All 8 Live-Action Fantastic Four Costumes From Marvel Movies Ranked

Marvel’s premiere superhero family, The Fantastic Four‘s on-screen looks have had some significant variation over their few movie appearances. An underused property in Marvel’s catalog, The Fantastic Four have languished in movie theaters under Fox’s banner, with only three relatively underwhelming officially released films to their name. As the MCU’s new Fantastic Four reboot looms in 2025, it’ll be interesting to see how the trademark team’s visual identity compares to previous entries.

Similarly to the X-Men, The Fantastic Four’s costumes have historically been more like coordinated, sleek uniforms rather than individual, expressive outfits. They’ve gone through a few looks over the years, but the essential recurring elements are the eye-popping blue color scheme and distinctive “4” insignias. The movies haven’t always followed these conventions very strictly, leading to some surprising variation in costumes across The Fantastic Four’s scant few film appearances.

8 Jamie Bell’s Naked Thing

Fantastic Four (2015)

It’s no secret that Benjamin Grimm got the short end of the stick from the cosmic rays that gave powers to The Fantastic Four, gaining super strength and durability that can’t stand up to the likes of Hulk or Thor in exchange for a monstrous appearance. In 2015’s Fantastic Four, not only does The Thing’s asymmetrical rocky hide visually worse than it was in 2005, but he doesn’t even get so much as a pair of shorts. The resulting orange Ken doll look is awkward, to say the least.

7 Kate Mara’s Boring Suit

Fantastic Four (2015)

The 2015 Fantastic Four‘s suits, for those that actually get them, are far more individually-tailored, acting more like containment units for the Four’s often uncontrollable powers. In the case of the Invisible Woman, however, there isn’t as strong of a visual identity to work off of with this concept. The result is an incredibly droll, dark-colored outfit that winds up looking like a diver’s wetsuit more than anything else. It would’ve been more interesting to see a suit that better explained a way to compensate for Sue Storm’s invisibility, such as the suit used in 2020’s The Invisible Man.

6 Miles Teller’s Bungie Cable Suit

Fantastic Four (2015)

Fantastic Four 2015 delved far deeper into the body horror aspect of Mr. Fantastic’s stretchy powers, exploring the odd applications that a completely pliable body could have. To go hand in hand with this, Reed Richards is given a suit with visible cables and telescoping joints, giving a realistic way that his costume could stretch along with him without having to handwave it away with futuristic science fiction textiles. Despite the creative concept, in practice, this suit just winds up looking like Miles Teller got caught in a net most of the time.

5 Michael B. Jordan’s Radiator Suit

Fantastic Four (2015)

Before he dazzled audiences as one of the MCU’s best villains in Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan got his chance to play a hero as The Human Torch. His suit winds up being by far the best of the original movie, with clear vents and cooling systems to manage his staggeringly high temperatures. The small radiator on his chest emulating the classic “4” badge with four small tubes is a nice touch. Unfortunately, the suit is still boring, colorless, and nothing like the comics, only good by comparison to Johnny Storm’s 2015 teammates.

4 John Krasinski’s Reed Richards Suit

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

One of many surprise cameos in the Illuminati in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, John Krasinski’s Reed Richards is technically The Fantastic Four’s first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Krasinski’s suit is a high-quality, relatively comic-accurate outfit complete with a classic blue-and-black color scheme and a plainly-visible “4” logo. However, it suffers a bit from the Marvel Studio’s tendency to over-design certain costume elements, criss-crossed with needless busy lines and 135-degree angles that audiences have already seen too many times in the MCU.

3 Jessica Alba’s Invisible Woman Suit

Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Sue Storm’s custom-tailored costume from the original Fox Fantastic Four movie, like all the others, was carried over essentially unchanged from the first film to the sequel. The classic, clean jumpsuit is indeed questionably tight, but Alba at least isn’t alone in that regard, with Johnny and Reed’s suits leaving just as little to the imagination. What does hurt the design is the inconsistent neckline, which suspiciously creeps downward on occasion in certain shots and promotional materials. Considering the negative experience Jessica Alba had with Fantastic Four, her costume didn’t also need to toe the line of needless sexualization.

2 Reed And Johnny’s Matching 2005 Suits

Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Essentially just the male version of The Invisible Woman’s suit, Ioan Gruffudd’s Reed Richards and Chris Evans’ Johnny Storm share identical costumes. The jumpsuits’ ability to withstand Mr. Fantastic and The Human Torch’s powers aren’t explained in-depth, but the clean, sweeping shoulder lines and crisp “4” logo look too good for it to be worth investigating. Finding a middle ground between comics accuracy and live-action movie practicality, it’s no wonder that the costumes were one of the major things Fox’s first Fantastic Four right.

1 Michael Chiklis’ The Thing

Fantastic Four (2005), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

It’s truly astonishing just how good Michael Chiklis’ The Thing makeup looks, even almost 20 years later. The Thing’s comic design is distinctively cartoonish compared to most Marvel characters, but Fantastic Four managed to somehow bring it to life in a convincing way. The stifling layers of makeup and prosthetics couldn’t have been easy to perform in, but Chiklis gave it his all, letting Ben Grimm’s heart pierce through his rocky exterior, even if the second movie found excuses to revert Ben to his human form via power-swapping shenanigans.

As far as the actual costume goes, Fantastic Four had the good sense to actually give The Thing something to wear, with shin-length pants that matched the rest of the Four while conforming to Ben’s unique biology. From his distinctive brow ridge to his four flat fingers on each hand, it’s astonishing just how well The Thing was represented in live action. It’s no wonder that Fantastic Four‘s The Thing was Stan Lee’s favorite superhero performance ever comitted to film, Chiklis channeling Blue Eyes’ signature personality.