How Many 'Fantastic Four' Movies Are There? A Look at the Family on the Big Screen

With the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, some of the most beloved characters in the history of Marvel Comics will finally make their way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness introduced a variant of Reed Richards portrayed by John Krasinski in 2022. But that doesn't compare to the entire family living through an adventure of their own.

As beloved Marvel characters, multiple attempts have been made to turn the Fantastic Four into money-printing icons for the box office over the years. How many Fantastic Four movies have hit the big screen? Here's what we know about every cinematic adventure featuring Marvel's First Family.

There have been five movies featuring the Fantastic Four as the leads. The first one to be produced was never released. The project was directed by Oley Sassone, and it featured Alex Hyde-White, Rebecca Staab, Jay Underwood, and Michael Bailey Smith as the members of the heroic team. According to the Los Angeles magazine, Marvel legend Stan Lee once stated that the movie was never intended to be seen. It was only produced to retain the cinematic rights to the characters.

A decade later, Twentieth Century Fox took the success of their X-Men franchise as an opportunity to develop Fantastic Four (2005). This might be the iteration of the characters audiences remember the most, considering how the movie made $333 million at the global box office more than two decades ago, according to Box Office Mojo. The adaptation, directed by Tim Story, was released years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe became the box office juggernaut fans came to know.

The success of Fantastic Four led Fox to release Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer in 2007. Mr. Fantastic (Ioan Gruffudd), the Invisible Woman (Jessica Alba), the Human Torch (Chris Evans), and the Thing (Michael Chiklis) returned for an adventure that pitched the team against Galactus. While the sequel took in $300 million at the global box office (according to Box Office Mojo), Fox decided that they wouldn't move forward with a third installment.

Years after Rise of the Silver Surfer marked the end for Tim Story's version of the team, the studio decided that it was time to bring the Fantastic Four into the serious era of comic book movies. Or they just wanted to keep the cinematic rights to the characters. Fantastic Four (2015) was met with disastrous reviews (per Rotten Tomatoes) and only took in $167 million at the global box office (via Box Office Mojo) during a time when superhero movies were the talk of the town.

Josh Trank's Fantastic Four team was abandoned by the studio, even when Fox had already scheduled a sequel for a 2017 release, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In 2019, the Walt Disney company acquired 20th Century Fox, giving the cinematic rights of the Fantastic Four back to Marvel Studios.

After teasing the arrival of the characters in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the post-credits sequence from Thunderbolts*, and a small cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, The Fantastic Four: First Steps allowed the team to shine. The latest reboot was directed by Matt Shakman, the filmmaker who worked with Marvel Studios during the development of WandaVision.