2015’s Fantastic Four Added to Disney+

Marvel fans have been hoping to see some of Fox’s live-action comic adaptations show up on Disney+ ever since the streaming service first debuted last year. The majority of the Marvel Studios films are present on the service, but former Fox properties like the X-Men have yet to make an appearance, despite being now owned by Disney. On Friday morning, the first of these former Fox films showed up on Disney+ without ever being announced. Unfortunately, it’s the Fox/Marvel film that most fans like the least. That’s right, it’s Fantastic Four.

Josh Trank’s 2015 Fantastic Four film is known more for what it wasn’t than what it turned out to be, with an over-controlling studio ultimately beating out the filmmaker for the vision of the final product. As a result, it has become a piece of Marvel history many try to forget.

The Disney+ services in Canada and other markets around the world have added a bunch of Fox Marvel films already, including the majority of the X-Men franchise. Disney+ isn’t able to add those movies in the United States because of existing streaming deals with other services. For example, many of Fox’s films, including Dark Phoenix, are streaming on HBO and HBO Max.

After two light-hearted versions of Fantastic Four, neither of which were very good, Fox decided to follow the path of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and give Marvel’s first family a darker origin story. Even with the success of DC’s Batman films, this was always a strange idea for Fantastic Four, given that the property is known for being more whimsical and fun.

Trank put together an all-star young cast for the new iteration of Fantastic Four, with Miles Teller leading the way as Reed Richards. Michael B. Jordan reunited with Trank to play Johnny Storm, a role originated by eventual Captain America Chris Evans, after starring in the director’s feature debut Chronicle. Kata Mara took on the role of Sue Storm while Ben Grimm was played by Jamie Bell.

Sadly, Fantastic Four was a pretty major failure at the box office, in addition to its negative reviews. The film made just $25 million in its opening weekend and $167 million around the globe by the end of its run. With a production budget of $120 million, not counting advertising, Fantastic Four lost serious money for the studio.