Thread by @JAAuerbach

As far as I am aware there is no screenwriter announced for the #FantasticFour movie. With Jon Watts leaving as director this is my chance to tweet out my plot idea for the movie, get 400k likes and get hired to write the script. So here goes!

Origin story or no origin story?
We've done that twice so hard pass.

Instead #TheMarvels, which should have some scenes in space, will feature our first family on their fateful space flight. And lo and behold, a bunch of cosmic shenanigans end up hitting the rocket.

Yes I said family and not foursome. Because who else will be on this space flight? That's right. Franklin and Valerie.

So, they all get powers in #TheMarvels post-credit scene after landing back on Earth.

The benefit of this is we don't need to spend precious minutes retelling the origin in the movie proper. Similar to how #Homecoming just opened already with Peter already as Spider-Man

Instead we open with a huge monster exploding out of a New York City street, the Moleman on its shoulder!

This scene will be an homage to Fantastic Four issue 1, and will end with the 4 sealing the Moleman underground.

Back at the Baxter Building, Franklin and Valeria are ticked that they didn't get to come.
"That's the sixth time this month you've left us at home!" Valeria complains. [note this is all placeholder dialogue and will be much wittier in my actual script]

Valeria remarks that she's probably smarter than Reed and to prove it, she shows off a machine that seals a hole in the Baxter Building basement that Franklin had made with his powers.

Parental scolding ensues. We then have a montage (because who doesn't love a montage?) showing the FF doing there thing: Johnny fighting random C-list bad guys while chasing girls and going to ESU, Reed in his lab trying to figure out a cure, Ben getting dumped by his girlfriend

Sue being a single mom and trying to get funding for Reed's research because Reed hasn't left his lab in weeks, Valeria creating crazy machines in her room, Franklin's powers going on and off seemingly at random

The montage ends with Ben getting a drink at a bar on Yancy Street, with Reed skulking in, having given up for the moment, his guilt over having the space flight weighing on him.

Even though Ben is down in the dumps, he tries to help Reed, saying he shouldn't be going through this alone. Reed agrees, but rather than going to his family, he instead turns to ...

... you guessed it, a pre-accident Victor von Doom, aka Reed's college rival, who is but a cog in Oscorp's giant research department.

Doom is of course furious that Reed managed to make himself a celebrity superhero while Doom toils away in obscurity. He agrees to help Reed, as he will get great pleasure succeeding where Reed has failed AND getting to take Reed's powers away at the same time.

With help from Reed, Doom constructs a cosmic-ray reversal machine and tries to convince Reed to be the first test. Reed is hesitant. One, because he likes all the attention he gets at Mr. Fantastic, and two because he believes there is something off about Doom's math

Reed gets cold feet and Ben volunteers, but Reed stops Ben from going into the machine, infuriating Ben. They leave. Victor is fuming and keeps working on the machine, which ....

... explodes, disfiguring his face and blowing up half of Oscorp's R&D department. Victor flees the country, and eventually collapses on the footsteps of a monastery where a bunch of magical monks live.

In reality it is Kaecilius and his followers, who have somehow escaped from the Dark Dimension (where they have been since Doctor Strange 1). Anyway, we see Doom being taken in and start training in the mystical arts.

Back in New York, Reed apologizes to Ben, who is having none of it, apologizes to Johnny for not being a better role model, apologizes to Sue, who implores him to just spend time with his kids, who need their dad

We get one of those montage speeches where Reed is apologizing to everyone at once, giving different versions of the same speech. He seems sincere.

At this point we're probably 90 minutes in? Lots to cover still. This is going to be one of those 2 hour 30 minute Marvel movies.

Throughout the movie so far we've been hearing snippets on the news, people chatting in the streets about random earthquakes around the world.

Nick Fury calls up and asks the Fantastic Four to get involved. Reed asks where's Banner? Where's Pym? Not their expertise, Fury says.

Reed, Sue, and Johnny agree to go, as Ben is nowhere to be found. Just as they're about to leave in the Fantiscar, Ben runs out and joins them. They travel to Iceland and then Madripoor and then Egypt to investigate.

In the latter, they find out that Franklin and Valeria have been hiding in the trunk this whole time. They beg to help. Valeria says she's created out a seismic predictor, powered by Franklin and the next quake is going to be in Latveria. Omnious.

Of course they go there. And who should emerge out of the ground after the next quake but none other than ...

... the Mole Man! Or is it the Moleman? Anyway he's baaaack and he's not alone. Bursting from the pit and the cause of the planetwide earthquakes has been none other than ... Annihulus and an insectoid army that Mole Man discovered deep within the earth. Oops.

They try to rush Annihulus but Fury buzzes in and it's mayhem all over the planet as wave after wave of insectoids emerge from the Earth. Reed telling Sue to get the kids out of there.

Sue says no, and puts up an enormous force field, stopping Annihulus. You protect them. Reed nods, wraps the kids, and retreats back to New York.

In New York, it's chaos. Street level heroes are doing their best but the wave is overwhelming. Reed and Spider-Man are trying their best, while Valeria and Franklin are locked in the Baxter Building, which they break out of to join the fight

Eventually Annihulus flies down from the sky at the wreckage of Oscorp and all seems lost until...

... a portal opens. It's Doom, in full armor, a master of magic (yes I know this is quick but we'll probably add another time passes montage in here somewhere because I hate superhero movies that take place in a week).

He's got the unconscious Sue, Ben, and Johnny. And he's got a plan. He'll fix his machine and rob Annihulus of his power by nullifying the cosmic control rod.

Reed agrees, knowing he'll be giving up his powers because they'll be too close to the blast radius of the machine.

Unbelievably, it works! Doom is ascendant (at least in terms of fixing the machine). Annihulus appears weakened as the cosmic control rod begins to crack but then....

... it repairs itself. But now everyone has no power. Even Doom's magic is tapped out. And Franklin and Valeria, who had managed to sneak over to the fight, are hit as well. All is lost.

Except then Franklin's hands begin to glow. He somehow still has his powers! "Impossible!" says Doom. "Doom's machine worked as it should have."

Franklin creates a ball of light that soon expands into a portal, which starts sucking in Annihulus and his insectoids

Wtf is going on? I think you know. Franklin has created a pocket universe/dimension to trap Annihulus. AKA THE NEGATIVE ZONE.

The rest of the Fantastic Four get their powers back shortly, with Ben turning back into the Thing. Reed offers to perfect Doom's machine but Ben says no, he's accepted who he is. Doom leaves, furious.

The coda: Reed has seemingly given up his desire to solve everything. He wants to be a good husband and father, and so we see him fall asleep next to Sue. However, this is Reed Richards we're talking about. He wakes up a little while later, sneaks off to his lab, and flips on...

... the Bridge, a multiversal gateway into other universes. Waiting on the other side is a group of shadowy figures, who all happen to look just like ... fade to black.

Oh you thought we were done? WRONG.

Sometime later, there is a ring at the doorbell of the Baxter Building. Reed goes to answer it.

It's Professor Charles Xavier.

"Hello, Reed. We need to talk about your son."

"What about him?"

"He has the X-gene. He's a mutant. He's one of us."

The empty street behind Charles suddenly shimmers and we see the assembled X-Men behind Professor X.

OK now I'm done.

Did you read this far? Thoughts?