follow in Colbert's footsteps. 'I hear they're gonna be going,' he said, without elaborating on where he heard that. 'I don't know, but I would imagine, because... Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon.' A reporter in the room also said that Stern 'announced' that he was 'parting ways' with SiriusXM. That hasn't happened. However, the US Sun reported that Sirius would cancel Stern when his contract expires at the end of this year. That report has not yet been verified. Trump was a frequent guest on Stern's show years ago, but clips from those broadcasts frequently resurface and embarrass the president. Just last month, a 2006 clip went viral in which Trump said he had no real 'age limit' for dating. 'I don't want to be like Congressman Foley, with, you know, 12-year-olds,' he said, referring to a GOP lawmaker who was forced to step down in 2006 after he sent lewd messages to young male congressional pages. The clip resurfaced as Trump was trying to distance himself from late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was once a close friend. Trump on Wednesday said he 'hasn't heard' Stern's name in a while. 'I used to do his show. We used to have fun,' he said, then added that Stern's show 'went down' when he endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016. Trump has spent years railing against late-night shows and hosts that make fun of him, attacking them and threatening their corporate parents. After watching Seth Meyers in January, he called the host 'dumb and untalented' and 'merely a slot filler for the Scum that runs Comcast.' Then he took aim at the company itself. 'These are not shows or entertainment, they are simply political hits, 100% of the time, to me and the Republican Party,' Trump said. 'Comcast should pay a BIG price for this!' Trump seems to have a special degree of hatred for Kimmel. During his first term, Trump reportedly tried to have Kimmel censored.
Fast Company
3 minutes ago
- Fast Company
RushTok is back. TikTok still can't get enough of sorority recruitment
The internet's favorite programming is back on: #RushTok season is officially upon us. If this is your first time tuning in, 'rush' is the informal name for the recruitment process in which college students in the U.S. vie for a spot in a Greek organization at their campus. On #RushTok, potential new members (PNMs) document their experience rushing different sororities, typically those affiliated with the National Panhellenic Conference. The phenomenon first went viral in 2021, thanks to the University of Alabama. The hashtag #BamaRush now has more than 1.3 million posts, setting the blueprint for how pledge week plays out on TikTok. Since then, #RushTok has evolved into a full-blown internet subculture, with more than 67 million posts at the time of writing. Across the world, people tune in for a behind-the-scenes look at the recruitment process. Current pledges are building excitement, while viral personalities return for their fourth and final year. RushTok has essentially become its own reality TV show (think Dance Moms or Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders but in bite-size content). Young women try to get into their dream sorority, and the internet comes along for the ride. 'Bama rush tok is my superbowl,' one TikTok user posted. 'Guys who are we rooting for?' another asked. With 2025 recruitment well underway, content ranges from simple OOTD videos to high-energy choreographed dances. Brands are swarming the comments to get in on the action (as are plenty of confused Europeans). Peripheral content ramps up during this time, too, including parodies that highlight the homogeneity of the content. One creator, DestineeMoreh, returns each year to break down the costs behind the flood of 'outfit of the day' posts on the For You Page. The phenomenon has even inspired its own Lifetime documentary, set to premiere later this month. A number of schools are involved, but ask anyone—Bama Rush is the main event. While major players are already warming up, recruitment events at the University of Alabama don't officially begin for a few more days. According to UA's Panhellenic Association, recruitment runs from August 9 through 17. If last year's content is anything to go by, it'll be over-the-top, chaotic, and very American.
CNN
4 minutes ago
- CNN
Eddie Palmieri, pioneering Latin jazz musician and first Latino to win a Grammy, dies at 88
Eddie Palmieri, the avant-garde musician who was one of the most innovative artists of rumba and Latin jazz, has died. He was 88. Fania Records announced Palmieri's death Wednesday evening. Palmieri's daughter Gabriela told The New York Times that her father died earlier that day at his home in New Jersey after 'an extended illness.' The pianist, composer and bandleader was the first Latino to win a Grammy Award and would win seven more over a career that spanned nearly 40 albums. Palmieri was born in New York's Spanish Harlem on December 15, 1936, at a time when music was seen as a way out of the ghetto. He began studying the piano at an early age, like his famous brother Charlie Palmieri, but at age 13, he began playing timbales in his uncle's orchestra, overcome with a desire for the drums. He eventually abandoned the instrument and went back to the playing piano. 'I'm a frustrated percussionist, so I take it out on the piano,' the musician once said in his website biography. His first Grammy win came in 1975 for the album 'The Sun of Latin Music,' and he kept releasing music into his 80s, performing through the coronavirus pandemic via livestreams. In a 2011 interview with The Associated Press, when asked if he had anything important left to do, he responded with his usual humility and good humor: 'Learning to play the piano well. … Being a piano player is one thing. Being a pianist is another.' Palmieri dabbled in tropical music as a pianist during the 1950s with the Eddie Forrester Orchestra. He later joined Johnny Seguí's band and Tito Rodríguez's before forming his own band in 1961, La Perfecta, alongside trombonist Barry Rogers and singer Ismael Quintana. La Perfecta was the first to feature a trombone section instead of trumpets, something rarely seen in Latin music. With its unique sound, the band quickly joined the ranks of Machito, Tito Rodríguez, and other Latin orchestras of the time. Palmieri produced several albums on the Alegre and Tico Records labels, including the 1971 classic 'Vámonos pa'l monte,' with his brother Charlie as guest organist. Charlie Palmieri died in 1988. Eddie's unconventional approach would surprise critics and fans again that year with the release of 'Harlem River Drive,' in which he fused Black and Latin styles to produce a sound that encompassed elements of salsa, funk, soul and jazz. Later, in 1974, he recorded 'The Sun of Latin Music' with a young Lalo Rodríguez. The album became the first Latin production to win a Grammy. The following year he recorded the album 'Eddie Palmieri & Friends in Concert, Live at the University of Puerto Rico,' considered by many fans to be a salsa gem. In the 1980s, he won two more Grammy Awards, for the albums 'Palo pa' rumba' (1984) and 'Solito' (1985). A few years later, he introduced the vocalist La India to the salsa world with the production 'Llegó La India vía Eddie Palmieri.' Palmieri released the album 'Masterpiece' in 2000, which teamed him with the legendary Tito Puente, who died that year. It was a hit with critics and won two Grammy Awards. The album was also chosen as the most outstanding production of the year by the National Foundation for Popular Culture of Puerto Rico. During his long career, he participated in concerts and recordings with the Fania All-Stars and Tico All-Stars, standing out as a composer, arranger, producer, and orchestra director. In 1988, the Smithsonian Institute recorded two of Palmieri's concerts for the catalog of the National Museum of American History in Washington. Yale University in 2002 awarded him the Chubb Fellowship Award, an award usually reserved for international heads of state, in recognition of his work in building communities through music. In 2005, he made his debut on National Public Radio as the host of the program 'Caliente,' which was carried by more than 160 radio stations nationwide. He worked with renowned musicians such as timbalero Nicky Marrero, bassist Israel 'Cachao' López, trumpeter Alfredo 'Chocolate' Armenteros, trombonist Lewis Khan, and Puerto Rican bassist Bobby Valentín. In 2010, Palmieri said he felt a bit lonely musically due to the deaths of many of the rumberos with whom he enjoyed playing with. As a musical ambassador, he brought salsa and Latin jazz to places as far afield as North Africa, Australia, Asia and Europe, among others.
