The recent second weekend drop at the box office forThe Fantastic Four: First Stepshas the film community stewing over one question: Are superhero movies dead? The latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the long-awaited revival of Marvel’s original comic book characters opened to a robust $117.6 million in its first weekend, but experienced a troublesome66% drop in its second weekend. Despite being met with mostly positive reviews, the vibe aroundF4seems lukewarm at best, with the prevailing “superhero fatigue” striking this highly anticipated blockbuster.
In the grand scheme of things,The Fantastic Four: First Stepsis a milestone in the long, torturedhistory of adapting Marvel’s superhero quartetfor the big screen.Matt Shakmanand the team behindF4should be celebrating, as theoriginal creators behind the first adaptation couldn’t even get it released to the public.As one actor from the ill-fated,Roger Corman-producedFantastic Four, after 30 years, a curse has finally been lifted.
The Struggles to Adapt ‘The Fantastic Four’ Into a Movie
Based on the staggering second weekend dropoff, there’s room for debate regarding the public’s overall interest in The Fantastic Four as characters, a team designed to be a pastiche reflection of Space Race-era comics from the 1960s. WhileTim Story’s twoFantastic Fourmovies from 2005and 2007, respectively, made money at the box office, they were not held in high regard artistically.
The 2015 reboot of the characters, directed byJosh Trank, seemed to have terminated any chance of the team ever appearing on-screen again, as the film immediately entered the canon of the great cinematic fiascos in recent memory. When the Disney-Fox merger was finalized, F4’s integration into the MCU became inevitable, because if anyone could unlock “un-adaptable” characters for mainstream audiences, it wasKevin Feigeand company.
Die-hard Marvel fans should certainly be grateful forThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, as at least it was released and made to be consumed by an audience. F4’s first depiction in film was in 1994, when theking of B-movies, the late Roger Corman, was commissioned by German producerBernd Eichingertoquickly churn out a Fantastic Four movie so that Eichinger could maintain the rights to the characters before they expired at the end of the year. It was a devious ploy by Eichinger, as Corman could produce movies in a quick turnaround. The final product, directed byOley Sassone, was barely a finished product, and it was never properly released, with the only images being from pirated copies.
The Cast of The Unreleased ‘Fantastic Four’ Have Been Redeemed
For the main stars,Alex Hyde-White,Rebecca Staab,Jay Underwood,Michael Baily Smith, andJoseph Culp, they thought they were making a fun comic book space romp and not pawns for corporate control of properties. 30 years following this harsh betrayal, the actors were blessed with a mild reparation, asthe original members of The Fantastic Four each receivedcameos in the 2025 film.Furthermore, they were invited to the film’s Los Angeles premiere and embraced by the new faces of the franchise,Pedro Pascal,Vanessa Kirby,Joseph Quinn, andEbon Moss-Bachrach.
“I do, actually, believe in karma. Very rarely do you get a chance to wait 30 years to test that theory,” Alex Hyde-White, the original Reed Richards,toldVanity Fairin a feature story recounting the production of the 1994 unreleased project. Joseph Culp, who played Dr. Doom, jokingly remarked that the reason behind the F4’s failure to translate on-screen is because"they have not paid proper homage to the original," citing a “Fantastic Fourcurse.“With the release and overall popularity ofFirst Steps, Culp stated, “I think the curse is broken.”
This Forgotten MCU Hero Should Team Up With the Fantastic Four in ‘Avengers: Secret Wars,’ Just Like in the Comics
Besides scientists and engineers, the Fantastic Four once had a very good lawyer, too.
While not as canonized asPlan 9 From Outer SpaceorThe Room, the Roger CormanFantastic Fourhas all the hallmarks of a"so bad it’s good” classic, from its cheap special effects to stilted performances, withFirst Stepsco-writerEric Pearsonquipping that it “felt like watching a church play.” However, as doomed as the production was, the principal parties have fond memories working on the film. “I think, for a million dollars [budget], it’s a pretty good film,” Corman said in 2017.
Like other celebrated “so-bad-they’re-good” movies,the originalFantastic Fourhas a campy, exploitation charm. More than anything,its existence represents a bygone era where adapting comic books was not only a painstaking process, but they were primarily viewed as low-grade, embarrassing schlock material by the public, a far cry from the omnipresent foothold they have in culture now. The thought of a film based on Marvel Comics having a bootstrap quality is completely foreign to audiences today.
Thanks to their cameos inThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, the original cast of the original superhero family is firmly etched into comic book movie history. At the time, their decision to work on a low-budget B-movie was a giant risk, but the mainstream ascension of superheroes only validates their thankless work from 1994.
