This week, Marvel and Disney officially announced the casting for the upcoming Fantastic Four film. While the cast list looks fun, we weren’t born yesterday. We know the track record of Fantastic Four adaptations. And if you think we’re just talking about the 21st century ones, well, it goes back much further.
The first adaptation of the characters was the 1960s Hanna-Barbera series, which feared kids lighting themselves on fire and so removed the Human Torch from the team, putting in H.E.R.B.I.E. instead. The second adaptation was another Hanna-Barbera Thing series that is so bizarre I cannot even begin to summarize it for you.
And, who can forget the first Fantastic Four film, produced for a ‘let’s keep the rights!’ play and produced by B-movie legend Roger Corman.
However, it seems like every generation has their own bad version of the Fantastic Four that they watched and, potentially, have an affinity for. For me, it was seeing stills from the Corman film in an issue of Wizard or Fangoria and tracking it down at a comics/sci-fi convention in the mid-90s and being so thoroughly disappointed that I watched it a bunch with friends as a goof.
*Note: we aren’t including cameo appearances. This is just series/films that were primarily Fantastic Four adaptations*
So, which of these flawed adaptations is the best as of today? Vote in our Reader Poll, and check back on Monday for the results!
