The solution was an immersive intro in disguise as a retrospective on the Fantastic Four's many successes in their first four years, a whistle-stop tour of the team's constant line of defense against supervillains, plus Reed's scientific advances and Sue's diplomatic efforts. However, large chunks of these efforts - including whole characters - were left on the cutting room floor, and now we're starting to see bits and pieces of the original vision.
Dean DeBlois emphasized the importance of editing, stating, "Everything's sort of long-winded at first, and then you squeeze and you squeeze, and it eventually starts to paint targets on areas of the movie where you really feel the breaks being hit."