FILM · 2015 · USA
Fantastic Four
115 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (115)
- #001
In a tweet posted on August 6, 2015 and quickly deleted, Josh Trank said: "A year ago I had a fantastic version of this. And it would've received great reviews. You'll probably never see it. That's reality though." After seeing that version, the studio mandated extensive reshoots. Kate Mara's new scenes are easy to spot because she cut her hair and wore a blonde wig, and Miles Teller had a beard that appeared and disappeared between shoots. Box office analysts said Trank's ill-advised tweet may have cost 20th Century Fox $10 million in opening-weekend ticket sales.
- #002
Josh Trank believed his film would run about 2 hours and 20 minutes; the studio cut that runtime significantly, down to 1 hour and 40 minutes.
- #003
Marvel was not pleased with how the film turned out and referenced it in a Marvel comic: "The Punisher" #12 has the Fantastic Four (resembling this film's cast) dropped by an explosion.
- #004
Kate Mara said that she had not seen the film a month after its release and was quite reluctant to watch it because of the intense negative reaction.
- #005
Had the film been delayed past 2015, the characters in it would have reverted to Marvel. 20th Century Fox had only a seven-year window after Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) to make a new Fantastic Four film, and this one was released a year after that window expired.
- #006
After director Josh Trank completed his version of the film in 2014, the studio was unhappy and disliked the director's work. 20th Century Fox demanded reshoots in early 2015, mainly because of creative differences and the studio's view that its own version of the film was too violent.
- #007
The garage where Reed works as a child is the same garage where Biff hides his car in Back to the Future Part II (1989).
- #008
Initially, Marvel Studios offered to give 20th Century Fox an extension on rebooting Daredevil in exchange for the Fantastic Four film rights, along with characters that would expand the cosmic universe tied to the brand (Galactus, Silver Surfer, Uatu the Watcher, Annihilus, the Skrulls and the Badoon, among others), or at least just the cosmic characters. Fox refused to accept the offers, later lost the Daredevil rights and allowed Marvel's Daredevil (2015) to be made. The cosmic characters ultimately went unused, and the rights returned to Marvel after Disney's acquisition of Fox.
- #009
Kate Mara initially wanted to read Fantastic Four comics to prepare for the role of Susan Storm, but the producers told the cast it was unnecessary because the film was an original story not directly based on the comics.
- #010
Mads Mikkelsen auditioned for the role of Doctor Doom but withdrew from the audition. He had also auditioned to play Reed Richards in Fantastic Four (2005).
- #011
While Susan follows a signal, an IP address appears on screen: "23.21.190.125". This would lead to online articles about Dr. Doom's homeland, Latveria.
- #012
Josh Trank was reportedly interested in Allison Williams for the role of Susan Storm, but 20th Century Fox rejected her and cast Kate Mara.
- #013
The origin of the Fantastic Four and Doctor Doom (a laboratory experiment involving a portal to another dimension goes wrong, and all five are mutated by the radiation from the experiment) is based on their "Ultimate Marvel" origins. In the classic Marvel origins, the Four were exposed to radiation while aboard a rocket orbiting Earth, and Doom was disfigured by an unrelated laboratory accident.
- #014
The film's promotional posters depict a city devastated by destruction, implying an action scene with the Fantastic Four in the city. No such action ever takes place in the film.
- #015
20th Century Fox reportedly intervened in the film and substantially altered Josh Trank's original cut. One of the biggest changes was the removal of all three action scenes.
- #016
Josh Trank fought for Miles Teller to get the role of Reed Richards despite the studios' wishes, but the two men nearly came to blows on set. Although Trank did not want her for the role, the studios forced Kate Mara into the part of Sue Storm; as a result, he treated Mara harshly and bullied her during the shoot.
- #017
(At about the 1-minute mark) A teacher makes a joke about young Reed building a flying car. In the comics, Reed Richards built the Fantasticar, a flying car that serves as the Fantastic Four's personal vehicle.
- #018
The Thing's first incarnation has five fingers on each hand instead of four, as in the comics.
