Fantastic Four Concept Art Has Fantasticar & H.E.R.B.I.E.

MovieWeb

By Brian Gallagher

Published Sep 7, 2015

Concept artist Fausto De Martini shares his concept art of the robot H.E.R.B.I.E. and the Fantasticar, which weren't used in Fantastic Four.

While fans wait to hear whether or not 20th Century Fox will move forward with a sequel to Fantastic Four, new concept art from the superhero adventure is starting to come in. Last month, artist Steve Jung shared 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 Martini shared 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 on Fantastic 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 animated TV 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 a live action television pilot, which never moved forward. The character was created by original Fantastic Four comic book creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who later crossed over into the comics themselves.

The The Fantasticar was introduced very early in in the comic book's run, debuting in Fantastic 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's Fantastic Four, it did appear in the 2007 sequel Fantastic 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 if The Fantastic Four 2 sequel is moving forward, but the studio announced months before the reboot's debut in theaters that they had set a June 9, 2017 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.