Fantastic Four & the Negativity Zone
With the overall failure of Fox's Fantastic Four, many fans hope that Marvel Studios can receive the rights back. However, fans are so tired of the origin story movie to the point where they think it is impossible to make a good movie based off of the franchise. That is wrong, and I would even dare to say it is possible to make a solid origin story film.
My movie will be in the MCU by setting it during the Cold War. Thus, I can use characters like Howard Stark, Hank Pym, and Peggy Carter freely. Also the whole desperation for the Space Race that existed during the time will be essential for getting this plot off the ground (pun intended).
Without further ado, I present: Fantastic Four and the Negativity Zone.
My movie begins in Geneva, Switzerland with the Stark World Expo, as seen in Captain America: The First Avenger. Dr. Reed Richards (played by Tobey MaGuire, the original Spiderman) and Dr. Ben Grimm (played by Bill Pullman, the president in Independence Day) begin to set themselves up in the far end of an exhibition hall. Howard Stark welcomes the duo and they all exchange formalities.
Reed asks Stark why they are in the far end of the room (and points out his superior intellect to most of the the other scientists here) to which Stark replies by saying how the world is primarily focused on nuclear technology and applications of it. Not their silly, theoretical Negativity Zone.
Reed scoffs, and the next day (convention day), very few come to visit, much less listen to Reed's presentation. By the end of the day, Reed is considering just packing up, as this seems to be just a waste of time. However, as the expo begins to close for the night, a man approaches their station. he introduces himself as Dr. Victor Von Doom (played by Kiefer Sutherland), a Russian theoretical physicist who was working on a similar theory. Doom and Reed have a short conversation about the theory, which is cut short by Peggy Carter's announcement that there are Russian spies in the facility. Doom gives Reed his business card before darting away.
The movie cuts to the Baxter Building in New York City, which is a laboratory space for the neighboring Empire State University. Reed and Grimm are complaining about the lack of excitement for what they see as a fascinating project. They briefly considered giving up, but Ben realizes that if they can figure out how to weaponize the dimension somehow, then the public will be interested.
The two get to work and there is a quick montage reminiscent of Iron Man. Finally the two of them arrive at the auditorium to present their research to all listening. A group of individuals in all black sit in the back of the auditorium.
Reed discusses how this zone can be accessed from anywhere in the universe if light waves are oscillating at the right frequency. Unfortunately, there are no means to create this frequency on Earth, but a solar storm will oscillate at this frequency if a solid travels through it, which would essentially create a portal to the negativity zone.
He then states that the zone acts as a parallel universe to Earth. The zone is opposite to our universe to the point where every single thing is negatively charged rather than positively charged. No life can or will form, and would seem to be impossible to survive there. To which he is interrupted.
Susan Storm (portrayed by Julie Benz), a microbiologist at Cornell University, says that if you could reverse the polarity of the receptors on the cell membrane right at the point of transfer(honestly, anything science-y would do) you would live. So life could exist in the Negativity Zone
Reed thinks for a moment before agreeing. He invites her to his laboratory, publicly. Ben Grimm takes the stage and talks about how if we could travel to this zone, we could travel to any point without facing any of the roadblocks that we face on Earth. A world without borders.
A man in the back of the room stands up and says, "Did you consider the applications of this on the space-time vortexual continuum?"
Reed frowns to consider before he is pushed to the stage floor by Agent Peggy Carter. She fires at the man in the audience.
"Reed! Ben! Take cover!" she exclaims. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents begin to swarm into the auditorium. "Those men are Russian spies, here to steal your work!"
Doom tries to reason with Carter, stating that he is merely curious of the work of a fellow genius. When Carter refuses to reason, Doom tells Reed to leave as things are about to get ugly.
Reed escapes the complex with Ben, Susan, and her young brother Johnny (portrayed by Ryan Gosling). The auditorium explodes behind them. Howard Stark waits, and ushers the four of them into a secure car.
The group is brought to an underground S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker where all of Reed's work has been moved to. Howard Stark tells them that the president of the United States had advisors watching Reed's presentations, and is demanding that we reach this Negativity Zone before the Soviets. The impacts upon this zone could be disastrous if America does not arrive there first.
