History YMMV / FantasticFour2015

** The four themselves consist of an UncannyValley Mr. Fantastic pulled straight from the director's [[NightmareFuel night]] terrors, a Human Torch that can't keep all his flames lit (or composited properly), and a pitiful attempt at Sue's force fields. The only one that's even remotely passable (in comparison) is The Thing, and that's saying ''a lot''.

* UncannyValley:

* MemeticLoser: Following the release of ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'', this film's version of Reed Richards became this [[spoiler:due to the fact that when Reed of Earth-838 was introduced as a member of TheIlluminati, Creator/MilesTeller didn't reprise the role, unlike Creator/PatrickStewart as [[Film/XMenFilmSeries Professor X]] or even Creator/AnsonMount as [[Series/{{Inhumans}} Black Bolt]].]] In fact, despite Marvel Studios delving into the multiverse beginning with ''Series/{{Loki}}'' and even having an IntercontinuityCrossover with ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'', it's a common sentiment to assume that this film's universe has already been pruned by the [[TimePolice Time Variance Authority]] or [[WhenDimensionsCollide destroyed by an incursion]].

** Prior to the release of the movie, there was concern that [[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight only Marvel -- or rather, Disney -- could do the property justice]]. After the movie flopped and both ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' and ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/TheForceAwakens'' turned out to be massively successful, some have jokingly argued that Disney is better at making adaptations of formerly Fox-owned properties than Fox themselves are at their own properties.

** The great lengths 21st Century Fox went through to get this movie out into theaters (entirely to keep the Fantastic Four IP '''out''' of Disney's hands) now fall under this trope due to Disney buying 20th Century Fox, now known as 20th Century Studios. For extra irony, Creator/KevinFeige formally announced a reboot roughly [[ArcNumber four]] years after this movie was released. [[spoiler:Furthermore, Reed Richards, or at least a variant of him, appears in ''Film/DoctorStrangeInTheMultiverseOfMadness'', but the role wasn't reprised by Miles Teller in that film.]]

** The great lengths 21st Century Fox went through to get this movie out into theaters (entirely to keep the Fantastic Four IP '''out''' of Disney's hands) now fall under this trope due to Disney buying 20th Century Fox, now known as 20th Century Studios. For extra irony, Creator/KevinFeige formally announced a reboot roughly [[ArcNumber four]] years after this movie was released.

** The great lengths Fox went through to get this movie out into theaters (entirely to keep the Fantastic Four IP '''out''' of Disney's hands) now fall under this trope due to Disney buying Fox. For extra irony, Creator/KevinFeige formally announced a reboot roughly [[ArcNumber four]] years after this movie was released.

** [[MovieSuperheroesWearBlack Reed's suit]] heavily resembles the leather bodysuit that Hugh Jackman wore for the first three X-Men movies, which just looks ''strange,'' especially considering that the previous [[Film/FantasticFourDuology Fantastic Four Movies]] managed to give him a modern take on his suit and ''still be accurate to the comics.''

** Doom is essentially this trope incarnate - his return is barely explained, and his motives for trying to destroy the world, even less so.

* EsotericHappyEnding: From a narrative standpoint, the heroes saving the world is a pretty standard happy ending - but from a character standpoint, the Fantastic Four end the movie as broken people who have barely bonded at all. [[spoiler:Sue and Johnny have lost their father. Ben and Reed's relationship is still strenuous at best. Johnny barely knows Reed and is a dick to Ben for no reason. Sue's not Reed's biggest fan either.]] The family dynamic more closely resembles a DysfunctionalFamily than an actual surrogate family. In the movie's defense, a lot of this is in fact true to the comics, or at least it was in the early days - Ben disliked Reed for his transformation, Johnny was constantly pranking and insulting Ben, etc. In fact, their (relatively) dysfunctional relationships were one of the most notable things about them back then, before [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny everyone started doing it in one way or another]]. The movie just takes it way too far.

