The Fantastic Four Hype Keeps Growing: ‘I Have Been Waiting Almost 20 Years’
The Fantastic Four is one of Marvel’s most beloved superhero groups. While the group is well known from the pages of the comics, they may not have the same cache with general audiences that the Avengers do.
This is due to the Avengers being the focal point of the incredibly popular Marvel Cinematic Universe. But now that Fox and Disney have completed their merger, the path is clear for the Fantastic Four to pop up in Phase Four of the MCU. Fans are extremely excited at the potential stories Marvel can now tell.
Let’s take a closer look at the history of Marvel’s favorite family on the big screen and how fans are anticipating their appearance in the MCU.
The 2005 Fantastic Four
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The first big-budget Fantastic Four interpretation came in 2005, according to IMDB. The film was a bit on the campy side, but it did get some main elements of the characters right. The film’s cast was made up of:
- Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic
- Jessica Alba as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman
- Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/The Thing
- Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch
For any MCU fans who haven’t seen the film or don’t know of its existence: you read that right. That’s the same Chris Evans who starred as Captain America in the MCU. It also introduced Victor Von Doom to the big screen, played by Julian McMahon. The movie spawned one sequel.
The 2015 Fantastic Four
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Ten years later, Fox tried to bring the Fantastic Four to the big screen yet again. This time they did so with a different cast. According to IMDB, the family was played by:
- Miles Teller as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic
- Kate Mara as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman
- Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm/The Thing
- Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch
No one would mistake the earlier adaptation for a cinematic classic, but this one was even less well-received. The film delivered a more dark and brooding tone to the Fantastic Four than most fans are used to. It made $167 million worldwide on a budget of $120 million. In this day and age, and for this genre, it qualified as a box office bomb.
The hype for the Fantastic Four keeps growing
While earlier versions of the Fantastic Four have ranged from mediocre to bad, fans have hope now. Marvel acquired the film rights to the group in the Fox-Disney merger and plan to integrate them into the MCU. The MCU has been roundly praised, both critically and commercially, for how they’ve handled the majority of their characters. Seeing the Fantastic Four come back into Marvel’s hands has to be a welcome sight for fans.
Fans on Reddit discussed the current state of the MCU, and one couldn’t contain their excitement over the prospect of a new Fantastic Four movie that lives up to the promise of the characters as they’re portrayed in the comics:
“I have been waiting almost 20 years for a good Fantastic Four movie. Now I’m (hopefully) going to get one.”
The Fantastic Four is one of Marvel’s most popular groups, so it makes sense that fans would want to see them depicted in the MCU. The question now becomes, how will they be adapted? Will they receive a streaming series via Disney+? What about a standalone film series? Or will they simply make cameos in another established character’s movie?
It’s anyone’s guess how Marvel will shepherd them into the MCU, but it would be shocking if they didn’t receive their own film. The characters are too popular.
