We're nearly a month removed from Fantastic Four's release in theatres and many are still trying to pinpoint where the film went wrong. Chief among these speculators is none other than Marvel godfather Stan Lee. In an interview with Ora.tv, He shared his thoughts on the film's spectacular flop at the summer box office. His response was short and sweet:
"Well, it was probably because I didn't have a cameo in it, and they didn't discuss the story with me."
The first reason, though obviously a joke, leads perfectly into his second point. Even though Marvel's comic book properties are spread across multiple movie studios, Lee has always had his signature cameo.
He was present in the first two Fantastic Four films and has made numerous cameos in Bryan Singer's X-Men franchise. The production's decision to omit Lee obviously speaks volumes about the creative input he had in the story.
All throughout the month, we've been bombarded by rumors about the film's rocky production history. Director Josh Trank has slammed Fox numerous times for allegedly interfering with the film's script and final cut.
In addition, a few weeks back, we reported on an Entertainment Weekly story that outlined an entire action set piece that was present in the film's trailers and promos, but was unexpectedly axed from the release version.
It's pretty sad to see that, during all this retooling of the film, no one thought to get the input of the series' creator. The Fantastic Four were the first characters that Stan Lee ever wrote, so wouldn't you think he'd have some idea on how to salvage the film?
Would Lee's involvement have made for a better movie? We'll obviously never know, but its hard to imagine it doing worse than the eventual result.
Lee's whole interview with Ora will be uploaded onto the site soon.