- #019
Jamie Bell consulted his The Adventures of Tintin (2011) co-star and motion-capture artist Andy Serkis for help with the role of The Thing.
- #020
It was the first film to open in more than 4,000 theaters in the United States while earning less than $100 million in domestic ticket revenue, taking in only $56.1 million. It remained the lowest-grossing 4,000-theater release until the premiere of The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature (2017).
- #021
Jamie Bell and Kate Mara married in 2017.
- #022
At around the 34-minute mark, Von Doom speculates that the military could use the other dimension as a prison for criminals. That is what Reed did with the Negative Zone in the Marvel comic book "Civil War" (Captain America: Civil War (2016) was broadly based on it).
- #023
The draft script written by Josh Trank and Jeremy Slater differed from the final film in many ways: * The original draft's first act is as long as the final film's first two-thirds. * The original script is closer in tone to the MCU. * The script includes the origins of the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, Galactus, Mole Man, the robot Herbie and the FantastiCar. * Ben still has Reed's power and protects him from bullies. This makes Reed's decision to bring Ben along on the trip to the Negative Zone more meaningful. * Reed goes to the Baxter Building as part of a science scholarship; there he meets Sue, who works with Dr. Elder, who has the most advanced technology in the field of biology, producing "moloids." Reed also meets Victor Von Doom, who takes nerdy Reed to parties and meets and falls in love with Sue. Meanwhile Ben is upset that Reed stopped looking for him and makes a choice; he skips college and enlists in the army. * There is no older Dr. Storm character. Sue calls her brother Johnny as a last resort when she is about to go to the Negative Zone. * Victor Von Doom is actually a spy for his homeland of Latveria and leaks Reed's research to them. * When the team uses the Quantum Gate, it is because their school will not let them use it, which leads the team to use it in the dark of night. Reed calls Ben, the person he trusts most even if their relationship is strained. Sue stays behind, helping her man with the controls on this side of the portal. Ben is promised he will be the first human to set foot on the other side of the portal. * When they enter the Negative Zone they find an alien city whose entire population is dead. They also find their destroyer: Galactus. * Galactus apparently kills Victor with Dark Matter, while Reed and Ben reach the module but the module does not work; on the other side of the portal, Sue works frantically to repair the circuits that will not let the module return home. As Sue finally repairs the machine, Galactus approaches and blows up the module with Dark Matter - but the Dark Matter hits the Quantum Gate and creates a reaction, and the whole team (the two in the module and the two in the lab) are caught up in some kind of cosmic frenzy. * The scene where the team wakes up in the wreckage resembles the scene where Johnny is burning, screaming, and Ben is trapped in stone. But Sue's condition is even more pronounced; the skin on her face disappears and her muscles are visible. * The script jumps forward four years instead of one; Johnny becomes a reality TV star, Sue returns to the medical profession and uses her invisibility powers to look inside seriously ill cancer patients (Dr. Elder wants her to come and work on the Moloid program but Sue does not want to - she thinks it will be turned into a weapon), Reed is in hiding because he blames himself for the destruction at the Baxter Building, and there he builds a Herbie robot while trying to sell the FantastiCar to Toyota. And Ben works for the army. * Meanwhile Latveria creates its own Quantum Gate thanks to the information Victor sent. They send a team. But only Doom returns and seizes the country with his powers and now acts as Galactus's herald. * Sue tries to use her cancer research to cure Ben but it does not work. * Victor's men, called the Raid Squad and armed with futuristic weapons, attack Reed in Indonesia. Realizing the weapons are based on his own designs, Reed realizes it must be Victor's doing and that he is still alive. Unable to contact Sue, he uses a FantastiCar and flies to the Baxter Building, bringing Herbie with him. At the same time, the Raid Squad attacks Sue and Johnny at the Baxter Building. During the fight, Dr. Elder accidentally turns into Mole Man. * While Johnny and Sue fight the soldiers, a Moloid comes into contact with dark matter and turns into a giant creature. When Reed finally