By Drew Dietsch
| Published
The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters and is likely going to be well-received by audiences and their wallets. I don’t have a ton of enthusiasm for the movie after being burned out on the MCU in general, but I do hope it makes people happy and they get what they feel is their money’s worth.
Frankly, I’ve never been that crazy about the Fantastic Four in general. I recognize their importance and ingenuity in the history of superheroes, but it’s never lit a fire under my ass with the property.
However, there is one piece of Fantastic Four media that I put my full support behind: the 1994 feature film produced by exploitation expert, Roger Corman.
The Fantastic Four (1994)
You’ve probably heard about this flick as it’s gotten so much more attention over the last decade than when I was growing up. In case this is your first time learning about the infamous production, The Fantastic Four was intended to be the first movie version of Marvel’s First Family. It was a low budget project that Roger Corman had the rights to, but needed to produce a movie before the option on the rights expired.
The movie was made and everyone involved assumed it was on its way to getting out in the world, but it was eventually canned and put away for any number of nebulous financial reasons. Copies made their way out into the world through fan expos and conventions, but to this day, the film has never received an official release.
You can get into the nitty-gritty of the story by watching the comprehensive and entertaining documentary Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four, but I’m not really here to rehash the movie’s production and non-release. I’m here to argue why you should watch this movie instead of (or at least before) checking out the new MCU offering.
When Superhero Movies Were Simple
I’m a longtime comic dork with way too much superhero storytelling taking up residence in my brain, but even I have begun to bemoan the sophistication of modern comic book movies. So many of these tales and characters are supposed to be simple enough for children to understand. The Fantastic Four (1994) was made before we fell victim to endless deconstructions and grittification in our superhero cinema.
Does that mean The Fantastic Four is corny? Yeah! That’s a feature, not a bug. The movie is aggressively classical in its interpretation and all the better for it. I don’t care what Robert Downey Jr. ends up doing as Dr. Doom, there’s no way he’ll be as enjoyable as Joseph Culp’s nigh-Shakespearean approach to the beloved baddie.
It’s also such a treat to see the colorful costumes and their inherent silliness embraced instead of explained and finagled to be “real.” Sue Storm just sews their costumes for them and they look exactly as simple and streamlined as their comic book counterparts. I miss when superhero costumes could just do that.
Look, go see The Fantastic Four: First Steps and have a good time, but I ache for the kind of movie The Fantastic Four (1994) provides: a cartoon delight that doesn’t shy away from the soap opera of it all. You can listen to my full review of the movie in the GenreVision episode above. I hope it gets you to check out a movie that was never supposed to be released, and I really hope it gets Marvel to give the movie the release it always deserved.
