What is it about Fantastic Four that’s made it such a cursed property as far as movies go? In this episode of Marvel Revisited, we dig into 2005’s Fantastic Four, which was 20th Century Fox’s attempt to spawn another superhero saga that could complement their X-Men movies. While a big enough financial hit to merit a sequel, in hindsight, many consider this to be the nadir of superhero movies. Hilariously, it’s one of several bad Fantastic Four movies, with Roger Corman infamously making an unreleased version in the nineties that was so bad it’s never gotten a legitimate release. Then, of course, there was Josh Trank’s “gritty” version from 2015, which torpedoed a few careers. To many, 2005’s Fantastic Four is considered the worst of the bunch, but what exactly went wrong?
Indeed, the thing people remember most about the movie is the cast, which isn’t all that bad. While Ioan Gruffudd and Jessica Alba are considered a little too bland to have played Reed Richards and Sue Storm, at the time, Chris Evans’s portrayal of Johnny Storm was widely acclaimed. It may have paved the way for him to play Captain America for the MCU years later. Michael Chiklis also earned strong reviews for playing The Thing, although many hated Julian McMahon (then riding high on the success of Nip/Tuck) as Dr. Doom. Some also criticized the choice of Barbershop’s Tim Story as director, given the perceived scale of the film. Still, considering the types of movies Fox was delivering in the era, it’s not like he would ever be allowed to make an epic anyway. So join us as we look back at this often-forgotten early entry into the Marvel cinematic canon.
Is the 2005 Fantastic Four as bad as everyone remembers? Let us know in the comments!