** "[[FunWithAcronyms FFINO]]" - "''ComicBook/FantasticFour InNameOnly''" - is commonly used by detractors to describe the movie, similarly to how critics of Creator/RolandEmmerich's ''[[Film/{{Godzilla1998}} Godzilla]]'' used the term "GINO" to describe the movie.

** Prior to the release of the movie, there was concern that [[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight only Marvel - or rather, Disney - could do the property justice]]. After the movie flopped and both ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' and ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/TheForceAwakens'' turned out to be massively successful, some have jokingly argued that Disney is better at making adaptations of formerly Fox-owned properties than Fox themselves are at their own properties.

* InferredHolocaust: [[spoiler:Hundreds (if not thousands, or hundreds of thousands) of civilians are killed by Doom's energy vortex, but the movie wants us to forget about this - immediately after a shot of a destroyed highway full of cars and what appears to be an entire city is shown, no less.]] And nobody even obliquely mentions the catastrophic damage at all after it happens.

** People paid a lot more attention to the rumors behind the TroubledProduction than the movie itself - especially after it was announced that Josh Trank [[TroubleEntendre "left"]] the ''Star Wars Anthology'' movie he was supposed to direct. This '''exploded''' once the movie came out, and when [[CreatorBacklash Josh Trank said he wasn't proud of the final product]]. Once the movie was a certified BoxOfficeBomb, a number of "What went wrong?" articles released afterward popped up, getting heavy traffic online.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Some of the more forgiving reviews of the film stated that the film fell into this category; for instance, the [[http://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/fantastic-four Reelviews]] review states that the film "falls into the "adequate" range of the spectrum - neither memorable nor forgettable".

** The four themselves consist of a Mr. Fantastic pulled straight from the director's [[NightmareFuel night]] [[UncannyValley terrors]], a Human Torch that can't keep all his flames lit (or composited properly), and a pitiful attempt at Sue's force fields. The only one that's even remotely passable (in comparison) is The Thing, and that's saying ''a lot''.

** The four protagonists are literally the brains behind the operation and are absolutely vital for the successful operation of its linchpin, the teleporter. If they were to go and die in an accident on the other side - something they very nearly do - then the Baxter Institute would lose very key personnel, and thus lose the knowledge that made such a technological accomplishment possible (and this is later proven after the time skip, in which Area 57 can't recreate the teleporter without Reed).

** A lot of the changes that were made to Doom - ranging from his last name to complaints that were present in the Tim Story iteration of the character (removing his skills in magic, not using the Doombots, and having his skin turn into metal instead of being armor). The only similarities that he had with his comic book counterpart and most versions were his name and antagonism towards Reed.
** Turning Ben's older brother into an abusive BigBrotherBully also didn't sit well with fans. Plus, changing the Thing's cheesy signature battle cry "It's clobberin' time!" into a phrase said by his big brother before he beats Ben up makes the whole thing even worse.
** Leaving out Sue from the super-empowering expedition has also been widely criticized.
** There are also the facts that Johnny received a RaceLift, the film had a darker tone than the source material, and the designs of the characters (particularly the fact that the titular team did not have the number 4 anywhere on their costumes), all of which were not well-received and accordingly criticized.

** Critics were split on whether the cast playing the Fantastic Four actually tried making the most out of what they were given or if they just phoned their performances in. Of course, Josh Trank allegedly told the actors to give [[DullSurprise the flattest performances possible]] - apparently, they ''tried'' to act but Trank felt a dull and emotionless monotone equaled DarkerAndEdgier - so it's possible that they're not entirely to blame. Generally speaking, Michael B. Jordan was hit with the least amount of flak on the matter of his performance because he makes it clear that he wants to be there, and Jamie Bell's performance was similarly hit with less criticism for him putting a visible effort into playing his character (although his version of the character is otherwise criticized for not behaving much like Ben Grimm). Later, Kate Mara was also given some slack after reports came out that Trank was especially abusive to her on set, as well as the fact that she was the most vocal actor to denounce the film.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: One of the most heavily criticized aspects of the film is that it's almost completely bereft of the sense of optimism and bombastic adventure the comics were known for, something even the previous adaptations tried to capture (for the most part). Furthermore, the lack of any real bonds between this iteration of the FF by the end of the movie -- or the perception that the characters themselves are underdeveloped -- are also heavily maligned, as some critics argued that the DarkerAndEdgier tone ''would'' have worked... [[EightDeadlyWords given the characters were actually interesting or worth rooting for in the first place]].