The four get to work (even Johnny) at building a spaceship (through a montage) which can travel to the Negativity Zone. Susan and Reed get a budding romance which Johnny scuffs at. Reed does math, while Ben wires up the spaceship, and Susan creates wires that they can attach to themselves when the transition occurs.
The day of launch, two days before the solar storm hits space, they can not leave. There is a huge lightning storm on Earth, which makes it impossible to launch from. Reed frees the ship from its constraints. S.H.I.E.L.D. is very mad as Ben flies the spaceship through Earth's Lightning Field. First playing of the Fantastic Four orchestral theme.
The group of four arrive in space and marvel at the view. It is fantastic. They prepare themselves for the solar storm, but find themselves to not be the only ones up there. The other ship is that of Doctor Doom, who merely states "I'll meet you on the surface."
The Fantastic Four find themselves in a pile of space debris, and realize that they are not the first ones here. Also, their ship is mysteriously out of fuel and crashing towards the parallel Earth.
The (crash) land, and Dr. Doom and his crew safely land next to him. Doom laughs at Reed for how rushed his project was, causing many failures. They didn't have to re-polarize their cells. They could've just built some sort of protection suit, like Doom did. They neglected to protect the fuel from the affects of polarization. And, most embarrassingly, they don't realize the full capacity of the zone.
The Zone doesn't just converge all points in space, but it converges all points in time. Reed realizes, "You're going to Terminate America before we became America."
Doom responds "No." He doesn't care about the politics of the two countries. He has larger aspirations. "I thought when I met you that you may have been a genius, Dr. Richards. But you just got lucky."
Doom's Soviet crew stare him down. He presses a button on his suit, and all of them die instantly. He stares at Reed, and tells him about the dangers of the zone. He offers Reed and the others a ride to wherever he is going. Reed instantly rejects it, and Doom wishes them the best before flying away.
The Fantastic Four then divide. Johnny blames Reed for going to be stranded here for the rest of their lives, and storms (pun intended) off. Susan tries to follow him but gets lost. Ben decides to go explore. Reed just stands by the crashed ship.
Johnny encounters hostile alien life - some sort of bug humanoids. He tries to run as he is weaponless, but trips on a log. When the aliens start to crawl over him, he erupts in flames.
The same aliens cause a cave in on Ben Grimm, but he brushes it off and becomes The Thing.
Susan encounters their leader who is barking orders in an unknown language. She hides and becomes invisible.
Johnny returns to Reed to showcase his new ability, and does Ben. Reed is genuinely impressed, but then demands to know where Sue is. No one knows. They set out to find her, trying to follow footsteps.
Reed discovers his power when The Thing accidentally knocks Johnny down a cliff, and Reed stretches out to grab him.
Reed, Johnny, and Ben arrive at the place where the bug humanoids live. Their leader, Annilhus, stands in the center of the swarm. Sue is hanging above a fire.
Reed swears, and just trusts his instincts. He and the other members of the Fantastic Four charge into battle against the insect tribe. Reed immediately frees Susan, while Ben and Johnny fight off the insects. The four them unite in the center, reminscent of the original Avengers film. Annilhus stands above them with a glowing rod in his hand. He shoots a beam from it, knocking the Fantastic Four away, who immediately decide to retreat.
They try brainstorm a way to defeat this monster, but have no ideas. Sue reveals that Annilhus has broken up remains of spaceships and such in the tunnels below their camp (which she was brought to). They plan for Johnny, Ben, and Sue to roam the camp and distract the buggers while Reed builds a vessel to get them out.
Epic battle ensues as Reed explores the tunnels, and begins weaponing up. He suddenly has an idea to save his friends.
He rushes to the surface with wires around his body. He holds a button in his hand, and a light in which the bugs would be attracted to. Reed leads the buggers away from the camp including Annilhus. He presses the button, which reverse the polarity of his cells. Reed's entire body reacts with the environment , causing him to essentially expand at a rapid rate, killing all the bugs on him. His body continues rapidly expanding, as he can stretch indefinitely.
He presses the button again, re-reversing his polarity and shrinks down to normal. The group unites
The Fantastic Four construct a new spacecraft and fly out of the atmosphere. "To Earth!"
The post credit scene for this movie features their ship crashing in 2020's Atlantic Ocean. They are greeted by Maria Hill, director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who immediately arrests them.
The second post credit scene shows their ship crashing into Atlantis, and Namor looks towards the surface. "Prepare for war."