In addition to bringing its titular heroes into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Fantastic Four: First Steps earned the First Family a certified-fresh score. Directed by Matt Shakman and starring Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, the film didn’t get the box office results Marvel Studios hoped for, but its almost universal critical acclaim is particularly relevant after decades of misfire. The first Fantastic Four movie to hit theaters came out in 2005, managing decent box office results despite mostly bad reviews. Its sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, still couldn’t shake critical scrutiny, so when the box office was below the expected, Fox scrapped the franchise. Then came the maligned Josh Trank’s 2015 reboot, Fantastic Four, which united fans and critics in hating one of the most misguided superhero adaptations. Yet there was one more attempt to bring Marvel’s First Family to live-action before any of those productions.
In 1994, a Fantastic Four movie was completed, promoted at San Diego Comic-Con, placed on a theatrical release schedule, and given a world premiere location at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Director Oley Sassone guided a cast that included Alex Hyde-White as Reed Richards, Rebecca Staab as Sue Storm, Jay Underwood as Johnny Storm, and Joseph Culp as Doctor Doom through a production built on a measly $1 million budget. Trailers ran in theaters, and the actors toured the convention circuit, following the expected marketing steps before a major release. Fox even announced a public release date of May 31, 1994, and the host city’s mayor was prepared to declare the premiere day Fantastic Four Day. So, why has almost no one seen this movie?
By the time the 1994 Fantastic Four was developed, German producer Bernd Eichinger had held the film rights to the Fantastic Four since 1983, when he purchased them from Stan Lee. In 1992, those rights were approaching expiration, and Eichinger could only hold on to them longer if a production entered the pipeline before the deadline. His solution was to partner with Roger Corman to make a film for $1 million. Whether the film ever reached an audience was a secondary concern in the rights deal, and though neither Eichinger nor Corman would later publicly admit as much, it was clear the movie’s low budget was conceived to force Marvel’s hand.
What makes the 1994 Fantastic Four particularly tragic is that the movie’s cast and most of the crew were never informed that the film was structured as a rights-preservation gamble. Composers David and Eric Wurst spent $6,000 of their own money to fund a 48-piece orchestra for the score, believing the investment would pay off. Hyde-White, Staab, Underwood, and Culp gave their professional time and their genuine belief to a production structured to exploit them in a rights transaction they knew nothing about.
Unsurprisingly, shortly before the January premiere, Eichinger informed Sassone that the film would not be released. Marvel Studios co-founder Avi Arad, who believed the low-budget production would damage the brand, moved to purchase every existing print and ordered copies destroyed. Marvel even issued a cease-and-desist order to the cast to prevent them from talking about the movie in public. The film’s survival owes entirely to bootleg copies that circulated in the years following its suppression, with VHS copies leaking from production and passing from fan to fan in the 1990s. Documentary filmmaker Marty Langford even produced Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four in 2015, so the cast’s legacy could only endure through more official channels. As recently as 2024, Joseph Culp launched a Change.org petition demanding Disney give the film an official release, collecting thousands of signatures. The 1994 Fantastic Four remains unavailable.
Together, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars are the most ambitious multiversal story Marvel Studios has ever attempted, making these movies the perfect place to do the cast of the 1994 Fantastic Four justice. The franchise has already proven it’s willing to honor characters and stars from outside the MCU. Deadpool & Wolverine brought back Chris Evans’s Johnny Storm, the role he played in the 2005 Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel, alongside Jennifer Garner’s Elektra Natchios, Wesley Snipes’s Blade, and even Channing Tatum as the Gambit he never got to play. Meanwhile, Spider-Man: No Way Home united three generations of the hero by making Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield part of the plot. Even Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness honored a fan cat by featuring John Krasinski as Reed Richards. Next, Avengers: Doomsday will integrate X-Men performers from the Fox era.
Hyde-White, Staab, Underwood, and Culp were denied a theatrical release where audiences could witness their work. With Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards and the rest of First Steps‘ cast at the center of the next two Avengers movies, there’s a chance Marvel Studios will pull from past iterations to honor the history of Marvel. If that indeed happens, the 1994 Fantastic Four cast deserves to show up and have their erased history restored.
Avengers: Doomsday opens December 18, 2026, and Avengers: Secret Wars follows December 17, 2027.
Should Marvel Studios use the multiverse to finally give the 1994 Fantastic Four cast the recognition they were denied more than three decades ago? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