* EightDeadlyWords: Nearly all the characters in the film are so dull and one-dimensional and have such little dynamics with each other that, whether you hate them or not, a lot of viewers will not care if either good or bad things happen to them.

** "''[=Lame4stic=]''", especially by fans of the ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' series.

** Those who prefer ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' and ''Film/FantasticFourRiseOfTheSilverSurfer'' deride this film for lacking the good qualities Creator/TimStory used from his films.

** Using Doctor Doom as the BigBad, and tying him to the Fantastic Four's origin, didn't go over well with fans who felt that the movie was already borrowing enough from the story of the 2005 movie.

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** Victor's rant about how it's not "fair" that Planet Zero will be first explored by astronauts instead of the people who built the teleporters has a lot of this. He complains that maybe they're going to send in the CIA. The CIA, being an intelligence agency, would have ''absolutely nothing'' to do with the exploration of new planets. Their purview is more about already established countries.
** Victor complains about how everyone remembers Neil Armstrong and that nobody remembers the scientists that made the moon landing possible, and that the scientists deserved to go to the moon first. The audience is supposed to side with him, but multiple failures in research become apparent:
*** Anyone who has even the slightest idea of engineering, physics, and space travel would be aware of how extensive astronaut training is and how expensive it would be to put even one person on the moon.[[note]]Also worth noting is that Armstrong had a bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering and had been piloting since his teens, and his crewmate ''Doctor'' "Buzz" Aldrin got his [=Ph.D=] from MIT and did post-doctorate research on orbital rendezvous. A large proportion of astronauts and cosmonauts ever since Apollo have also been highly qualified scientists.[[/note]]
*** Anyone with a knowledge of sociology and politics would recognize how urgent the US's [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace space race against the USSR was]] at the time and that obviously, only a small crew could actually make the trip.
*** Anyone with a decent knowledge of history would note that a key scientific figure who made the Apollo 11 mission possible -- Wernher Von Braun -- '''was''' very famous at the time (having made several television appearances in the fifties, sixties, and seventies), and that his absence in the conversation is pretty conspicuous.
*** Critic Creator/BradJones, in his ''WebVideo/MidnightScreenings'' review of the film, pointed out two other flaws with Victor's claim: 1) Apollo 11 was built by a crew of over hundreds of thousands, not just a few teenage prodigies, hence why the astronauts got most of the fame, and 2) the astronauts themselves have been vocal about their gratitude to the engineers whose work kept them alive during their journey.
*** Furthermore, the research failure comes across as being particularly egregious based on ''who'' is saying it -- since Victor is a genius scientist who has worked in a similar field, he should '''know''' all of this, as should Reed. At the very least, for what little credit they deserve, [[{{Pride}} Victor's over-inflated ego has consistently been a problem for him across all versions of the character]] and [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy all three of them are shit-faced drunk during the discussion]].
** Any kid can tell you that ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'''s plot is not about a man who builds a submarine which can go deeper than any other, since the 20,000 leagues refer to the distance traveled ''across'' the sea while under it, not the ''depth'' the submarine traveled[[note]]According to Wikipedia, twenty thousand leagues is over six times the diameter and twice the circumference of the Earth, giving even less merit to Reed's statement. Additionally, the deepest the submarine is stated to travel is four leagues[[/note]]. Reed's words are especially confusing because in the book's universe, there is only one submarine, and the concept itself doesn't exist. Also, the ocean is only, at most, 36,000 feet/6.7 miles. 20,000 leagues is 60,000 miles, or almost 9,000 times deeper than the actual depth.
*** On a more thematic level, the movie has Reed claiming Captain Nemo as a hero and role model, and he's even called Captain Nemo as a joke. As any reader will tell you, Captain Nemo is the ''villain'' of the novel, and indeed his all-encompassing dedication to science over humanity is absolutely ''not'' the character you would want to equate Reed Richards with. If anything, the character that Nemo most resembles is the Doctor Doom of the comics, since both are EmperorScientist ByronicHero who are capable of being noble and cruel in equal measure. Of course considering how this film is based on ''Ultimate Fantastic Four'' instead of the original version and that Ultimate Reed eventually became a super villain himself, this unintentionally implies that Reed's inability to recognize Nemo as a villain will lead him to become like his comic counterpart.
** More based on the behind-the-scenes area, but one of Josh Trank's more controversial moments was when he described the comic book version of Susan Storm as being a 'slutty secretary', to negatively compare her to his version which he tried to present as a progressive change to the character. Ignoring the insulting connotations such a description has, it's simply not true; beyond being attracted to Namor, she's only ever been with one man in the mainstream comics and, save for a serious out of character moment, always dressed conservatively. As for the "secretary" part, she has always been portrayed as an equal member of the team, and in fact, is the team's most powerful member in most depictions.
** Josh Trank cited Bryan Hitch's work on ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' as an inspiration for the movie, particularly Hitch's rendition of Reed Richards working in his garage. However, Reed Richards was not a main character in ''The Ultimates'' (he only [[TheCameo briefly showed up]] in ''Ultimates 2'' and only became a prominent figure in the ''Ultimate Comics'' era as a [[FaceHeelTurn villain]]) and Bryan Hitch did not provide the artwork for the actual series that image originated from, which was ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour''. At best, Hitch came up with the character designs and provided the cover art.
** The Denny's ad featuring Ben Grimm has him about to bite into a burger with bacon on it. Ben Grimm canonically comes from a ''Jewish'' background (though he doesn't necessarily eat kosher).

