The MCU's Fantastic Four arrived with a secret fifth member, and he almost looked very different, according to newly-released concept art. Just before the credits rolled on The Fantastic Four, TV host Ted Gilbert attempted to unveil a baby Franklin Richards to the world as the team's fifth member. While the all-powerful son of Marvel's First Family is still a little too young for a superhero career, the famous foursome already has another member: HERBIE.
Humanoid Experimental Robot B-Type Integrated Electronics (HERBIE) is a robot created by Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards to serve the superhero family. His duties around the team range from cooking dinner to household chores to baby-proofing the Baxter Building to assisting Reed with his science and superheroics.
In the official art book for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel Studios unveiled some vastly different designs for HERBIE (voiced by Matthew Wood), which were scrapped on the road to his final look in the MCU.
Concept artist Seth Engstrom was behind a variety of scrapped designs for HERBIE, taking inspiration from household appliances and remaining in line with the '60s retro-future aesthetic found across Earth-828.
Marvel Studios evaluated this floating HERBIE design in various other colors, including the Fantastic Four's famous blue and, strangely, an orange version that would match some of the aesthetics found in the Baxter Building.
Engstrom was clear that Marvel Studios wanted to "hold true to the classic HERBIE while exploring different possibilities for what the robot could be:"
"The 3D sketches I did followed the theory that the rest of the movie was thoughtfully constructed around, the futurism of the '50s and '60s. We were definitely trying to hold true to the classic HERBIE, while exploring different possibilities for what the robot could be. The main concept centered around the robot's eyes and how they functioned along with magnetic tape reels of computers from that time period - I tried to make it so the eyes are very visible."
He added how "phones, clock radios, TVs, calculators, wall clocks, coffee makers, chairs, blenders, and hair dryers" all factored into crafting HERBIE:
"[Production designer Kasra Farahani] gave me some very specific references to look at. He talked about looking at products from the Braun company and General Electric, which had a lot of interesting designs using formed plastics based on futurism at that time. Phones, clock radios, TVs, calculators, wall clocks, coffee makers, chairs, blenders, and hair dryers all included really great looks that Kasra wanted to include in the HERBIE design."
Other designs strayed slightly into more modern territory, with clean aesthetics that wouldn't feel awfully out of place on a NASA mission.
Executive producer Grant Curtis explained how "HERBIE is integral to everything" as his functions can vary depending on which data tape is installed:
"I mean, it's not the Fantastic Five, but HERBIE is integral to everything - from Reed's experiments, to their space travels, to helping with the cooking and, eventually, looking after the baby, depending on just what data tape is in that adorable face."
Further concept art drew particular attention to HERBIE's tape-holding head in First Steps, which helps to "ground you in that analog world:"
"Aesthetically, we loved changing out the tapes because it not only shows what HERBIE is capable of, but it also continues to ground you in that analog world."
Marvel's loveable robot was joined in The Fantastic Four by Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby's Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm, and Ebon Mass-Bachrach's Ben Grimm as they sought to protect their world and prodigy from Ralph Ineson's Galactus and Julia Garner's Silver Surfer.
What Comes Next for the Fantastic Four's HERBIE In the MCU?
Excitingly, Marvel Studios will officially revisit Earth-828 next year in Avengers: Doomsday, on top of the Fantastic Four themselves leaping across the Multiverse. It seems likely they will bring HERBIE along for the ride to these other universes, given they even took him to space in The Fantastic Four: First Steps as they confronted Galactus, but, regardless, he should be seen on Earth-828.
Beyond that, the studio is reportedly already developing The Fantastic Four 2, which could come with a vastly different aesthetic from the first installment if, as has been theorized, the team merged into the main universe after Secret Wars.
One has to wonder if HERBIE could similarly get some updates to be less analog to match Earth-616's more modern/near-future vibe, or if Marvel's First Family may keep him the same to preserve a slice of their original home.
