An R-rated Fantastic Four flick, that has to be legit the dumbest thing I've ever read about comic book movies on the Coli.
Hell, I don't even know why you dudes are acting like an R-rating magically changes the quality of the film or something. You even say it yourself, don't be grim, dark and edgy. Be adult. "Adult" has nothing to do with an R-rating. For a bunch of guys all on Nolan's Batman dikk I figured you'd know this already. The key word is tone. Throwing an R-rating on everything is essentially what the comic book industry did in the late 80s/early 90s following the success of Frank Miller and Alan Moore, just throw violence and grittiness at everything thinking it placates "adult" themes. Of course it didn't because the nature of a lot of these stories were disposable trash. But on the other hand it birthed opportunities for guys like Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman to write comics that surpassed the old limitations and write adult stories featuring complex themes.
Don't get me wrong, there's a place for purely R-rated comic book movies, where suitable (think The Punisher, Lobo, Venom, Midnighter, Spawn, etc.) but for most comic book franchises the answer isn't to make the movies harder, it's to make them
smarter.