Watch the Cast of the Unreleased 'Fantastic Four' Movie Take Their Place in Marvel History

The stars of Roger Corman's never-released 1994 film reflect on what might have been, appearing in cameos for Fantastic Four: First Steps. Despite its status as a Hollywood joke, the Corman-produced Fantastic Four was a heartfelt effort by the cast and crew aiming to bring the Marvel Comics story to the screen.

Marvel honored this early work by featuring the 1994 cast in this year's The Fantastic Four: First Steps. A new featurette revisits the original actors' memories of making the film.

Pressure Under Production

Jay Underwood, who played Johnny Storm, recalled the tight deadline producer Bert Eichinger faced:

“He was going to lose the rights unless he went into production by a certain date. So he goes to Roger Corman and says, ‘Can you make this movie and make it right now and make it cheap?’ … We put together this million-dollar movie, which for Corman was actually probably a very big budget at the time. But certainly not a budget that you need for a movie like the Fantastic Four.”

Legacy and Strengths of the Film

Grant Curtis, MCU producer on First Steps, praised aspects of Corman's film:

“[Corman] did a lot of things right in that movie … One of the things I think they did extremely well was the character relationships. And not every special effect on any movie holds up over time. But those were very real relationships that, when we did our homework and we looked at the movie early on, we took note [of].”

This reflection highlights how the film's character dynamics stood the test of time even if its visual effects did not.

Author's summary: The unreleased 1994 Roger Corman Fantastic Four film, though made under tight constraints, left an enduring impact through its strong character relationships, honored by Marvel in a recent tribute.

Gizmodo — 2025-11-07