Why MCU's Future Rests on Success of New Fantastic Four Film

Despite previous box-office flops, Marvel keeps making movies about the superhero squad

- John Lui

Every decade or so, like a gambler stumbling towards the roulette tables of Las Vegas, Marvel bets millions of dollars on a Fantastic Four origin story.

The 2005 release starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis as members of the superhero team was a modest success, so a sequel followed in 2007. But that turned out to be a commercial disappointment, shutting the door on that cast.

A 2015 reboot crashed hard at the box office, taking the career of its director Josh Trank down with it, and it has yet to fully recover. Slammed by critics for being too grim, the doomed project starred Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell as the space explorers.

Now, a decade after that venture, audiences are getting a new version, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which opens in Singapore cinemas on July 24.

Marvel has a passion for The Fantastic Four it has not shown for its other properties, such as The Punisher (its last iteration was released in 2008) or The Hulk (no solo film since 2008).

Why? Because there is a storytelling hole in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).