Fantastic Four in film
Updated: Wikipedia source
The superhero team Fantastic Four featured in Marvel Comics publication has appeared in five live-action films since its inception. The plots deal with four main characters, known formally as Reed Richards, Susan Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm, and how they adapt to the superpowers they attain. Constantin Film bought the film rights for the characters in 1986. A low-budget film was produced in 1992 by New Horizon Studios owned by Roger Corman, though it has never been officially released. In 2004, after Constantin sub-licensed the film rights to 20th Century Fox, a second Fantastic Four film entered production. Fantastic Four was released in 2005 and the sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was released in 2007. Both films were not ill-received by critics, yet earned a combined US$635 million worldwide at the box office. Due to Fox's disappointment with the box-office returns of Rise of the Silver Surfer, a potential third film and a Silver Surfer spin-off film were canceled. A reboot of the series, Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank, was released in 2015 and received largely negative reviews from both critics and audiences, and was a box-office bomb. Trank himself disowned the final product, claiming studio interference from Fox. A sequel was scheduled to be released in 2017, but was canceled. In March 2019, Marvel Studios regained the film rights to the Fantastic Four and their associated characters, after the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney. The Fantastic Four: First Steps, part of Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), was released in 2025 and became the most positively reviewed film in the series. After the acquisition, the Fox-produced Fantastic Four films were rebranded as "Marvel Legacy" films on Disney+ alongside other non-MCU Marvel films. They were then retitled "Fantastic Adventures" in July 2023, alongside two Fantastic Four animated series.