Fantastic Four in film

The superhero team Fantastic Four featured in Marvel Comics publication has appeared in four 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. 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 received mixed to negative reviews from critics, yet earned a combined US$635 million worldwide at the box office. Due to 20th Century Fox's disappointment with the box-office return of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, a potential third Fantastic Four 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, as well as from Trank himself, and became a box office bomb. 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 associated characters, along with the X-Men and Deadpool after Disney acquired 21st Century Fox. A new film featuring the team, part of Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is currently in development for a scheduled release on July 25, 2025.

After the acquisition, the 20th Century Fox-produced Fantastic Four films were rebranded as "Marvel Legacy" films on Disney+ alongside the studio's X-Men films as well as the Daredevil and Elektra films it also made, thus separating them from MCU titles produced by Marvel Studios.^[1] They were then retitled "Fantastic Adventures" in July 2023 (alongside two Fantastic Four animated series), with X-Men becoming "Mutant Legacy" and Daredevil and Elektra becoming The Defenders (along with the Marvel Netflix shows).^[2]