arrives, the giant creature bursts from the ground. Ben, who is nearby looking at puppies in a pet shop window, hears the commotion and runs there. The team attacks the giant Moloid and the fight ends with Ben being swallowed and trying to fight his way out; when he finally reaches the Moloids' mouth, he sees Reed slingshot a bus at the creature and Johnny set it on fire, and the bus heads straight for the mouth and Ben. * For the rest of the script, the team comes together to go to Latveria, which is now the center of an international incident because Victor is building a giant ball of Dark Energy. They plan to use it to destroy Galactus; apparently Victor's only chance to survive in the Negative Zone was to act as Galactus's herald and help him find a new world to feed on, Earth. But Von Doom plans to destroy the Destroyer before this happens. * In the script the team uses their powers in more ways, and Sue in particular has a lot to do. After the Moloid battle she helps Reed escape government captivity and can create a force shield that reduces the FantastiCar's wind resistance and lets it reach incredible speeds. Reed uses his powers to turn into a living airbag during a collision, survives a grenade attack, and in the end his biggest contribution to the final fight is Herbie. * The final battle is in Latveria, but the shape-shifting Doom turns out to be a Doombot; Victor is actually physically bound to the planet in the Negative Zone and sent branches of his existence to Earth. The film ends with him trapped in the Negative Zone, the Fantastic Four telling the government that Galactus is coming, and the Baxter Building being reorganized as their main base and a school for gifted children who could help defeat the coming Galactus threat. This version of the script was rejected by 20th Century Fox on the grounds that it would be too expensive, so they hired Simon Kinberg to rewrite the film.
- #024
During the film's production, director Josh Trank displayed "erratic" and "very isolated" behavior on set. This led to conflicts between Trank and the producers over the direction of the film, because Trank did not present anything clear.
- #025
The studio ordered reshoots in January 2015.
- #026
The film's poor performance is reported to be what caused Miles Teller to leave La La Land (2016) and Josh Trank to leave directing a Star Wars project about Boba Fett.
- #027
The film was initially to be titled "Fantastic Four: Reborn." David Yates was in talks to direct, with Adrien Brody as Reed Richards, Alice Eve as Sue Storm and Bruce Willis or Kiefer Sutherland to voice The Thing, but the project fell through.
- #028
This film is estimated to have lost the studio more than $100 million.
- #029
Doctor Doom in this film is based on the Ultimate Marvel version (a computer programmer who acquires a metal coating) and includes elements from the Ultimate Marvel versions of Annihilus (a being with metallic skin and green eyes), Molecule Man (a nearly powerful but unstable character) and the Living Planet Ego (a being that consumes worlds).
- #030
Toby Kebbell expressed his frustration with the film. He claimed to understand why fans were disappointed and stated that he still regards his role in the film as a learning experience.
- #031
The robot HERBIE was initially going to appear in the film, but the studio vetoed the idea because they did not want comparisons to Tony Stark's JARVIS or the "Star Wars" droids.
- #032
Miles Teller's scars were also added to the child actor playing the young version of Reed Richards.
- #033
Toby Kebbell was not available for the reshoots, meaning he is not actually the person in the film's climax.
- #034
Although it is never explicitly stated, the timeline given in the film indicates that Reed and Ben were seventeen or eighteen years old when Reed was accepted into the Baxter program. Miles Teller and Jamie Bell were about ten years older than that during filming.
- #035
At around 16 minutes, when Franklin Storm talks with Victor Von Doom at their computers, the emblem of his fictional homeland Latveria can be seen.
- #036
In the original version of Jeremy Slater's script, the villains were Mole Man, Doctor Doom and Galactus. Doctor Doom would have been a Latverian dictator. However, Simon Kinberg rewrote the script, turning Dr. Doom into an antisocial programmer and cutting Mole Man and Galactus.
- #037
Before Miles Teller was cast, Kit Harington, Anton Yelchin, Richard Madden and Jack O'Connell auditioned for the role of Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic.
- #038
Josh Trank said a director's cut was not possible because many of the scenes he planned were never filmed.