** Following this film, there was increasing mistrust in 20th Century Fox's films based on Marvel IPs, with only the ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' [[Film/Deadpool2 films]] and ''{{Film/Logan))'' proving to be critical successes. Not helping matters was [[https://www.screengeek.net/2015/08/12/foxs-stock-drops-after-fantastic-four-release/?fbclid=IwAR0xNOkAWmcxajOROTlQ838fe8kscQFYKuTb6qgHvMdmyOvUkvcwE1uFJs8 stock in Fox dropping significantly after the release of this film]], only bouncing back after the announcement that it would be sold to Disney.

** Following this film, there was increasing mistrust in 20th Century Fox's films based on Marvel IPs, with only the ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' [[Film/Deadpool2 films]] and ''Film/{{Logan))'' proving to be critical successes. Not helping matters was [[https://www.screengeek.net/2015/08/12/foxs-stock-drops-after-fantastic-four-release/?fbclid=IwAR0xNOkAWmcxajOROTlQ838fe8kscQFYKuTb6qgHvMdmyOvUkvcwE1uFJs8 stock in Fox dropping significantly after the release of this film]], only bouncing back after the announcement that it would be sold to Disney.

** Following this film, there was increasing mistrust in 20th Century Fox's films based on Marvel IPs, with only the ''Film/{{Deadpool|2016}}'' [[Film/Deadpool2 films]] and ''Film/{{Logan|2017))'' proving to be critical successes. Not helping matters was [[https://www.screengeek.net/2015/08/12/foxs-stock-drops-after-fantastic-four-release/?fbclid=IwAR0xNOkAWmcxajOROTlQ838fe8kscQFYKuTb6qgHvMdmyOvUkvcwE1uFJs8 stock in Fox dropping significantly after the release of this film]], only bouncing back after the announcement that it would be sold to Disney.

*** On a more thematic level, the movie has Reed claiming Captain Nemo as a hero and role model, and he's even called Captain Nemo as a joke. As any reader will tell you, Captain Nemo is the ''villain'' of the novel, and indeed his all-encompassing dedication to science over humanity is absolutely ''not'' the character you would want to equate Reed Richards with. If anything, the character that Nemo most resembles is the Doctor Doom of the comics, since both are EmperorScientist ByronicHero who are capable of being noble and cruel in equal measure.

