Flame On! How Fantastic Are The Fantastic Four's Powers?

[James Harvey]

Our special week of Fantastic Four discussion continues! With Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer opening tomorrow, The Marvel Animation Forum wants to treat the First Family of Comics in style! Let's roll on with the discussion!


http://marvel.toonzone.net/fantasticfour/movie/ff203.jpg
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
With every cartoon, we saw the Fantastic Four put their powers to use. Whether limited by the animation techniques of the past or currently embracing the current technology today, there was always a surprise or two to be had when watching their cartoons.


http://marvel.toonzone.net/fanfourtas/episode/inhumanspt3/28.jpg
Courtesy of Marvel Animation Age (http://marvel.toonzone.net)
But how fantastic are their powers? Are they a product of their time or do they still hold up to even the newest heroes today? Just how Fantastic are the Fantastic Four?

Related Discussion:
-Fantastic Four - The Most Faithful Animation Translation? (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=191897)
-Silver Surfer - Untapped Animated Potential? (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=191938)
-How Crucial Is Doom's Origin to the Fantastic Four? (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=192034)
-What Characters Would You Like To See In The Fantastic Four Cartoons? (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=192164)

[Silverstar]

The FF's powers must be holding up great, seeing as how 3 of them were replicated for 3 of The Incredibles. If Dash had possessed fire powers instead of super speed, the Parr family would've been the Fantastic Four.

Seriously, look how many superheroic characters have harnessed flame over the years. Look how many elastic powered heroes there have been: there's Plastic Man, Elongated Man, Rubberband Man from Static Shock and Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece, to name only a few. And super strength is arguably THE most frequently called upon super power there is.

The only one of the Four's powers that I would consider useless and dated is Sue's invisibility. Even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby realized how extremely limited that power was so they gave the much more useful and far cooler force field power in addition. Now Susan's one of the most popular heroines in the Marvel universe. (They should give her a new name, since she uses her force field power far more then she goes invisible.)

[Stu]

I think Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes has got a great grasp on the visuals behind thier powers which we never really got to see much of in the 1990's show. I remember being throughly impressed with thier fight with The Skrulls in Behold, A Distant Star and the fight between The Thing and The Hulk, but they've all been outdone in the new show, especially Reed's stretching powers.

The fight scenes are getting better too. I was especially impressed with the throwdowns in Revenge Of The Skrulls.

[Wonderwall]

I think the powers still stand up today, tho Johnny has never looked as good in flames as he does in the new show. The old red man in flames worked in comics when Jack did it and with him alone. So Im glad they finally did something else, as opposed to the other shows. The Thing looks great, better than ever, even with spray painted 4( which is a non factor but i digress ). Really, the 4's powers to me seemed dated until now, just because no one ever really did anything new to it, which is why i wasnt really all that impressed by the 90s show. Give the 4's powers the attention it deserves and they turn out great.

[Bones Justice]

I think they are all great because they are so generic. Stretching, super-strength, and telekinesis all have a lot of range in how they can be used. The only one that I've always thought was dumb for a superhero was fire. Unless you're going to make the character an anti-hero that actually burns people, fire just works better for the bad guys. It does look cool, though.

Another thing that makes them fantastic is that they are still more powerful than the average joe armed with a gun. And yet, they are not so powerful that enemies have to be demi-gods to be a challenge, like in Superman's case.

[Caswin]

Fantastic enough that they got one change early on - Sue's force fields - and that was it. I don't know how many heroes can claim that.

[Silverstar]

IMO, Johnny and Sue's powers look the most impressive on FF:WGH. I was never all that keen on the way Johnny previously looked while aflame in any of the previous incarnations, when he looked like a naked red guy surrounded by yellow fire. And WGH makes really good use of Sue's force field power; Marvel should really give Susan a new superhero name, since she goes through entire episodes without ever turning invisible. (Which is just as well, I never thought invisibility was a great power anyway.) They do a good enough job with Reed's abilities, but honestly I'm not a huge fan of elasticity. The only power I haven't seen represented very well on WGH is Ben's. I've seen Thing get knocked around more than him actually using his super-strength. Hopefully that'll change as episodes progress.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Well if the Rise movie proves anything to me it's that all 4 power combined fluidly makes for an even greater hero. The team work aspect is cool and all but all 4 powers in one makes for a hero that's truely fantastic.

Ben definently got the short end of the stick being just a strong rock guy but hey... at least he gets to smash stuff and is very thick skinned.

Reed's stretching powers can be very useful but I dunno... I think Monkey D. Luffy gets more fun out of his all too similar powers.

But Johnny and Sue definently have great powers. Just being invisible alone is nice but not all that useful for fighting unless you're naturally strong but the force field really makes her powers a great power to have and of course there's nothing more smoke'n than a fighter set aflame.

Even so, they're all pretty fantastic still so at least they suit their name. I mean you don't have to have GREAT powers to be a great super hero anyway. My personal favorites and Spidey and Batman.

[batgirl2007]

I heard their powers were based on the four elements.

Earth-Thing
Fire-Human Torch
Water-Reed
Air-Sue

Their powers are great Johnny's flames look cool in the movie and in the 2006 cartoon. Sue's force-fields are used effectively in WGH.