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Make sure you know the differences before hitting the theater on August 7.

When 20th Century Fox announced its plans to create another Fantastic Four movie less than a decade after 2005's attempt at a trilogy, some eyebrows were raised. Though the first movie in the franchise brought in nearly $200 million at the box office, it received negative reviews from critics and failed to impress many Marvel fans.

Since that film ended up as nothing more than a clichéd superhero movie, 20th Century Fox is going in a new direction a decade later. Here are five things that we think Fox is doing different this time.

1. Casting Choices

Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

2015's Fantastic Four remake made headlines with the casting of Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm—after Sony's catastrophic hack explaining that Spiderman can't be black, it makes a little more sense why a deviation from traditional traits of an established character is considered such a big deal—but it turns out Jordan isn't the only way the film is straying from established perceptions of the Fantastic Four. Not only does the movie introduce us to its characters at a much younger age than the 2005 film (with the exception of Miles Teller as nerdy scientist Reed Richards), this year's reboot is reinventing the personalities of Marvel's original superhero team.

The Human Torch (Michael B. Jordan) — Even ignoring the appearance, Jordan's portrayal of Johnny Storm is a strong deviation from the happy-go-lucky player Chris Evans presented in 2005. Where Evans played the overly charming, yet irresponsible kid brother of Sue Storm*, Jordan presents a complex and troubled version of the Human Torch that Evans' one-dimensional character never touched. "This guy doesn't take orders well," comments Toby Kebbel's character—the future villain Doctor Doom—in a trailer. "Yeah, especially from people who say I don't take orders well," Jordan responds, hinting that a stubborn Human Torch is going to be more fun to watch than the mindless punk from 2005.

*Yes, Sue and Johnny are still siblings, although some journalists are having a tough time wrapping their heads around it.

Susan Storm (Kate Mara) — Mara—an actress known for her role as ruthless journalist Zoe Barnes in Netflix's hit series House of Cards—as Invisible Woman Sue Storm is a far cry from 2005's bombshell Jessica Alba. Alba's Storm was seductive even in anger, delivering one liners with a bat of the eye that made her character little more than the sex toy ex-girlfriend of nerdy Richards (how were we supposed to expect he pulled that one off?). Mara, on the other hand, is smart, sarcastic, and doesn't wear a ridiculously low-cut super suit.

Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell) — The decision to cast Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm—the Fantastic Four's massive, rocklike team member "The Thing"—was another surprise for comic book fans. In contrast with 41-year-old Michael Chiklis from the 2005 film, Bell is a much younger and thinner choice for muscular Ben Grimm. Whereas Chiklis's size was necessary to fit into the large, orange rock uniform traditional of "The Thing," Bell will actually not be acting from inside a costume, which leads us to...

2. Making "The Thing" Come To Life


20th Century Fox

The casting choice of Jamie Bell was made possible because he will not have to fit into a huge rock costume to become "The Thing." Instead, the film will use motion capture and CGI technology to give Bell his rocky exterior—and it's not his first time working with the technology either. Bell starred in Steven Spielberg's 2011 animated film, The Adventures of Tintin, which also used CGI to help Tintin come to life. This will be the first time that "The Thing" will not be a person in a costume, adding a new level of realism to the film's hardest superhero.

3. How The Fantastic Four Get Their Powers

20th Century Fox

In 2005, the movie opened with brilliant—but bankrupt—scientist Reed Richards preparing to pitch a space experiment to MIT classmate and greedy businessman Victor von Doom. Richards needs Doom's funding and shielded spaceship to study an extremely rare cosmic storm with the intention of learning more about the human genome and planetary life. Doom agrees and travels into space with Richards, the Storm siblings, and Grimm, and when the cosmic storm hits hours too early, all five are left with an altered DNA that gives them powers that manifest shortly after returning to Earth. This is modeled after the origin story in the original 1961 comic series.

Though the intent of learning more about the planet remains the same, this year's film is modeled after the 2004 comic, Ultimate Fantastic Four, and takes on a different situation under which the Fantastic Four receive their powers. Rather than accepting funding from a private company, Richards is working for the government under Sue Storm's father—and instead of a cosmic storm in space, the group is subjected to inter-dimensional travel. 

4. The Dark Side Of The Government

20th Century Fox

As previously mentioned, the 2005 version of the film did not include government involvement, giving the new film an entirely new theme to explore in the creation of The Fantastic Four. The trailers show footage of Richards and others on what appear to be medical tables, while figures in full-body suits shuffle around them, experimenting. Ultimately, the four superheroes are weaponized for government use.

5. The Characters' Perception Of Their Powers

20th Century Fox

Even though the Fantastic Four team—with the exception of Johnny—were not estatic when their powers showed up in the 2005 film, they mainly addressed their newfound abilities with mere disbelief. Grimm naively went home to surprise his wife in his rocky state (probably not the best idea, in retrospect) and falls into a funk after her rejection; Sue turns invisible whenever she is angry, and Richards' eyes manage to get wider each time something new is revealed. Somewhere in there, the four decide to team up and save the world from von Doom and everything turns out peachy.

Director Joshua Trank had a different vision for the 2015 Fantastic Four team. In his 2012 film Chronicle, Trank's vision followed a group of teenagers as they discovered and trained their newfound powers. Fantastic Four is intended to explore what would happen if these powers came just a few years later—and the conclusion is it wouldn't be such a great thing. As Teller's Richards says in the trailer, "I just want to fix my friends." Add government testing and becoming a human weapon, and it seems like these powers may be more of a curse than a blessing.

 

Watch the trailer below to get a better idea of what Trank has in store. 

'Fantastic Four' hits theaters nationwide August 7.

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