A Crash Course on Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer

Okay, for those of you planning to see Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and you don't know squat about it, well, this article will give you a crash course on the first movie as well as an overview of what you can expect to see on the sequel.

Character Biographies

For those who haven't seen the first Fantastic Four movie, I'm going to give you an overview of how it all started. The writers did a good job on the first movie since they didn't change much of the character biographies, though there are a few discrepancies here and there, probably to make the story more interesting for the big screen. Reed Richards, a brilliant scientist, convinced his best friend, Benjamin Grimm, his fiancée, Susan Storm and her brother Johnny Storm, to accompany him and embark on an interstellar flight to another solar system and back again. Though in the movie, it was Dr. Doom who funded the flight but in the comic book, it was Reed Richards who funded the construction of the starship through his inheritance. Reed Richards and Susan Storm were lifelong sweethearts and were already engaged when they embarked on the travel, unlike the movie, where they seem like they were broken up, probably to add a little more conflict. Well, all four of them acquired their superpowers when the ship was bombarded with cosmic rays. Reed Richards now has the ability to stretch himself, Susan Storm can become invisible by manipulating light, Johnny Storm can fly and turn into a human torch, and Benn Grim became overly strong and durable but was disfigured.

One difference the Fantastic Four has over other superheroes is that they don't have any secret identities. They live a public life and were often treated as celebrities. The first Fantastic Four movie was more centered on how the four coped with their superpowers, the love story between Reed Richards and Susan Storm, and their fight with Dr. Doom.

Meeting the Silver Surfer

Norrin Radd is the Silver Surfer. He was originally from the planet Zenn-La, which was a technologically advanced race. To save his planet from the invader, Galactus, the Silver Surfer made a deal with Galactus, offering himself as his herald to seek out new worlds for him. Galactus imbued him with cosmic powers, making him silvery in appearance with a surfboard-like vehicle. After seeking out planets, the Silver Surfer eventually arrived on Earth. During his stay on Earth, the Silver Surfer encountered and fought the Fantastic Four. He also met Alicia Masters, the Thing's girlfriend, who pleaded with him to spare humanity. Alicia stirred long forgotten emotions within the Silver Surfer and he eventually decided to rebel against Galactus.

What to expect from the Movie

Tim Story, director of the Fantastic Four, wrote in his myspace page that Dr. Doom will be back with vengeance and he will attempt to take Silver Surfer's powers. There are speculations that there will be an appearance of Galactus though I don't think there are confirmations of that yet. If there isn't much appearance of Galactus in the movie, the writers will probably portray the Silver Surfer as the main villain with some sort of redeeming scene in the end, either with Alicia Masters. In the comic book, Dr. Doom only attempts to steal Silver Surfer's powers after he rebelled against Galactus and was trapped on earth, so the writers are probably going for Silver Surfer and Fantastic Four against Dr. Doom fighting scenes and will probably put a cliffhanger in the end in order to ready audience for a third Fantastic Four movie. If that's the case, then we can expect Silver Surfer in the third installment with Galactus definitely making an appearance.

In any case, expect a lot of action and great graphics from this movie.