Fantastic Four/YMMV

The comics:

• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Sure, Reed is normally portrayed as brilliant and somewhat arrogant (more so after Civil War), but read these pages to see the Hidden Depths to the character. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming and Tear Jerker.
    • In brief: Reed is just a humble scientist who couldn't care less about being famous or admired. His quest to turn his best friends into revered superheroes was all just penance for robbing them of the chance to live normal lives, because he knew they would have been exploited and used as lab experiments if they didn't have the public's love on their side.
  • Alternatively, Reed is a Villain with Good Publicity and the only reason he has yet to Take Over the World it is because Doctor Doom keeps distracting him.
    • May actually be canon, following Civil War. Certainly Doom held at least once press conference pointing out the atrocities being committed by Reed Richards and Tony Stark in the name of Security.
      • Pot to kettle: "You are black."
• Complete Monster: Doctor Doom is a case of Depending on the Writer (similar to the Joker), as he's usually written as an arrogant Noble Demon who believes Utopia Justifies the Means, albeit one who holds murderous grudges over things that are entirely his fault. But then you come to stories like Unthinkable, which was written to subvert his Anti-Villain interpretation, where he is murdering his girlfriend, kidnapping children (trapping one in Hell), and after defeating the Four decides nothing would be more fun than some Cold-Blooded Torture, even toying with killing Reed's baby daugher Valeria just to hurt him. And he's still arrogant enough to think he's the good guy despite all of this.
  • Annihilus, especially in the Annihilation Crisis Crossover (not featuring the Four) where he promotes himself to Omnicidal Maniac.
• Ensemble Darkhorse/Breakout Character: Doom has arguably become just as popular, if not more so, than the FF themselves, due in no small part to his Memetic Badass status amongst fans (which is not that inaccurate, as it turns out).
  • Also, when the comic first debuted, The Thing very quickly became the most popular character due to his stubborn nobility, Woobieness and Deadpan Snarker tendencies.
• Ho Yay: There's an alternate universe where Reed married Johnny. Nuff said.
  • Johnny and Spiderman have some epic bromance moments, including (but not limited to) Peter joking that Johnny got him pregnant .
  • To say nothing of Doom's obsession with Reed (there are LOTS of disturbing fanfics about the two) and Ben's sometimes heartwarmingly (and awkwardly) close relationships with both Reed and Johnny.
• Jerkass Woobie: Thing started out as one, constantly lamenting about his appearance and picking fights with Johnny at every given opportunity, going so far as to threaten throwing a car at him. This tension reached the ultimate breaking point when, Johnny, after a massive argument with Ben, temporarily quit the FF, of which Ben couldn't have been more happy. Even when his relationship with Alica began, it was constantly riddled with Wangst over the fact that Alicia preferred The Thing over Ben.
• Memetic Mutation: "It's clobberin' time!"
• Memetic Sex Goddess: Susan Richards.
  • "FLAME ON!"
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Mark Waid hated the Noble Demon characterization of Doom, so when he came aboard the book he did an arc where Doom flays his Unlucky Childhood Friend alive and makes her skin into a new suit of armor. Unsurprisingly, this didn't take, and Doom has since returned to his original characterization, though the general consensus is that it is a very good story and many fans give Doom props for not crossing the Moral Event Horizon so much as blasting through it with a rocket launcher. After all, thats what great villains do.
  • Many fans also believe that Reed himself crossed during Civil War, in which he constructed a Hellhole Prison in a dimension that literally sucks the life out of you, then shipped several of his friends there without trial in the name of "national security." Even post-Dark Reign, he has payed for none of this.
• Never Live It Down: Has any writer ever let Namor forget he used to have a crush on Sue?
• Tear Jerker: The Last Stand of Johnny Storm. I've just got something in my eye...
• Villain Sue: Mark Millar's controversial character "the Marquis of Death" may be a straight example or a subversion, depending on how you look at it. He was a Diabolus Ex Nihilo more powerful than Galactus who claimed to be the man behind Dr. Doom, at whom he got pissed for becoming a Noble Demon rather than the Card-Carrying Villain he wanted him to be. He effortlessly Mind Rapes and kills Doom, then declares himself Doom's successor. The subversion comes a few issues later when Doom comes back, reveals the Marquis didn't kill him properly, and blows him to Hell. Even with that considered, it's still generally thought of as a terrible story.
• The Woobie: Ben Grimm, mutated into the monstrous-looking Thing, but also one of the most respected and beloved superheroes in the Marvel universe.
  • Word of God has stated that The Thing is the most beloved superhero in the entire Marvel Universe. This makes him analogous to Nightwing of DC Comics.

The animated series:

• Crowning Moment of Funny: The Frankenstein spoof in "The Silver Surfer and the Coming of Galactus" doesn't have much to do with the plot, but it's funny.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: The theme of the season 1 opening.
  • Even better is season 2's theme.
• Growing the Beard: Season two.
• Recycled Script: Both seasons end with Doctor Doom claiming the power of the Silver Surfer. The second season production team actually did this on purpose. They felt that the first season's take on the classic comic story was poorly handled and deserved a better adaptation.
• So Bad It's Good: Johnny's Human Torch rap and Ben/The Thing's "Clobberin' Time" rap.