- #039
In the "Ultimate Fantastic Four" comics on which this film is based, Ben Grimm (The Thing) and Susan Storm (Invisible Woman) married. (In the original version, Susan married Reed Richards.) In an interesting example of life imitating art, the stars of this film, Jamie Bell (Ben Grimm) and Kate Mara (Susan Storm), became engaged in 2017.
- #040
Saoirse Ronan, Allison Williams, Emmy Rossum and Margot Robbie all auditioned for the role of Sue Storm before Kate Mara was cast.
- #041
The Thing was created for the first time using computer-generated imagery rather than prosthetics and makeup.
- #042
The Thing is forced to work for the army. In the comics, Ben Grimm served in the United States Marine Corps.
- #043
The white uniforms the team wears on their journey to the Negative Zone are based on the Fantastic Four's "Future Foundation" uniforms.
- #044
Asked about the idea of a black Human Torch, Stan Lee said he strongly supported it.
- #045
The visual effects company OTOY, hired to work on the film, was reported to have been overwhelmed by the project and to have had to deal with a generally unresponsive and erratic Josh Trank, who demanded that the Thing's appearance and size change between certain shots. A number of visual effects sequences, such as a scene in which the Thing fights rebels in the Middle East, were apparently cut because 20th Century Fox did not provide the small company with enough funding to complete them. Ironically, the reason they hired OTOY was to save money; the reliance on the company and the cost of reshoots ultimately made the whole affair even more expensive.
- #046
A scene showing Ben Grimm performing a "divebomb" attack was cut from the film to speed up the pace, even though it appeared in many trailers.
- #047
Reed, Ben, Johnny and Victor miss the quantum gate and instead become the first people to cross over. In the original 1960s comics, Reed, Ben, Johnny and Sue became the first people to reach space by stealing a rocket.
- #048
Tommy Wiseau was a fan of the film and wanted to direct the sequel.
- #049
The film was shot almost entirely in the Baton Rouge area.
- #050
About three minutes in, a menorah can be seen on a shelf in the Grimm family's home. In the comics, Ben Grimm was of the Jewish faith.
- #051
The uniforms worn by the Fantastic Four are based on protective suits.
- #052
Because the Thing is considerably taller than the other members of the team, Jamie Bell spent most of the production on stilts.
- #053
The Fantasticar, originally the Fantastic Four's personal vehicle, was to appear in the film: Reed and Johnny would have combined their abilities to build a car fitted with a quantum gate to take the Four to the Negative Zone. This was scrapped because of costs, and in the final film the Four follow closely behind Doom into the Zone.
- #054
Former 20th Century Fox CEO Rupert Murdoch expressed his dislike of the film and blamed it solely for Fox's earnings falling hundreds of millions of dollars short of expectations for one of its financial quarters.
- #055
In May 2020, Josh Trank acknowledged the problems he had on Fantastic Four. "What I was trying to do with Fantastic Four was so arrogant for somebody to try to do with it, that didn't really grasp their own skills as a filmmaker yet," he told The Hollywood Reporter. He also added that he is not interested in releasing a "Trank Cut," because there is no need for one.
- #056
Michael B. Jordan described the story as "a group of kids who have an accident and become disabled and have to deal with that and then try to find a life afterwards."
- #057
The producers cited Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002-2007), David Cronenberg's science fiction films The Fly (1986) and Scanners (1981), and Josh Trank's Chronicle (2012) as inspirations for the film.
- #058
This is the first live-action Fantastic Four film in which the Thing does not wear pants or boots.
- #059
In 2017 the Murdoch family chose to sell 21st Century Fox's film and television entertainment assets, a move that drew bids from both Comcast and The Walt Disney Company. Disney won with a $71.3 billion offer and closed the deal in March 2019. As a result, Disney would come to own Fox-produced Marvel films and, through its ownership of 20th Century Fox, acquired the film rights to both the Fantastic Four and X-Men film series. Disney transferred the film rights to Marvel Studios, and the studio is now preparing a reboot of Fantastic Four.
- #060
Before Toby Kebbell was cast, Eddie Redmayne, Jack Huston, Domhnall Gleeson and Sam Riley were thought to be in line to play Dr. Doom.
