While fans wait to hear whether or not 20th Century Fox will move forward with a sequel toFantastic Four, newconcept artfrom the superhero adventure is starting to come in. Last month, artistSteve Jungshared some of his work, which gave us another look at the alternate dimension known as Planet Zero and Victor Domashev’s (Toby Kebbell) Doom Castle. Last week, another artist,Fausto de Martinishared his own artwork on his Facebook page, which shows the robot H.E.R.B.I.E. and the Fantasticar. Here’s what the artist had to say about these images.
“Just sharing some early development work I did onFantastic Four. It was very early stuff but it was tons of fun to work on. I don’t think any of it made in the final cut.”
H.E.R.B.I.E. stands for Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics, who was first introduced in the 1978 The Fantastic Four animatedTV series. The lovable robot was created to take the place of Johnny Storm, a.k.a.The Human Torch, since the character was optioned by Universal for alive actiontelevision pilot, which never moved forward. The character was created by originalFantastic Fourcomic book creatorsStan LeeandJack Kirby, who later crossed over into the comics themselves.
The The Fantasticar was introduced very early in in thecomic book’s run, debuting inFantastic Four#3 in 1962. In the comics, Reed Richards, a.k.a.Mr. Fantastic, created the car, which was able to split into multiple sections that allowed each team member to control their own flying section of the car. While the vehicle didn’t show up in 2005’sFantastic Four, it did appear in the 2007 sequelFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. H.E.R.B.I.E. wasn’t featured in either of those movies, or this recent reboot.
20th Century Fox still hasn’t officially announced ifThe Fantastic Four 2sequel is moving forward, but the studio announced months before the reboot’s debut in theaters that they had set a August 23, 2025 release date. If they do proceed with the follow-up, it’s possible that both H.E.R.B.I.E. and the Fantasticar could be a part of the new story. While we wait for more details on the sequel, check out the images below.