The films:

• Alternative Character Interpretation: As pointed out in this review [1], Doom is actually quite a nice guy in the first film, while the heroes cause damage to the city.
• Critic Proof: Audiences loved it, critics hated it. But since audiences loved it, the films were very financially successful.
  • Not exactly. The sequel just barely made it's budget back, and Fox was disappointed.
• Crowning Moment of Awesome: The Four's first public appearance, especially Grimm helping pull back the fire truck.
  • Also, taken almost word-for-for from the Warren Ellis comic book:

General Hager: Let me make it clear for you and your band of freaks here; I'm the quarterback. You're on my team. Got it? but I guess you never played football in high school, did you, Richards? Reed: No, you're right. I didn't. I stayed in and studied like a good little nerd. And fifteen years later, I'm one of the greatest minds of the 21st century; I'm engaged to the hottest girl on the planet; and the big jock who played quarterback in high school? He's standing in front of me asking for my help. And I say he's not gonna get a damn thing, unless he does exactly what I tell him, and starts treating me and my friends with a little respect. Beat. General Hager: ...Give him what he wants.

• • Johnny using all of the team's powers at the same time to beat down Doctor Doom.
  • The chase sequence between Johnny and the Silver Surfer.
• Crowning Moment of Funny: "I cannot take orders from the underwear model! That wingnut washed out of NASA for sneaking two Victoria's Secret wannabes into a flight simulator. They crashed it into a wall. A flight simulator!!
  • "Don't Do Drugs!"
  • The extended cut of the 2005 film has a scene where Johnny is riding the elevator in the Baxter Building up and down, using his powers to raise the temperature so that whenever an attractive woman enters the elevator, she's forced to remove her clothes.
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Composer John Ottman's contributions to the two movies, particularly the "Main Title" piece in the 2005 movie and the "Silver Surfer Theme" in Rise of the Silver Surfer
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Reviews of the movies were all over the place, but there was one constant: Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/The Thing was fantastic.
• Estrogen Brigade: Johnny is always surrounded by women in public. Unsurprising, considering he's played by Chris Evans.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Watching Chris Evans' performance as Johnny is particularly funny with the knowledge that he'll soon be slipping into the costume of another Marvel hero... Captain America. That's about as far removed from Johnny as you'll get.
• Idiot Ball: In Rise... General Hager... It's one thing when the military does not trust superheros. It is another thing when that same general agrees to work with the guy who is not only WORSE than what you believe, but also took all of the Fantastic Four to defeat him in the previous film. Nice judgement, Hager.
• Nightmare Fuel: You get to see Doom's scarred face very briefly in the sequel. When you see it you'll be glad it's only there for a second.
  • What's left of General Hager after Doom stole the Surfer's board in Siberia.
• Seinfeld Is Unfunny: Despite being Vindicated by History, the 2005 movie can fall under this along with the rest of the films.
• So Okay It's Average: Both movies got reviews largely in this range.
• Special Effects Failure: In the sequel, it's grossly obvious whenever the Silver Surfer is CGI (which he is throughout the majority of the film) or just a man with special makeup effects.
• Squick: Reed's texting fingers.

Johnny: You know, I've always been both impressed, and disgusted by that.

• • Plus the extended close up shot of Reed's hand squeezing beneath Ben's door in the first movie:

Johnny ...That's gross.

• Straw Man Has a Point: Unlike in other versions Dooms reason for believing Reed ruined his life is far more justified, as it was his experiment that ruined his company.
  • Although one can't help wondering how well his company was doing in the first place if one accident (that ended up creating freakin' superheroes) is enough to sink it in a few days.
• The Woobie: The Thing. even the most savage of critics loved Michael Chiklis' performance as Marvel's most loveable Tragic Monster. Jessica Alba said that Micheal Chiklis was so damn good at pulling this off that she just wanted to hug him between takes because he looked so sad.
  • Plus, who didn't want to give Sue a hug after seeing the look on her face when her first wedding is crashed? Well, some of you would probably want to do more than hug her, but still.
• WTH? Casting Agency: Jessica Alba and Chris Evans as siblings? Really? Not a single person noticed the ethnic trench between them?
  • Unless someone mentions it, one could be forgiven for not knowing Alba is Latina. Especially in these movies where she is blonde. She is only one-third Hispanic in Real Life. The other parts being European: Spanish, Dutch, French.
    • But it's worth noting that a lot of people feel this way about the casting of Alba as Sue Storm in the first place.
  • Doctor Doom in general. Julian McMahon isn't to blame; he's a fine actor and did the best he could with the material. Even giving him powers is somewhat understandable, since it wasn't too likely they'd include the whole supernatural element of the character. The problem is that Doom was written as a Corrupt Corporate Executive like Norman Osborn rather than, you know, Doctor Doom.

The Games

No Problem With Licensed Games: The Fantastic Four game for the PC was rather fun, though it did have its share of glitches.