A Fantastic Four Marketing Gimmick Was Ruled Illegal By The United States Government

While there have certainly been plenty of bad comic book movies, no other franchise has had worse luck than the Fantastic Four. Pixar's "The Incredibles" was often considered the best adaptation of Marvel's first family because every attempt to make them big screen stars was met with less-than-stellar reception. It appears that Marvel Studios, in its effort to revive its momentum, might have done the impossible, giving Mr. Fantastic, Sue Storm, the Human Torch, and the Thing the movie they've always deserved with "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." /Film's Witney Seibold praised the refreshingly hopeful team dynamic in his glowing review. The positive critical reception must come as a huge relief for fans of the Jack Kirby/Stan Lee-created comic book series, especially after one wave of big screen disappointment after another.

1994's "The Fantastic Four" may have had the worst luck of them all, with the cast and crew not even getting the chance to have the movie shown in theaters. The Roger Corman-produced feature may have eventually been circulated in bootleg markets, but the production was little more than a front to hold onto the film rights. It wouldn't be until over a decade later when the Tim Story-directed "Fantastic Four" gave its core superhero ensemble their true big screen debut, and a pretty disappointing one at that. Not even Michael Chiklis' excellent Thing makeup could make up for a bad movie that looked even worse in the wake of the first two "X-Men" and "Spider-Man" movies. Nevertheless, it made just enough money to justify Story returning to direct 2007's "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," which ... also wasn't very good. The titular antagonist may have looked pretty cool, but Marvel fans were once again let down when Galactus was revealed to be this swirling space cloud that did pretty much nothing of note.

The less said about the messy, Josh Trank-directed "Fant4stic" reboot, the better. It's the kind of hilariously misguided project that was so poorly received by critics and audiences alike that it seemed like the nail in the coffin for Marvel's first family ever becoming movie stars. But at the end of the day, these previous adaptations of the Fantastic Four are just bad movies. Studios make those all the time. Still, a bold stunt from the marketing team of "Rise of the Silver Surfer" caught the attention of a group with more power than a collective of disappointed Marvel fans: the United States government.

In May 2007, 20th Century Fox teamed up with The Franklin Mint to distribute over 40,000 quarters throughout the United States as a promotional stunt to hype up that summer's release of "Rise of the Silver Surfer." The front facing still had George Washington on them, but if you turned it over, you'd see an image of the Silver Surfer that covered up the entire back of the coin. If you went to the website listed on the rim (www.riseofthesilversurfer.com), you could have had a chance at winning some cool prizes such as attending the film's world premiere in London. The currency gimmick was all part of what was called the Search 4 Silver campaign. Studios do weird promotions all the time, but where they messed up with this one was in making it appear as if it was legitimate currency.

Founded in 1792, the United States Mint has been responsible for molding, distributing, and approving the country's currency through the Treasury Department. Every change to the current state of these coins has to go through them first before it's circulated throughout the country. The U.S Mint came out in full opposition of the "Silver Surfer" stunt not too long after they heard about it, declaring that it was an illegal measure to transform U.S. currency into any form of advertising. "The promotion is in no way approved, authorized, endorsed, or sponsored by the United States Mint, nor is it in any way associated or affiliated with the United States Mint," the bureau stated in a press release.

The thing about the Franklin Mint is that they're a private operation that mostly dabbles in the kind of commemorative coins you'd often see television infomercials hype up, as well as other forms of faux currency. Whatever they produce has zero input as to its actual monetary value as legitimate money. Fox spokesman Chris Petrikin went on the defense, claiming that the studio never intended to break any laws (via NBC News):

"These are commemorative coins like many the Franklin Mint creates on a regular basis for various properties; We were confident this coin followed the same procedures and guidelines but will certainly take any necessary steps if advised otherwise."

Franklin Mint chairman Moshe Malamud thought it wouldn't have created a stir because they weren't actually selling the quarters, so much as merely adding these limited edition coins into circulation. Using the front facing of a legitimate quarter, however, was undoubtedly their downfall, giving the U.S. Mint a real case to send a cease and desist.

In a manner, Fox did end up getting away with it because all 40,000 coins were already being spread out across the country before any governmental power could reasonably do anything about it. Imagine getting your change after a casual transaction and seeing the Silver Surfer on the back. I'd be so confused. In some respects, it seems like the kind of thing Doctor Doom would do to sow chaos and throw the U.S. into disarray. I'm sure these coins have become harder to find nearly two decades later, but if you're a Marvel fan who really wants to add this strange marketing gambit to your collection, your best bet would be to scour eBay.

"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" is currently streaming on Disney+.