Fant4stic: The Greatest Character Assassination in Comic Book Movie History

I still remember the hype surrounding this movie. Josh Trank had just come off the success of Chronicle, and there was real buzz around a fresh, gritty take on the Fantastic Four, featuring a younger cast with then up-and-coming stars like Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller. It seemed like it had potential—an exciting new vision that could modernize Marvel’s First Family.

Little did I know I was about to witness the greatest character assassination in comic book movie history.

Full disclaimer: I fucking hate this movie. I genuinely consider it the worst superhero film of all time.

Let’s start with the very few positives. The special effects were solid, Reg E. Cathey delivered a respectable performance as Franklin Storm, and—well, I guess it’s nice that the cast and crew got paid. That’s where the compliments end.

The cast had absolutely zero chemistry. The dynamic between the team was completely nonexistent, and for a movie that’s supposed to center on one of the most iconic superhero families, that’s a fatal flaw. The buildup to them getting their powers was rushed and uneventful, though I’ll admit the initial transformation scene had a neat body horror element that showed a glimmer of what could have been.

Unfortunately, from that point on, the film nosedives. The third act is an incoherent mess with no character development, scenes that come out of nowhere, and one of the most forgettable and anticlimactic final battles in any superhero movie. And then there’s that infamous ending line: “It’s fantastic... Guys, I got it.” It never fails to make me burst out laughing, for all the wrong reasons.

What’s frustrating is that this take could have worked. The early 2010s were full of grounded, grittier superhero stories and popular YA adaptations. A darker, more realistic approach to Fantastic Four had potential. But instead, we got a joyless, disjointed disaster that completely missed the heart, charm, and chemistry that defines this team.

An absolute misfire.