In this article, I am going write how the Fantastic Four sequels should work. The second part of this article will be casting ideas for the characters I mention herein.

As X-Men 3 seems to be the end of that strong franchise (at least according to Halle Berry), I don’t see the Fantastic Four franchise going beyond three installments itself; however, I am setting out a plan for three sequels in all, where the third movie will be able to satisfactorily conclude the franchise story-wise if need be, and yet the fourth film will be a conclusion of its own should it go that far. It would definitely be in the very least somewhat fun to have a fantastic four films in all. The Spider-Man franchise may go for six films, perhaps as a play on the Sinister Six, so why not a play on the name of F4?

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Fantastic Four 2, aka F4-2 or F4²

Chris Evans (Johnny Storm/Human Torch) has noted that he would like to see the Sub-Mariner and the Mole in the next movie - I agree completely, except that it’s Mole Man, not the Mole. While in comics Namor the Sub-Mariner is well-known, giving him his own movie wouldn’t be more than a $60 million grosser at best when the general audience doesn’t know who he is, and that is why he should first be introduced in a Fantastic Four film. Granted, Namor has been around for decades more than F4 or Spider-Man or X-Men, but he is still rather esoteric to the comics community and needs to be introduced in a movie appropriate to him in the comics - F4 is the most appropriate as he has become an integral part of the F4 mythos. Perhaps an older Namor could appear in F4-2, and then his spin-off could be based on his early life much as Fox & Marvel are doing with Magneto.

In general, when a franchise starts, its antagonist should be the archenemy of the heroes in the comics - Batman’s Joker in 1989; Spider-Man’s Green Goblin; X-Men’s Magneto; and Fantastic Four’s Dr. Doom. The franchise should then move onto one of the protagonist’s other archenemies such as Batman Returns’ Penguin and Catwoman; or Spider-Man 2’s Doc Ock. Seeing as how Fox and Marvel did not do so with X-Men (keeping Magneto in the movie, albeit not as the main villain), it’s likely that Doom will be back in F4-2 (as his portrayer Julian McMahon would like to see). By following suit with how Magneto was used in X2, Doom would be used as a secondary antagonist in the Fantastic Four sequel - while Namor would be one of the primaries!

In the comics, Namor and Doom have teamed up against the F4 on occasion. Before seeing Fantastic Four, I thought that Namor should indeed be trouble for the heroes, and the ending of the movie only made it more plausible, with Doom at sea being shipped back to his motherland, Latveria. Off-screen, more than likely as events before the sequel’s story begins, Doom would crash the ship with his powers and sink to the city of Atlantis. There he would find an irate Namor, who is disgusted with land-dwellers polluting the seas, and Doom would entice the archetypal anti-hero Sub-Mariner into attacking the F4 with him (perhaps even having the team evicted from the Baxter Building to add to the stress of the times)!

Since Namor is a good guy at heart, we fans know that the alliance wouldn’t last long, and Namor would be torn to do what’s right for his people and what’s right in general - plus he would be eNAMORed (pun intended) with Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, just like in the comics. The alliance would last throughout half the movie, with great focus on Namor’s dilemma; however, during that first half, we would catch glimpses of exposition on the movie’s true nemesis (and the first one the F4 came up against in the comics) - Mole Man.

At the half-way point, Manhattan would be attacked by the Mole Man’s monster (as depicted on the classic cover of Fantastic Four v1 #1) while Mole Man readied his Moloids for attack (perhaps even interrupting the wedding of Reed & Sue). Namor would then realize the threat Mole Man posed to both the dry world and his kingdom at sea, and Marvel’s first mutant would join forces with the heroes. As for Doom, one of two things could happen: one, he could wind up having to help the heroes against Mole Man, who would pose a threat for Latveria as well; or two, he would be the one who provoked Mole Man (as would be shown during the exposition), hoping that the two of them along with Namor would be able to conquer the world - a symbolic trilogy like the three brothers Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon in Greek mythology who overthrew their father Cronos and divided the world amongst themselves - Doom would rule above-ground, Namor the sea, and Mole Man the subterranean worlds. I like the latter prospect a lot, for when Namor would turn on the villains, Mole Man would gripe to Doom and the two villains would be each other’s downfall.

Other characters that would make a good spin-off (though not in the works yet like Sub-Mariner is) and would thus need to be in a Fantastic Four film, at least as cameos, would be the Inhumans. With the introduction of Namor, perhaps he and Doom would first threaten the island nation of Attilan (home of the Inhumans), something which the F4 would catch on the news - the heroes’ first glimpse of Namor. If the Inhumans did show, even as cameos, Crystal and Medusa would receive special screen time.

