When The fantastic four: first steps hits theaters later this year, it will be the fourth time in a row something has happened. Four times in the last four decades a newly rebooted The fantastic four The movie has been made. And, if you can believe it, they’ve all happened almost exactly 10 years apart. Does that bode well for this new movie or does it point to a newly rebooted movie coming in 2035? Let’s analyze it.
Possibly the most famous The fantastic four The film to date is the one that was released in July 2005. Directed by Tim Story, it starred Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis as Marvel’s first family. Despite mixed reviews, it was a big enough success to have a sequel in 2007 with Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer. That wasn’t a success, and sadly, this iteration of the Fantastic Four was dead (until Evans resurfaced in Deadpool and Wolverine of course).
Ten years (and one month) later, in August 2015, a new version of the team was revealed. It was directed by Josh Trank, and this time Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell played the group. The film had its moments but a troubled production ended up manifesting itself on screen, and in the end, the film was a critical and financial failure.
Now another 10 years have passed and, again in July, another Fantastic Four team-up is on the way. Directed by Matt Shankman, this time the group is made up of Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. The difference now, however, is that since Disney bought Fox, these Fantastic Four are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And no, we didn’t forget the OG. Roger Corman The fantastic four The film never had an official release due to rights issues, but first entered the public consciousness in the summer of 1994. This throws our “exactly 10 years” hypothesis off track, but only by a few months.
So, apart from the oddity that, since the 1990s, new The fantastic four The teams have submitted films almost exactly a decade apart (1994, 2005, 2015 and 2025 respectively), what does this say about the franchise? It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? None of the creative teams behind the scenes have managed to achieve the alchemy that has made the comic book characters, which originated in 1961, so successful. But maybe, fresh off the bat, the fourth time is the charm. At least we hope so. What do you think?
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