Reproducing something in a new medium has its own intrinsic value that if done right can reawaken interest in the original material. There's a reason the original comic books tend to increase in value when they are made into TV shows and movies. Live action movie versions of anything from comics, cartoons, and TV generate big interest for fans of the original material. Saying it's pointless to make live action versions unless some changes are made is ridiculous.

You don't have to strictly adhere to source material or follow a story verbatim in order to do the originals justice and honor them. But major changes can take someone else's creation and bastardize it. Does the director/producer want to tell a new story with these characters, or do they just want to tweak it to make some money off an existing product? I say it's the latter.

Were the original FF4 movies flops because of the characters or because of the weak storylines and promotion? I think any superhero movie done correctly could be a hit. So what the franchise needs is better writing and production, not some trivial change to one of the characters to satisfy PC demographics.