Finally, there is a clue that Namor may indeed be in the second movie (Evans’ comments aside): Christopher Columbus, who has signed to direct Sub-Mariner was a producer on Fantastic Four! Thus, some of the red tape has already been sorted on the legalities of using Namor in F4-2!

PS - Avi Arad has noted that he would like the Puppet Master to be in F4-2; however, with all the zombie flicks of late, having the villain use mindless clay drones would be excessive for movie-goers. Yet, with Thing/Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters getting closer, the Puppet Master’s alter ego Phillip Masters (Alicia’s step-father) would surely have a cameo (much like Dr. Curt Connors was in Spider-Man 2 but not as the Lizard).

PPS - At the end of the movie, Sue would reveal that she is pregnant.

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Fantastic Four 3, aka F4-3 or F4³

F4-3 would take the heroes to the next level and back to their origins - outer space. The movie’s antagonists would be the Skrulls, namely the Super Skrull (who has the powers of everyone in F4). The Puppet Master would become a major part in this film as the Skrulls’ human liaison, though his clay drones wouldn’t figure prominently for the reasons stated above. Lyja the Lazer-Fist would also play an integral part, disguising herself like Alicia Masters à la comics, for the Skrulls would not trust the Puppet Master and thus would want to spy on him as closely as possible. Lyja-cum-Alicia would hit on Johnny, thereby creating more tension between him and Ben.

Because Sue is now pregnant, Crystal of the Inhumans would join forces with F4 to aid them against the impending invasion. Doom would also have to help, for much as it is in the comics, he teams up with the heroes to stop world conquerors (because he cannot conquer the world if someone else does). Finally, Sue would give birth to Franklin, who even as just a baby would use his awesome powers to help defeat the Skrulls.

Much as with Namor, the Silver Surfer is popular in comics but not well known by the general populace; therefore, he needs to be introduced in an F4 film as well (even if just as a cameo). Director Tim Story has already said that he wants the Surfer to be in an F4 sequel, and Fox does own the rights, so it is possible that the Surfer would appear. Two other characters who should have cameos are the watcher Uatu and the robot H.E.R.B.I.E.

PS - Doom would die trying to help stave off the Skrulls, which could either help conclude the franchise or leave open a plot twist for the fourth installment.

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Fantastic Four 4, aka F4-4 or Fantastic 4,000 or Fantastic 4-D

With all the major events of the comics up to and including the birth of Franklin having occurred in the first three installments, the franchise could very well end there, as I said before; however, one aspect of the F4 mythos not yet having appeared would be time travel - namely via Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic’s father, Nathaniel. Despite time travel being a delicate concept to use in movies or any story for that matter, it could very well work in the fourth installment with the other ends all tied up. With time-travel as the premise, Fantastic 4,000 or Fantastic 4-D would be appropriate titles.

Even though one incarnation of the time-traveling Nathaniel Richards is the Egyptian pharaoh Rama-Tut (made even more popular by his rivalry with Apocalypse in “X-Men: Evolution”), travel to the past would not be as enthralling as would be travel to the future; therefore, Richards would appear not only as himself but also in the form of Immortus (his other popular form Kang would be more appropriate for an Avengers movie). Immortus himself would not be the villain necessarily, but his control over time would be the catalyst for the ages-old villain Diablo to appear as the film’s primary antagonist.

  

The Mad Thinker would also have a cameo where he’d be creating Dragon Man, and Diablo would kill him and steal the monster for his own bidding after bringing the beast to life. In the end, a major plot twist would involve altering time to bring Doom back to life, for the heroes would need Doom to defeat Diablo. Another spin on time could be that Immortus (despite not being villainous) becomes to powerful, so Nathaniel Richards as himself sacrifices his life to destroy his alter ego!

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Well, that covers most of the major characters of the F4 mythos. Characters like She-Hulk, whose place is cinema belongs to the Avengers, and She-Thing, who would surely be overkill, are best not to appear. Space characters like Galactus, Annihilus, and Blastaar are not part of this franchise either, for they are more appropriate for the Silver Surfer franchise. Black Panther and Cage are already in the works, so perhaps those characters could be introduced in an F4 film like Namor and the Silver Surfer, but the above premises are not very conducive to any more than mere cameos for them.

And please - despite what Jessica Alba (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman) would like - no Fantasticar! That kind of camp material would surely draw much disdain to the franchise. In the Silver Age of comics, every hero having a vehicle may have been fun, but only non-super powered characters like Batman should have them nowadays!