No! No! Baaaaaaad Marvel Comics!

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hullo? Power Cosmic? Matter manipulation? Harnessing cosmic forces akin to the cosmic rays that gave the Fantastic Four their powers in the first place? The Silver Surfer has pretty badarse abilities if he bothers to use them, at least as Galactus' Herald.

Sorry, pal- I grew up with the FF, and while I was still into comics (I quit them in about 1996 or so) I bought all of the Marvel Universe books, etc.

At no point that I can recall did the Silver Surfer evidence the ability to muck with people's powers like that.

Zip through space? Check.
Zap people with energy? Check.
Take a shot from the Thing and keep going? Check.
Sense life across the interstellar void? Check.

Alter someone's suite of super-powers & abilities? Ummm...no. There just isn't enough Handwavium in the Universe for me to accept that.

My point is that the series has decades of history & storylines to play with- they didn't need to change this aspect of the titular character. Its bad writing.

If they wanted to do that kind of jerking the FF around, there are plenty of other beings in the Marvel Universe who could do that kind of thing. For instance, they could have had the Scarlet Witch lose control of her reality-altering powers during a meeting with the FF...right before the Silver Surfer showed up (and incidentally, launched the possibility of a series of Avenger movies).

Unneccesary changes like this by Hollywood are a pet peeve of mine...the surprise ending of The Scarlet Letter...the new foe for King Arthur to fight in First Knight- these did nothing for the fans of the inspirational material. Some, like myself, consider it somewhat of an insult.

Anyone who has a problem with the fact that movies based on comics can't be absolutely true to what was printed shouldn't go see the movies at all.

There is a way to be true to the comics without slavishly following them AND without resorting to wholesale or unneccesary alterations. The Spider-Man and X-Men movies have done pretty well on that front.

IMHO, Constantine suffered by divorcing the character from his Cockney roots, for example.

 

[Arkhandus]

So you never saw or read of the Silver Surfer using matter manipulation at any point, or any kind of description of what his powers were capable of or how they worked?

Galactus changed him on a fundamental level to make him his herald. I don't see any problem with the Silver Surfer having similar, if more limited, matter and energy manipulation capacities.

But whatever.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

So you never saw or read of the Silver Surfer using matter manipulation at any point,

Not like that.

The ability to make your foes switch abilities would seem to be pretty useful- virtually assuring victory- and would be a valuable opening ploy in any combat.

Yet in my personal reading of the character from 1970 to 1996, he never did that.

or any kind of description of what his powers were capable of or how they worked?

I just said I bought & read all of the Marvel Universe entries from when they started them in the 1980s through 1996 or so.

From Marvel's own website dealing with such info (http://www.marvel.com/universe/Silver_Surfer) :

The Silver Surfer wields "the power cosmic", absorbing and manipulating the universe's ambient cosmic energies. He can augment his strength to incalculable levels, and is almost totally indestructible. He can navigate space, hyperspace and dimensional barriers, and can fly at near-limitless speeds on his board, entering hyperspace when he exceeds light speed. He has even proven capable of time travel on occasion. The Surfer does not require food, drink, air or sleep, sustained entirely by converting matter into energy. He is immune to temperature extremes and most radiation, and can survive in vacuum environments such as outer space and hyperspace. He can analyze and manipulate matter and energy, and restructure or animate matter at will, even transmuting elements. He can heal living beings (though he cannot raise the dead), and has proven capable of revitalizing or evolving organic life on a planet wide scale. He can alter the size of himself or of other matter, cast illusions, fire energy blasts, form and manipulate energy constructs, manipulate gravity, absorb and discharge most forms of energy, and phase through solid matter. His senses enable him to detect objects and energies light years away, and to perceive matter and energy in subatomic detail; he can even see through time, and with concentration can achieve limited perception of past and future events in his general vicinity. The Surfer has demonstrated limited telepathic ability on occasion, and has proven able to influence human emotion and sensation.

The boldfaced section I emphasized is the only thing I see that even hints at the kind of ability depicted in the movie clip. When he rearanges matter, its always inanimate matter, when he restored life to a planet, it took him a lot of time to do.

Not exactly the kind of thing that he could do in combat.

Galactus changed him on a fundamental level to make him his herald. I don't see any problem with the Silver Surfer having similar, if more limited, matter and energy manipulation capacities.

The same could be said of each of his heralds. Admittedly, The Silver Surfer was the most powerful of the bunch, but Nova and Firelord weren't far behind. Others, like Terrax and Gabriel were still more limited. However, none of them, despite being "changed him on a fundamental level" evidenced any similar ability to do so to lesser beings.

 

[Arkhandus]

Well, the FF did gain their powers from cosmic radiation, didn't they? The surfer's abilities may've just switched their powers as a result of theirs coming from a similar energy to what the surfer wields (in the first movie, Reed makes a device that returns Ben to normal; then Ben uses it to regain his abilities when he needs to help fight Doom)

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Comic Universe =/= Movie Universe.

ALL comic movies have had changes. And on the list of changes, complaining that Silver Surfer has never done this exact thing is a SMALL one. For all we know, the Surfer, COULD. The Power Cosmic is so vague and pretty much equates to "Power What-The-Writer-Wants-It-To-Do-This-Arc"...which is exactly what's being done for the movie.

Besides, as was stated above, Sue and Johnny have switched powers before. Not for the exact same reasons, but they HAVE.

It looks to me like nods to an abolutely huge mythology that FF has developed over the years. Same with the quick shots we've seen of Johnny with a Thing-style arm with flames over it...there's your Super Skrull. Not exactly the same, no, but you wouldn't get THAT nod to the comic lore without the power switch, which isn't nearly as far fetched as...well...most everything in FF lore.

 

[LightPhoenix]

Well, I wouldn't say I'm as ardent a fan of the FF as Dannyalcatraz, but I tend to agree with him. If the first FF (based on either Ultimates or Original) had been a decent movie, I could give this a pass. What it says to me however, is that the Galactus/Silver Surfer storyline isn't interesting enough on it's own, and needs to be spiced up. In which case, a) why do Galactus at all?, and b) why even do FF, if the stories aren't perceived as interesting? Of course I have an idea as to the reasons (cash in on superhero popularity as of late) but in that case, go play around with another franchise that doesn't have the history and mythology and depth of the Fantastic Four.

Also, the reason for power-switching being bad is very simple - for the FF, their powers have always been an extention of their psychological condition. Switching them around shows a total lack of understanding of a basic tenet of the comic even the slightest fan knows.

 

[Umbran]

You seem to be assuming that what happened was intentional on the Surfer's part. What I saw in the trailer suggests otherwise - I seem to recall Reed saying something along the lines of, "Your encounter with the Silver Surfer may cause...." Then, in the confines of the lab, Johnny slaps Ben on the back, and hilarity ensues.

In other words, it is an accident. And accidents with powers are entirely within the genre.

 

[Vigilance]

It's the price we pay for trying to squeeze the "mythology" into about a hundred minutes of screen time.

As long as they get the Surfer and Galactus *mostly* right, I will be happy. This is what I loved about the Spider Man movies. For the most part, Raimi nailed all the characters he dealt with.

Exact events? I can deal with that being tweaked. Just please, no more Dr.-Doom-as-evil-corporate-Enron-execs. That was lame. Not to mention like putting clown smile on the Mona Lisa.

 

[Ghostwind]

I liked the first movie for its entertainment value and the second one looks even more entertaining. I'll be taking the family to see it. The kids can't wait.

 

[Anthraxus]

I'm not a big fan of the FF- I'm going for the Silver Surfer/Galactus tie-in.