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According to all relevant sources (everyone who has seen the movie), the latest installment of the Fox Studios produced Marvel property, The Fantastic Four, has tanked harder and faster than Gary Busey on a three day glue-sniffing bender. On the Rotten Tomatoes "Tomatometer," it currently ranks lower than every other comic book movie ever made including both Ghost Rider films starring a cardboard cut out of Nic Cage chewing scenery for 180 combined minutes; the abysmally panned Halle Berry Catwoman outing and The Hoff as Nick Fury. It takes a lot to sink lower than The Hoff.The first family of the Marvel universe has certainly had plenty of adventures worth transferring to the big screen. The pantheon of characters tied to their mythology is diverse enough to provide for huge action set pieces tailor-made for summer blockbusters (the planet eating super terror Galactus and the malevolent, scientific mystic Dr Doom come to mind instantly). So why, with such a rich history and a roster of characters deep enough to fill several franchises, did the latest Fantastic Four film sh*t the bed in such a spectacular way? It all comes down to where the movie was made and the motivations behind it. Starting with:

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Now that the dust has settled, we can all collectively agree that the recent Fant4stic proved to be an unmitigated disaster. How should Fox recover from such a drastic misstep if they proceed with a sequel? Put the franchise in the hands of infamous director Tommy Wiseau – at least that's his belief.In a recent interview with Milwaukee Magazine, Wiseau opened up about his feelings for Fox's recent attempt to reboot the Fantastic Four franchise yet again, and his desire to take part in a potential sequel:You know, I told you I saw this Fantastic Four….it just….I'm not being critical- let me put it this way, I like it, I did enjoy it number one. Number two, it's too bad they didn't call me, that's all I want to say and I rest my case. (laughs) That's all I can tell you. (laughs) Good response in Europe though, that's my understanding, but it's too bad they didn't call me, that's my point. Maybe if there's a sequel, you know. You know, maybe your article gets me that job, who knows what will happen. Now to be fair, Mr. Wiseau's relationship with the English language has always seemed tenuous at best, but he certainly got his point across: he enjoyed the critically reviled Fant4stic, and wants to helm a potential sequel.

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The making of 'Fantastic Four' wasn't exactly a smooth ride… but now writer and producer Simon Kinberg reveals why he was so disappointed.During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 42-year-old filmmaker opened up about his experience with 'Fantastic Four'.I haven't really done a full diagnosis," he said. "It was a hard movie to make, but I've made a lot of hard movies. I do think that there is a great Fantastic Four movie with that cast. But there's so many different elements that need to come together perfectly."It's like a collaboration between all these strangers. And if there's a few things that don't go right, it's hard to recover from. I went straight from that into X-Men: Apocalypse. I haven't had a lot of time to decompress. I'm obviously disappointed with the way it turned out."Of course, the trouble with 'Fantastic Four' has been well-documented, and was largely believed to be the result of a clash between the studio and the film's director, Josh Trank.

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So it looks like there wasn't much to the rumour that The Fantastic Four would be returning to Marvel and entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe - but the possibility certainly got us very excited.And not because of the Four themselves, nobody really even cares about them right now. No, the reason we got excited was the prospect of their nemesis Victor von Doom, aka Dr Doom, finally getting the big screen treatment he deserves.Doom is one of the greatest villains in the history of comic books, and should be one of the all-time great movie villains too, but the two big screen portrayals of him to date have fallen flat.The rumour which circulated this week but has since been denied by both parties, claimed that Marvel Studios offered 20th Century Fox a trade. In return for the big screen rights to The Fantastic Four, Marvel would allow Fox to make television shows which spin off from the 'X-Men' movies - the rights for which reside with Fox.It's a deal that makes perfect sense for all involved, and may yet prove true. Both sides would deny such a deal until it had been finalised - so we're not losing hope just yet.Some might look to the critical and commercial failures of the previous three 'Fantastic Four' movies and wonder why Marvel would want the rights back - but the answer is absolutely, 100%, Doom. Okay, maybe its actually 90% Doom and 10% Galactus.As the MCU grows it will begin to run out of new characters to introduce, and in particular villains. They had plenty to pick from as it was, but few with the kind of stature of Loki or Thanos.The return of Spider-Man to Marvel, via a deal with Sony Pictures, gives the company its famous web-head, but also the likes of Norman Osborne, Doctor Octopus, Venom, Kraven The Hunter and so many more.

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The dust had barely settled on Marvel's big news about an Ant-Man and Wasp sequel and its rejiggering of its Phase 3 schedule, when another, bigger story came crashing down out of nowhere. Marvel, according to unnamed sources, had re-acquired the film rights to its Fantastic Four franchise.Fox and Marvel have denied the rumor. But that didn't stop fans from daydreaming about the possibilities of Marvel's first family rejoining the club. Some are still holding out hope that maybe a reporter flubbed the specifics and there's still a deal in place.A lot of that excitement is because Fox (which also owns the rights to the X-Men) has never really figured out a way to make a serviceable movie with the Fantastic Four. Moving to Marvel Studios, which has a proven record of spinning the weird and esoteric into box office gold, would give the family a new shot.While a First Family reunion and subsequent integration into the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be a sentimental and feel-good story, the Four aren't what Marvel needs (or, at this point, likely wants). What Marvel needs are good villains, and it just so happens that one of most iconic Marvel villains ever created is actually bundled into Fantastic Four's film rights.

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