As Fox is reportedly trying to figure out how to combine the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises and turn them both into one gigantic Avengers-style cash cow, the true story of the first ever Fantastic Four film is finally being told in documentary form. A lot of people might assume that Fox’s 2005 Fantastic Four stinker starring Chris Evans and Jessica Alba was the first attempt at the tricky superhero franchise, but it was actually Roger Corman who first tried to bring Reed Richards and Co. to the big screen in 1994.
The new documentary DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s “The Fantastic Four” finally reveals why that version never hit theaters, as Corman and many of the people involved in the making of the film have opened up about its strange, hilarious and somewhat sad legacy. Here’s the trailer for DOOMED!, which, if anything, might serve as a precautionary tale for Fox and any other studios still reconsidering a remake of a crappy first attempt at a comic book movie.
Ultimately the victim of a studio panicking to hold onto the movie’s rights, Corman’s The Fantastic Four has only been seen in bootleg form, unlike the earlier, hilariously bad film and TV versions of Captain America, The Punisher and The Amazing Spider-Man, among others. But if you have an hour and a half to spare, you can watch The Fantastic Four right now and, um, marvel at how much comic book movies have evolved.