- #061
"Central City" was the team's home setting in Marvel's Fantastic Four #1. Today it is better known as the home of the DC Comics hero The Flash.
- #062
During production, Josh Trank had several small dogs that were left at a rented house in New Orleans while the film was shooting. The dogs caused as much as $100,000 in damage to the property.
- #063
After Josh Trank objected to 20th Century Fox's original cut, he was essentially stripped of all directorial authority. The studio hired Stephen E. Rivkin to re-edit the film and ordered extensive rewrites and reshoots to match his own version. Trank said Rivkin was the "de facto director." The reshoots were also heavily overseen by producers Simon Kinberg and Hutch Parker.
- #064
According to Toby Kebbell, the hardest part of playing Dr. Doom was getting the voice right.
- #065
Writer Simon Kinberg described the story as "a celebration of all the Fantastic Four comics, the idea of these dysfunctional surrogate scientists coming together, and the idea that it's almost more of a science adventure than a superhero movie."
- #066
At one point it was incorrectly reported that this reboot would take place in the same universe as 20th Century Fox's "X-Men" films.
- #067
Because the producers felt he had nothing to do with his comic book counterpart, the character Harvey Elder, also known as Mole Man in the comics, was renamed Harvey Allen in post-production. The film's depiction of Allen is based on Harvey Elder (a scientist and a contemporary of Dr Franklin Storm) and on the Marvel "Ultimate" version of Willie Lumpkin (a government agent who manages the team).
- #068
The film was shown to critics only two days before its premiere in the United States. However, it had been scheduled to open in many territories before then, with no critic screenings in those regions either. International premieres were subsequently pushed back to the United States premiere, meaning the film was in effect shown to critics only at the eleventh hour, at which point it might not have been shown to them at all. The online embargo lasted until two days before the premiere date, while the print embargo lasted until the premiere date.
- #069
Doombots were originally going to appear in the film, but this was later cut.
- #070
The odds were against the film's original June 19 release date. It would have been squeezed between three major blockbusters: Jurassic World (2015) the previous weekend, Inside Out (2015) the same weekend, and Ted 2 (2015) the following weekend. 20th Century Fox noticed the problem and moved the premiere date back two months, putting it up against Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015). Unfortunately, once bad word of mouth emerged, the move did the film no good, and it finished behind Rogue Nation in its opening weekend. It was the first Fantastic Four film not to open at number 1 since Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), and the first Marvel film not to open at number 1.
- #071
The music in the trailer is also the theme music of Broadchurch (2013).
- #072
Unlike other superhero films in which the characters undergo a radical transformation, Josh Trank wanted to approach it differently. His biggest influence was David Cronenberg and his obsession with body horror.
- #073
Josh Trank initially intended this film to be connected to his previous film Chronicle (2012). The idea was rejected, but the Negative Zone contains crystals similar to those seen in that film.
- #074
Victor's surname was originally going to be "Domashev," and he was conceived as a blogger with programming skills. The surname was kept the same, and any mention of him blogging was removed from the final film.
- #075
Toby Kebbell was the studio's first choice for the role of Dr. Doom.
- #076
Fans wanted to see the film's original version, but Josh Trank stated he was not interested in doing so.
- #077
The film began development in 2009 but went nowhere until Josh Trank signed on in 2012.
- #078
The film was released ten years after its reboot, Fantastic Four (2005).
- #079
(Around 1 hour 3 minutes) While Reed is hiding, he has a file on Ben Grimm. The file classifies Grimm's date of birth as 14 March 1986, the real-life birthday of Grimm's actor, Jamie Bell.
- #080
This is the third comic book film to win the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Film, after Howard the Duck (1986) and Catwoman (2004).
- #081
Reshoots raised the budget from 122 million dollars to 155 million dollars.
- #082
Jeremy Slater estimated that he wrote about 18 drafts of the screenplay, only two of which reached 20. Century Fox.
- #083
Josh Gad was 20. Century Fox's first choice for the role of Ben Grimm.
- #084
The film was planned to be shot in Vancouver, Canada, but moved to Louisiana because of the province's film production tax incentives.
