Now Showing: Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer

 

Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer

Genre: Action / Superhero / Sci-Fi

Director: Gareth Edwards

Writer: Mark Newton

Based on Marvel Comics characters

Cast: Keanu Reeves, John Krasinski, Sarah Gadon, Jason Segel, Jack Reynor, Orlando Bloom, Aksel Hennie, Arnold Vosloo, Joe Mazzello, Laura Berlin, Burn Gorman, Tom Selleck, Gemma Arterton

Plot: Reed Richards (John Krasinski) is deep at work on a project in a lab in the Baxter Building. Ben Grimm (Jason Segel) interrupts him, asking what Reed is working on. Reed explains that he is trying to build a sensor that will help detect alien attacks before they happen. Reed says that his sensor works in theory, but he is going to need access to satellites and the only person in his rolodex with their own satellites is Victor Von Doom. SHIELD Agent Jasper Sitwell (Joe Mazzello) enters the lab and says that he may know somebody who can help.

Meanwhile, Silver Surfer (Keanu Reeves) dreams that he is Norrin Radd once again on Zenn-La in his original Zen-Lavian form. His long lost love, Shalla-Bal (Gemma Arterton) tells him that Earth is in danger and that he must fulfill his promise to Frankie Raye to protect the planet from Galactus and his heralds. Shalla-Bal begins to disintegrate in front of him. Awakened from the dream, Silver Surfer stands on his board and directs it to the blue area of Earth's moon where he asks Uatu the Watcher (Burn Gorman) what his vision means. Uatu tells Silver Surfer that Galactus has learned of the power to be found on Earth and has decided it is worth devouring after all. Silver Surfer asks Uatu where he can find Galactus. Uatu advises against confronting Galactus by himself, but Silver Surfer refuses to heed his warning and speeds through the cosmos toward Galactus' Worldship.

Reed, Grimm, Sue Storm (Sarah Gadon) and Johnny Storm (Jack Reynor) take a trip to SHIELD HQ in Washington, DC. Jasper introduces them to his boss, SHIELD Director Tony Stark (Tom Selleck). Reed instantly remembers Stark as the old hero from the 1980s, Iron Man. Stark is surprised that anyone still remembers those days. Reed continues gushing that he built a rough replica of the Iron Man armor for his 5th grade science fair. Sue steers the conversation back on track and asks Stark about possibly using some satellites for Reed’s alien energy detector. Stark says that he’d have to go through the federal government to give access to their SHIELD satellites over, but that he can give Reed access to the satellites that they recently confiscated from Victor Von Doom following his crimes. Johnny jokes that it looks like Reed needed to turn to Von Doom for help after all. 

Silver Surfer finally makes it to Galactus’ location as he sees his gargantuan, Möbius strip-shaped Worldship. Silver Surfer calls Galactus out, demanding that he leave his ship and confront him face to face. Two tentacles reach out from the ship, grabbing the Surfer and sapping the Power Cosmic from him - briefly revealing the Surfer’s more human Zenn-Lavian form underneath the silver. Galactus (Arnold Vosloo) then emerges. Galactus points out the irony that the Silver Surfer comes from a planet that prides itself on science and logic, yet he has once again let his emotions put him in harm’s way. Despite being weakened by the tentacles, Silver Surfer manages to use his board to break free from the grasp of the Worldship. Silver Surfer begins fleeing. Galactus says that he hopes to see the Surfer again soon - on Earth. Silver Surfer uses all of his energy to flee back toward Earth to warn the planet.

Johnny Storm is sent up to space on a small rocket to install the alien energy detectors on the Von Doom satellites while Sue and Reed supervise from a video feed in the Baxter Building. Just as the devices are installed, they begin alarming Reed to nearby alien energy. Reed tells Johnny to get back in the rocket and get back to Earth at once. But Johnny wants to investigate and uses the thrusters in his spacesuit to go toward the energy source. Johnny finds an unconscious Silver Surfer floating toward Earth. Johnny brings the Surfer into his rocket and flies back down to Earth. Sitwell and other SHIELD agents immediately arrive to take the Silver Surfer to a containment unit. Grimm doesn’t like the idea of the government locking someone up just because they look a little different and stops the SHIELD agents from leaving with the Surfer. Sitwell tries to plead with Grimm, but Grimm stands firm. Sitwell tells the other agents to stand down.

Galactus continues toward Earth, but decides he needs a new herald to go there first to make things a bit easier. Galactus’ Worldship makes a stop in the Negative Zone. Victor Von Doom (Orlando Bloom) sees the ship enter the atmosphere from his tower. Annihilus (Aksel Hennie) and his insectoid army greet the world devourer. Galactus asks for the land’s greatest soldier to serve under him. Annihilus volunteers himself and his army to be at Galactus’ disposal. Galactus makes Annihilus his latest herald and directs him to head toward Earth and prepare it for him to devour. Annihilus readies his insectoid army to leave on a series of ships toward Earth. 

In the Baxter Building, Sue runs some scans on the Silver Surfer, but he wakes up during the process. The Surfer calls his board and he flies out of the building. Johnny engulfs himself in flames and gives chase after Silver Surfer. Just as the Human Torch is about to catch up with the Surfer over the ocean, Silver Surfer dives under the water. Human Torch tries to follow him, but his flames are extinguished by the water, leaving Johnny to swim back to shore. Reed tells Sue and Grimm that Johnny didn’t need to fly off after the Silver Surfer since he can track him anywhere on the globe through his unique energy signature. 

