According to the Marvel Universe, the most prominent buildings of New York City are all inhabited by superheroes.
The Fantastic Four’s headquarters, the Baxter Building, is described in Fantastic Four Annual 1 (1963) as ‘New York’s most famous skyscraper tower’, but in the film, Fantastic Four, the comic’s 35-story futuristic complex is replaced by a penthouse apartment of the 1930’s art-deco Marine Building. The filmmakers opt for retro-authenticity with a nod towards the Golden Age (1930s-40s) style of comics.
With a golden globe sitting atop of it, the Marine Building may be familiar to readers as the exterior of DC Comics’ Daily Planet in the Superman genesis story, Smallville…
The full 300 word version of this scene location analysis is published in World Film Locations Vancouver, edited by Rachel Walls, published by Intellect Books, 2013.
Carl Wilson 