I haven’t followed the movie franchise that’s set in the Marvel universe, but Andrew McDiarmid really intrigues me with his take on the latest, Fantastic Four: First Steps, at The Daily Wire. As Andrew describes it, the film is full of allusions to non-Darwinian virtues and hints of intelligent design. Yet the “bonus scene” at the end, which in the Marvel movies functions as a teaser for the next offering, here features a curious walk-on role for Darwin’s Origin of Species.
“A Real Winner”?
The movie…
just might be Marvel’s most pro-family movie yet. The bond between Reed and Susan Richards is rock solid, and the joy they share as they prepare to have their first child is heart-warming. Along with Susan’s younger brother Johnny Storm and Reed’s best friend Ben Grimm, the Four make a tight-knit family unit, going to great lengths to protect Baby Franklin — and their fellow citizens of Earth — from existential threats. The movie’s core message is heard in Susan’s words as she describes why the Four work so well together: “It’s about fighting for something bigger than yourself,” she says. “Whatever life throws at us, we’ll face it together, as a family.”
But just as the credits roll and we’re ready to declare the movie a real winner, along comes a curveball in the bonus scene that may leave us scratching our heads. It’s now a year later, and Sue is reading The Hungry Caterpillar to Franklin in their living room. When Baby asks for more, Mom calls to H.E.R.B.I.E, the family’s helpful robotic assistant, to fetch another book to read. We see H.E.R.B.I.E hold up an old copy of Charles Darwin’s famous 19th century volume On the Origin of Species. Mom says that’s not the book she’s looking for, but comments that they love reading that one too. Having found the story she had in mind, Sue returns to the living room and, in typical Marvel fashion, the scene concludes with a little foreshadowing to set up the next installment.
Violating My Principles
What the heck is that about? Of course no one can know. But overcome by curiosity, I’ve just gone ahead and violated all my principles by asking Grok, which scoured social media in search of an answer. One possibility:
The scene ends with a cloaked figure, identified as Doctor Doom (holding his iconic silver mask), interacting with Franklin…. The Darwin reference could foreshadow Doom’s plan to harness Franklin’s powers to manipulate or “evolve” the multiverse…. The book’s themes of natural selection and adaptation might metaphorically reflect Doom’s ambition to dominate by selecting or shaping the strongest realities or beings.
Another:
The Fantastic Four, given their scientific and exploratory nature, might not align with the “scientific materialism” implied by Darwin’s work, suggesting a tension between evolution and intelligent design.
Very interesting. Science and “scientific materialism” in conflict? That last one seems to confirm Andrew’s thinking. It’s another reminder how deeply tangled science is, especially evolutionary science, with culture. The “tension between evolution and intelligent design,” or the related tension between a single universe and a (thoroughly imaginative) multiverse, is like no other issue in science. Great tensions fuel engaging drama, always. If there’s a conflict, it has to be stark and serious, and the stakes have to be high.
Read the rest at, “Marvel’s Fantastic Four: Pro-Family Film With A Darwinian Curveball.” You can get behind the paywall with a free subscription.