After Annihilus and his horde leave toward Earth, Doom makes his presence known to Galactus. Doom suggests that he would make a better herald than Annihilus, even with his insectoid horde. Galactus senses the energy of the Negative Zone coursing through Doom’s body. Galactus tells Doom that in war a king never sends his knights out first - he always must send out his pawns to weaken and distract an enemy first. Galactus then insists that Doom will get his chance to show his worth before things are done. Doom counters though that he wants dominion over Earth once Galactus is done with it - and that his homeland be spared from his tentacles. 

The Fantastic Four track down the Silver Surfer by following his energy signature until he stops to rest. Reed and Sue manage to convince him that they mean no harm - in fact, Grimm fought to keep him out of government custody. The Surfer believes they are good and informs them of the impending danger Earth is facing from the return of Galactus. He explains that he had originally come to Earth as a herald of Galactus, but fought to keep Earth from being devoured, but now that Galactus knows of the powers found on the planet, he is intent on depleting its energy. Silver Surfer then shares that he promised to protect Earth from Galactus, which is why he returned in the first place. Sue asks what Galactus’ plan is. Silver Surfer explains that Galactus will first send a herald who is responsible for preparing the planet for his arrival. This herald will most likely focus on weakening Earth’s defenses to make things easier for Galactus himself. Silver Surfer and the Fantastic Four all agree to work together to protect Earth from Galactus and his heralds and head back to the Baxter Building to prepare.

Victor Von Doom transports himself back to Latveria, where he is greeted by Zora Vukovic (Laura Berlin), who has been keeping order in the small kingdom since his disappearance to the Negative Zone. He tells her that Earth is soon to be attacked by alien forces, but that he will rule the planet once Galactus is done with it. Zora is skeptical of the plan, pointing out that ruling a dead and barren planet isn’t much of a calling card. Doom chides her for a lack of vision, stating that he believes he will be able to use his powers plus any granted to him from Galactus to kickstart Earth back to life following Galactus’ impending attack. Zora says she hopes he is right. Doom grabs her hand and asks her to name a time he has ever been wrong.

The alarms at the Baxter Building begin blaring to indicate an alien energy source entering Earth’s atmosphere. Reed checks the computers, which pull up a live feed from the satellites showing an armada of alien ships led by Annihilus quickly approaching Earth. Sitwell puts SHIELD on high alert, informing Tony Stark of the situation. Stark informs them that he will have nuclear missiles on standby just in case the Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer are unable to stop an attack. Sitwell doesn’t want to sit around waiting, so he decides to go to one of SHIELD’s mobile command centers to help control their defense systems.

Annihulus’s armada is led by three large ships in a V-pattern which eject countless flying insectoid soldiers toward the eastern seaboard. Silver Surfer and Human Torch each fly through the side of one of the ships, and destroy the engines, causing them to crash into the Atlantic Ocean. Sue uses her powers to create a forcefield bubble to take herself, Grimm and Reed onto the final ship to confront Annihilus. From the command center, Sitwell fires on the flying insectoids, from a large display screen like a giant-sized Space Invaders. When Annihilus notices that many of his soldiers are being killed from one location, he orders his ship fire upon the point - Sitwell’s command center. Human Torch tries to stop the missiles being fired from Annihulus’ ship, but isn’t able to stop all of them and Sitwell is killed in a large explosion that destroys the command center. Being alerted of Sitwell’s death, Tony Stark orders all SHIELD agents join the fight to repel the invasion.

Seeing several of Annhilus’ soldiers descending upon a sold-out crowd in Yankee Stadium - home of his favorite baseball team - Ben Grimm leaps down from the ship, stating he’d rather be down on the ground protecting people at the street level. Reed nods in encouragement as he and Sue set out further into Annihilus’ ship. 

On the ground in Yankee Stadium, Ben Grimm defends the crowd in the stadium for a ball game from the insectoids. In encouragement, Yankees’ MVP outfield Aaron Judge tosses Grimm one of his bats to use on the insectoids, but Grimm quickly finds that his fists do more damage. Grimm tells Judge to save the bats to bring a World Series title back to the Big Apple. Judge nods before retreating into the safety of the Yankees’ locker room. 

Silver Surfer joins Reed and Sue on Annihilus’ ship while Johnny flies around the city destroying the invading insectoids with his flame powers alongside several SHIELD ships. They fight through a wave of Annihilus’ insectoid soldiers before finally making it to Galactus’ latest herald, Annihilus himself. Annihilus tries to attack them with his new Power Cosmic, but Sue stops the attack with a forcefield. Annihilus keeps trying to break through the forcefield. As it starts to give in, Silver Surfer puts his hand on Sue’s shoulder, temporarily allowing her to tap into his Power Cosmic. Annihilus runs out of power. Sue lowers the forcefield. Reed ties Annihilus up with his arms. Silver Surfer grabs Annihilus by the neck and flies out of the ship and into space. Silver Surfer throws Annihlus at one of the Von Doom satellites, which explodes on impact, seemingly killing the weakened Annihilus.

At Jasper Sitwell’s funeral, Silver Surfer warns the Fantastic Four that Galactus will not accept a loss. He will be back with even more heralds and ultimately himself. Stark joins the group and says that he has started compiling a list of possible heroes to help defend Earth from Galactus. He calls the project “The Avengers”.

Post-Credits Scene: Galactus returns to Zenn-La. He promises Shalla-Bal that he will reunite Norrin Radd and Shalla-Bal if she will perform a mission for him. Desperate to once again be with her love, Shalla-Bal agrees. Galactus endows Shalla-Bal with the Power Cosmic, calling her Ardina. Her skin becomes a glowing gold. Galactus tells her that they must go to the planet Earth - there she will be reunited with her love once her mission is complete.