Marvel Studios will set new marks across the board with the release of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, including the new film's runtime. Giving the MCU its first opportunity to show a full story highlighting Marvel's First Family as the main characters, anticipation is quickly building to see what this quartet will do under the Marvel Studios branding.
Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps will have a runtime of 2 hours and 10 minutes, as revealed by a listing on AMC Theaters. This would make the 2025 MCU movie the longest Fantastic Four movie in franchise history, beating out its four predecessors.
Every Fantastic Four Movie Runtime In Order
The Fantastic Four: First Steps - 130 Minutes
The newest addition to the MCU and the Fantastic Four saga, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, will also be the longest movie in franchise history. Clocking in at 130 minutes (2 hours, 10 minutes), it will utilize at least 20 more minutes of footage than any of the first four films.
Becoming the first movie in the MCU's Phase 6 slate (and the only one currently set for release for nearly 18 months), First Steps is directed by Matt Shakman after his wildly successful work on WandaVision. The titular quartet will be played by Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards), Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm), and Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm).
Also featuring stars like Ralph Ineson (Galactus) and Julia Garner (Silver Surfer), this film will pick up with the titular quartet about four years after they get their powers and fully function as a team. After picking off a few lesser threats, they will go up against one of the most terrifying villains in Marvel lore, Galactus, who is expected to put their world in danger of being annihilated forever.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps will debut in theaters on July 25.
Fantastic Four (2005) - 106 Minutes
The Fantastic Four first came into the spotlight of the modern era of superhero movies in 2005 via director Tim Story's efforts on Fantastic Four under 20th Century Fox. Coming in with a 1-hour-46-minute runtime, that movie featured Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm, future MCU star Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm, and Julian McMahon as Victor Von Doom.
This film brought the titular quartet together for a spacebound mission to Von Doom's space center to study an influx of cosmic clouds. Those clouds come earlier than anticipated and strike the station and the team, giving the five main characters their powers before they return to Earth and find out about those changes.
Once that realization comes through, Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben have to join forces as a team in the public eye, all while Victor Von Doom discovers his own power and ambition. This leads to an all-out brawl between the former friends and colleagues, as Doom seeks revenge for his new reality after the accident.
Fantastic Four is streaming on Disney+.
Fantastic Four (2015) - 100 Minutes
Directed by Josh Trank, 2015's Fantastic Four (known by most as Fan4stic) attempted to deliver a more modern iteration of the titular team in a film that was mired with controversy and changes behind the scenes. Coming in to embody the core team were Miles Teller (Reed Richards), Kate Mara (Sue Storm), future Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm), Jamie Bell (Ben Grimm), and Toby Kebbell (Victor Von Doom).
This 100-minute movie (1 hour, 40 minutes) pits the four alongside each other as teenagers who eventually earn Professor Franklin Storm's attention, and he brings them to the Baxter Foundation to help cultivate their genius and discover their true potential. They are tasked with helping complete a "Quantum Gate" developed by Doom, leading them to a parallel dimension in which they are granted their powers after local substances affect their genetic makeups.
After Reed tries to find a cure for himself and his friends, the four become military assets and are eventually roped into a mission to rebuild the Quantum Gate. Doom is also on his own mission to destroy Earth in order to protect his new home world from future invasions, pitting him against the Fantastic Four as the team goes back through the Quantum Gate in an attempt to stop Doom.
Fantastic Four is now streaming on Disney+.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - 92 Minutes
Serving as a sequel to 2005's Fantastic Four, 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer brings the entire team back for a second epic adventure, although it only uses a 92-minute runtime (1 hour, 32 minutes). Along with the main four heroes and McMahon's Dr. Doom, Laurence Fishburne joins the cast as the Silver Surfer.
This film shows the Four operating as a unit before Reed and Sue plan their wedding, which is eventually interrupted by the arrival of the Silver Surfer. Along with the Surfer affecting the team physically so they switch powers with one another, the Surfer (as he does in the comics and the MCU's new movie) heralds the arrival of Galactus.
Eventually capturing the Surfer, the team is forced to work alongside Doctor Doom to keep Galactus from destroying their world, but Doom betrays them as he steals the Surfer's board. Once again, Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny have to work together to defeat Doom while the fate of their planet hangs in the balance.
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is now streaming on Disney+.
The Fantastic Four (1994) - 90 Minutes
The first iteration of the Fantastic Four on film was never released to the public, being depicted in 1994's The Fantastic Four, directed by Roger Corman. This film starred Alex Hyde-White as Reed, Rebecca Staab as Sue, Jay Underwood as Johnny, Michael Bailey Smith and Carl Ciarfalio as Ben/The Thing, and Joseph Culp as Doom.
This unreleased movie pits Reed and Doom as college friends who try an experiment after seeing a passing comet. The experiment goes wrong, and Doom is presumed dead. Reed then goes to a boarding house owned by Sue and Johnny's mother, and Ben comes in as Reed's college friend.
Ten years later, the same comet passes by Earth again, and the main four heroes participate in a mission on Reed's experimental spacecraft that exposes them to radiation from cosmic rays. They are later captured by Doom, who has become a villainous monarch. The Jeweler is also utilized as the villains hope to capture a diamond that was initially meant to protect the Four on their mission to space.
The Fantastic Four is only available for viewing on YouTube.
Richard Nebens joined The Direct in March 2020, now serving as the site's Senior Writer and also working as an assistant editor and content creator. He started his journalism career as a hobby in 2019 and is passionate about sharing news and stories from the entertainment industry, especially comic book movies, comedy, and sci-fi. Richard looks to expand his knowledge about movies and TV every day, and he is eager to stay locked into the latest releases and breaking news at every opportunity.