- #085
Josh Trank's bad experience making this film plunged him into a deep depression for a while.
- #086
It dropped 69% in its second weekend.
- #087
This is the first "Fantastic Four" film adaptation that does not feature the character Alicia Masters.
- #088
The hospital featured in the film is named "Judith Trank Memorial". This is the name of director Josh Trank's stepmother.
- #089
Alexander Lozano's concept art revealed that there were plans for Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell to reprise their roles in a cameo in Deadpool 2 (2018). These plans were cancelled after director Tim Miller left the sequel over creative differences and was replaced by David Leitch.
- #090
The trailer became the most-watched trailer in 20. Century Fox's history.
- #091
Although it was one of 20. Century Fox's biggest flops, it was also one of the first films the studio released on 4K Blu-ray.
- #092
Ironically, although Jamie Bell and Kate Mara are now a married couple, their characters never have a single direct exchange of dialogue throughout the entire film. The only time Ben Grimm and Susan Storm speak to each other is at the end of the film, and even then they are speaking not only to each other but also to the rest of the group.
- #093
Every time he encounters Reed (young or old), he is seen rubbing his nose with his thumb.
- #094
Adrien Brody and Jonathan Rhys Meyers were considered for the role of Reed Richards.
- #095
This is Dan Castellaneta's most recent live-action theatrical film role to date.
- #096
The prologue takes place in 2007, the same year the previous Fantastic Four film, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), was released.
- #097
Kate Mara joined the cast because she loves superhero films and wanted to play a superhero herself.
- #098
Tim Heidecker was paid $15,000 for his cameo role in the film, as mentioned in the web series On Cinema (2012).
- #099
(About 3 minutes) The soccer match initially shown on a TV in the background is a real game between UConn and UVA broadcast on ESPNU in 2007.
- #100
Christian Cooke auditioned for the role of Ben Grimm/The Thing before Jamie Bell was cast.
- #101
Samira Wiley was at one point considered for the role of Susan Storm/Invisible Woman.
- #102
In 2009, Akiva Goldsman was appointed as producer and Michael Green was hired to write the screenplay.
- #103
Longtime Marvel Comics writer Mark Millar served as a creative consultant.
- #104
It is the only Fantastic Four film to gross under $100 million domestically and under $200 million worldwide.
- #105
In the film, Victor's quantum attack on Earth resembles a drill and results in a giant sinkhole with a waterfall pouring into it. Parts of the film were shot in Louisiana, where an oil drilling accident at Lake Peigneur in 1980 caused the tallest waterfall in the Mississippi River valley (estimated at over 60 meters) to flow into a whirlpool.
- #106
Michael B. Jordan plays Johnny Storm in this film, a role previously played by Chris Evans in Fantastic Four (2005). Evans and Jordan both went on to major roles in the MCU; Evans played Captain America and Jordan played Killmonger.
- #107
Jamie Bell was considered to play Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).
- #108
The Fantastic Four are never referred to by their superhero names, and they are never called "Fantastic Four."
- #109
Alice Eve and Amber Heard were rumored for the role of Sue Storm.
- #110
The film is classified as taking place on Earth-15866, a number taken from the film's release date, August 6, 2015.
- #111
Miles Teller took on the role of Reed Richards in this film. He also appeared alongside Brie Larson, who plays the Marvel superhero Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, in The Spectacular Now (2013). He also appeared alongside Melissa Benoist, who would go on to play TV's Supergirl, in Whiplash (2014).
- #112
Noel Fisher, Cody Sousa and Kevin Pennington were considered by 20th Century Fox for the role of Johnny Storm.
- #113
Coinciding with the film's release, Marvel published the third Fantastic Four Omnibus in 2015.
- #114
In Marvel Comics canon, this film is officially classified as taking place on Earth-15866. The number is taken from the film's release date, August 6, 2015.
- #115
Reg E. Cathey and Dan Castellaneta were the only actors alive when the Fantastic Four first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 in 1961. Tim Blake Nelson was born three years shy of that, in 1964.
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