* UncertainAudience: One of the numerous reasons [[https://www.villagevoice.com/2015/08/06/seven-reasons-fantastic-four-fails-on-the-big-screen-yet-again/ often given]] for the film's failure is that it wildly shifts between tones, mixing [[Creator/DavidCronenberg Cronenbergian]] BodyHorror (an approach that many fans considered to be ''[[AudienceAlienatingPremise completely wrong]]'' for the wacky, campy and colorful source material) that's too scary for the kids and families that have usually formed the ''Fantastic Four'' target audience while simultaneously offering up desperate, flailing lip-service at being a fun, lighthearted superhero movie like its [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse distinguished competition]]. Consequently, the climax [[note]]Which was entirely filmed in reshoots, at the last minute, by [[ExecutiveMeddling the studio]], and [[FightSceneFailure it shows]][[/note]] ended up pleasing no one, neither being exciting enough for the fans wanting a traditional superhero beatdown or providing any closure for the people who were [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot actually interested in the darker plots it set up but never paid off.]]

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Franklin Storm's superiors demand that his researchers create something with practical usefulness. At the time they demand this, the researchers have already found a way to send things to Planet Zero, though they couldn't return them yet. In other words, their research had created a perfect solution to the old problem of finding a safe way to store radioactive waste (and that's just the start of all the possible applications for Planet Zero transit). Yet Franklin's superiors '''still''' insist that the research so far lacks practical uses...
** The fateful journey that gets the characters their powers happens ''[[AlcoholInducedIdiocy because they were drunk]]'' and didn't consider the dangers of going on an expedition without any support. What's more, Ben Grimm doesn't even have the '''excuse''' of being drunk. He basically gets a call from a hammered Reed in the middle of the night, asking him to come to the Baxter Building right then and there so they and two guys he doesn't know can take a machine on a dimension-hopping joyride to a distant planet... and he just goes, "I see nothing wrong with this picture. ''Okay!''". Making it worse is the fact that the characters seem to stop acting drunk once they get to Planet Zero, giving the impression that they had all sobered up by then, which ''still'' doesn't stop them from running around and touching stuff.
** Many reviewers also called out that Doom could have [[CurbStompBattle instantly defeated]] any of the Fantastic Four using his [[YourHeadASplode headsplosion powers]], [[IForgotICouldFly which he promptly forgot about]] after using them in the facility, which is particularly egregious considering that that was how he killed most of his victims in the film, and no HandWave is given to explain why he suddenly can't use them.

** ''Film/AntMan1'' was well-received by critics, while this movie was critically panned. As a result, [[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/35219905/antmanthing.jpg this panel]] from ComicBook/TomDeFalcosFantasticFour of Scott Lang mocking [[WesternAnimation/FantasticFour the 90s Fantastic Four cartoon]] started making the rounds ([[http://drg4.dancemania-ex.com/FFjoke.jpg panel in context]]). Adding to the hilarity is Scott mocking the concept of FF merchandise in-universe when Marvel made no merchandise to promote this film, as well as the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nNj88HudMI number]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo5NETEV0S0 of]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsCK5p_9nL4 critics]] who finished their reviews by telling people to just go see ''Film/AntMan1'' instead. That Lang's face looks like Creator/PaulRudd's only adds to the hilarity.

** The Denny's ad featuring Ben Grimm has him about to bite into a burger with bacon on it. Ben Grimm is predominantly ''Jewish'' (though he doesn't necessarily eat kosher).

* ArcFatigue: The characters don't teleport to Planet Zero and gain their superpowers until roughly ''halfway'' through the film. Following that, Doom doesn't even return and initiate his big evil plan until '''the last fifteen minutes'''. Amusingly, the lead-up to the expedition is widely considered to be the better part of the film, which may make this a SubvertedTrope.

** Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox had to deal with the popular perception of them as micromanaging meddlers due to the reign of former CEO Tom Rothman and the TroubledProduction of ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine''. ''Fantastic Four'' was intended to prove naysayers wrong and show that the company could be auteur-friendly, especially with one helming a big comic book movie. [[SubvertedTrope The effort, unfortunately, fell through]] due to auteur Creator/JoshTrank becoming a PrimaDonnaDirector who wasn't prepared for such a huge project, and Fox had to bring in an [[SelfFulfillingProphecy accordingly huge amount of]] ExecutiveMeddling in an effort to try and save the movie... [[BoxOfficeBomb which also failed to work]].
** Subverted in regards to the costumes; after the initial backlash against the "containment suits" and Thing being butt-naked, the people involved strongly implied that the team would wear more traditional-looking versions of their costumes at the end of the film. This didn't happen in the final movie, and Kate Mara confirmed that there were no fittings for different suits.

** With Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse fans, who believe the franchise would be in better hands at [[OnlyTheCreatorDoesItRight Marvel Studios]]. Like other Marvel superhero movies made since ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', a number of MCU fans said that they would skip this film to increase the chances of the character rights going back to Marvel Studios. [[SubvertedTrope After the movie came out, however, many Fox-Marvel fans were in agreement with MCU fans over the quality of the film.]]

* JustHereForGodzilla:
** Inverted. Some critics, such as [[http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/08/05/fantastic-four-review-its-clobberin-time Birth.Movies.Death]], argued that the movie is actually more interesting ''before'' it gets into the superhero stuff. It should be noted that the second half of the film is where most of the reshoots had been applied and was the point at which Josh Trank had been effectively kicked out of his own movie.
** Played straight for the ''Film/Deadpool2016'' trailer that showed before this film. Some fans just bought tickets to watch the trailer, then headed straight out of the theaters when the actual movie started.

* VindicatedByHistory:
** A downplayed example. People didn't consider this movie a good ''Fantastic Four'' film but it would have gotten a better reception if the film was an original [=IP=].
** On another note, this movie made more than a few people look back at the Tim Story directed ''FF'' movies with a little more kindness, as those at least kept a fun and adventurous tone similar to that of the comics.
** Josh Trank got a lot of the blame for how the movie turned out, even though most of the post-production overhaul -- which completely replaced the second half of the movie -- was handled by writer and producer Simon Kinberg. After the release of Kinberg's directorial debut with ''Film/DarkPhoenix'' (which was also heavily panned by critics and audiences and flopped at the box office), some of the heat for the film was taken off of Trank himself, since it's something of an open secret that Kinberg had way more of a hand in the reshoots than Trank. The fact that Trank made a minor comeback of sorts with another small-scale independent movie also helped, with some theorizing that Trank was probably in over his head managing a big-scale movie during this film's production and had no idea what he was doing.

** 20th Century Fox had to deal with the popular perception of them as micromanaging meddlers due to the reign of former CEO Tom Rothman and the TroubledProduction of ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine''. ''Fantastic Four'' was intended to prove naysayers wrong and show that the company could be auteur-friendly, especially with one helming a big comic book movie. [[SubvertedTrope The effort, unfortunately, fell through]] due to auteur Creator/JoshTrank becoming a PrimaDonnaDirector who wasn't prepared for such a huge project, and Fox had to bring in an [[SelfFulfillingProphecy accordingly huge amount of]] ExecutiveMeddling in an effort to try and save the movie... [[BoxOfficeBomb which also failed to work]].

** There was a small backlash to Johnny Storm's RaceLift among some fans, especially those in the anti-PC crowd who insisted that Creator/MichaelBJordan was only cast because of his skin color. [[http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/22/michael-b-jordan-fantastic-four-race It was a big enough issue for Jordan to write about it in an op-ed]] for ''EntertainmentWeekly''.

** The fan backlash to Johnny Storm's RaceLift seemed to be brought up by media more often than concerns over how the movie looked. It was hurt further by the media labeling nearly anyone objecting to the change as being "racist", and [[http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/22/michael-b-jordan-fantastic-four-race Michael B. Jordan's own views on the subject certainly hurt matters]].