It’s been nearly a decade since the lastFantastic Fourreboot, but the next one is just around the corner. Marvel Studios has announced the cast ofThe Fantastic Four, which will arrive in theaters on July 30, 2025. Since that’s over a year away, we’re taking the opportunity to look back at all four of the previous Fantastic Four movies to date, including the unreleased version from 1994.
None of these films have fully captured the spirit of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’sFantastic Fourcomic books, which laid the foundations for the Marvel Universe as we know it. But most of the films have some redeeming qualities, even the 1994Fantastic Fourmovie. And because all four of these movies are now streaming, we’re also going to tell you where you can watch them.
The Fantastic Four (1994)
Roger Corman’sThe Fantastic Fourmay have been an extremely low-budget affair, but it’s actually the most faithful to the comics. The costumes were based on the characters’ comic book counterparts, and even the weird age difference between Reed Richards (Alex Hyde-White) and Susan Storm (Rebecca Staab) is intact. There’s even a nice touch by casting one actor as Ben Grimm (Michael Bailey Smith) and another performer as his transformed alter ego, The Thing (Carl Ciarfalio).
Unfortunately, this is a B-movie through and through, and it takes significant liberties with the backstory and the characters. Johnny Storm (Jay Underwood) only gets to go full Human Torch once. Rather than let the film be released, Marvel paid to bury it. Those efforts didn’t prevent The Fantastic Four bootlegs from becoming available to buy at comic conventions. And now, the film is also on YouTube.
WatchThe Fantastic FouronYouTube.
Fantastic Four (2005)
The first “real”Fantastic Fourmovie didn’t arrive until 2005, and the cast is really underrated. Chris Evans went on to play Captain America after two outings as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch, whileThe Shield‘s Michael Chiklis was an inspired choice for the Thing. Ioan Gruffudd wasn’t quite as impressive as Reed Richards, but Jessica Alba gets a lot of undeserved flack for her take on Susan Storm/Invisible Woman. In retrospect, Alba did a much better job in her twoFantastic Fourfilms than Dakota Johnson did inMadame Web.
As for the plot, it’s not too dissimilar from the 1994 film, although it takes greater liberties with the origin and places Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon) on the team to explain the weird powers that the filmmakers gave him. This isn’t exactly a beloved film, but it’s the onlyFFmovie that’s ever earned a sequel.
WatchFantastic FouronDisney+.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
As the only sequel on this list,Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surferdoesn’t have to worry about retelling the origin again. Instead, it focuses on adapting one of the comic’s most famous storylines:The Galactus Trilogy, which featured the first appearance of the Silver Surfer. The filmmakers also wisely cast two actors as the Surfer: Doug Jones for his physical stand-in, and Laurence Fishburne as his voice.
There’s actually a lot more fun scenes in this movie than in the previous one, as Johnny accidentally swaps the FF’s powers after his encounter with the Surfer. Unfortunately, the return of Doctor Doom as the main villain didn’t work out as well, and no one liked the idea of Galactus, the world-devouring giant humanoid, being portrayed as a space cloud.
WatchFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver SurferonDisney+.
Fantastic Four (2015)
Fantastic Four, orFant4stic, as it was stylized by the studio, was the grim and dark reimagining of the comic book heroes that no one asked for. Director Josh Trank even got himself put in director’s jail for five years for openly bashing studio executives for interfering in his vision before the movie was even released. Out of this cast, Michael B. Jordan’s Human Torch was probably the best portrayal. The rest of the cast included Miles Teller as Mr. Fantastic, Kate Mara as Invisible Woman, Jamie Bell as the Thing, and Toby Kebbell as Dr. Doom. That’s far from a terrible lineup, but the execution and the script were enough to tank this one.
It was very expensive for Disney to ensure that 20th Century Fox could never make anotherFantastic Fourfilm by buying the company’s Hollywood properties and holdings in 2019, but it had to be done. Now, hopefully, the fifth time will be the charm for Marvel’s first family of superheroes.
