Disney Plus has got a long way to go before it troubles Netflix’s position as King of the Streaming Services, but each day seems to bring a new and interesting bit of content for the platform. Today’s most prominent addition is a Marvel superhero movie that’s by no means a cinematic classic, but still well worth watching as a snapshot of pre-MCU comic book films. I’m talking 2005’s Fantastic Four.
Starring Ioan Gruffudd as Mr. Fantastic, Michael Chiklis as the Thing, Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman, Chris Evans as the Human Torch and Julian McMahon as Doctor Doom, the movie received middling reviews and did well, though not spectacularly, at the box office. Still, as of right now it’s definitely the best Fantastic Four film there is. Then again, its competitors aren’t exactly Oscar winners. The Roger Corman 90s movie is hilariously cheap (and was made so as to maintain the rights), this film’s sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer turned Galactus into a cloud and the 2015 version is one of the most notorious modern blockbuster flops.
I’ll admit I haven’t seen this flick since its original release, but I remember enjoying Michael Chiklis in orange make-up as the Thing and being impressed by Chris Evans’ Human Torch. The movie represents Evans dipping his toe in the Marvel universe for the first time as well, before going on to define the role of Captain America in the MCU.
Hopefully this won’t be the most successful Fantastic Four movie for long, though. Now that Marvel Studios have the rights, they’re working on the best way to bring the characters into their cinematic universe. Some fans think we’ve already seen hints of them in previous films and it seems like a no-brainer to use a (giant human-shaped) Galactus as the next really big bad. I mean, if you want to top the impact of Thanos, Galactus is absolutely the way to go.