Spoiler alert! This article contains spoilers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

The Fantastic Four have had multiple attempts at live-action success, but many of the movies’ standout scenes actually debuted years earlier in animation. Fantastic Four: The Animated Series (1994–1996) was a bold, sometimes campy, but surprisingly faithful take on Marvel’s First Family. It adapted classic comic arcs with a flair that many later films borrowed beat for beat.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps brought Marvel’s First Family into the MCU timeline, along with the Silver Surfer, Galactus, and Doctor Doom. Subsequently, it’s fascinating to look back and realize just how often the Fantastic Four movies (especially the 2005 and 2007 Tim Story films) were pulled directly from the show. Many iconic moments appeared on TV over a decade before the big screen.

10

The Team’s Origin Is Explained On TV

The Fantastic Four: First Steps reintroduces the team’s origin story through a clever montage. The scene is presented through a talk show appearance on The Ted Gilbert Show, showing how Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben became heroes after a cosmic storm. Viewers of the ’90s series already saw something strikingly similar.

In Fantastic Four: The Animated Series season 1, episode 1 “The Origin of the Fantastic Four, Part 1,” the characters also tell their story publicly. However, this time it is on The Dick Clark Show. Both versions opt for a televised media format rather than a traditional flashback sequence.

The animated version uses humor and news clips to deliver exposition. It does this while still grounding it in Marvel’s distinctive world. It’s proof that the idea of humanizing superheroes through public interviews didn’t start with the MCU – it started in Saturday morning cartoons.

9

The Team’s First Mission Is A Perilous Bridge Rescue

In 2005’s Fantastic Four, the team’s first major public outing was an explosive bridge rescue. When Ben Grimm stumbles upon a suicide attempt, the ensuing chaos triggers a mᴀssive traffic accident. Each member publicly uses their powers to save the public, with Ben Grimm saving a fire truck while being mistaken for a monster.

The Fantastic Four animated series did this first, with a darker twist. In episode 1 of season 1, “The Origin of the Fantastic Four, Part One,” a civilian under Puppet Master’s control climbs the Brooklyn Bridge in a suicide attempt. The team rushes to help, dealing with chaos on the bridge while managing their new powers.

In both versions, the incident acts as a turning point, where public fear clashes with heroic action. The scene’s core (chaos, redemption, and media attention) is almost identical. The movies may have updated the visuals, but the original heart of this moment beat first in the animated series.

8

The Thing Is Temporarily Cured

In the 2005 Fantastic Four film, Reed Richards creates a machine that temporarily reverses Ben Grimm’s transformation. Doctor Doom later uses it on Ben, leaving him powerless. Ben ultimately reverts back to the Thing to save his friends, sacrificing his humanity.

Fantastic Four TAS explores a near-identical arc in season 1, episode 2, “The Origin of the Fantastic Four, Part Two.” Reed develops a secret formula that might cure Ben. After being manipulated by Puppet Master, Ben is exposed to the formula and becomes human again.

However, the joy is short-lived, and circumstances force him to return to his rocky form. Both versions emphasize the emotional weight of Ben’s condition, showing the cost of being a hero. The idea of a short-lived cure, followed by tragic necessity, was done with equal depth in animation long before the big-budget adaptation.

7

Silver Surfer Leads Galactus To Earth

The plot of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and The Fantastic Four: First Steps revolve around the Silver Surfer arriving on Earth. There, he/she is revealed as the harbinger of Galactus’ world-devouring hunger. This cosmic chain of events was first depicted in Fantastic Four TAS season 1, episode 5, “The Silver Surfer and the Coming of Galactus.”

In the animated version, the Surfer scouts Earth. He’s mesmerized by its beauty, but bound by duty. His arrival brings mysterious destruction, confusing the heroes. Just like in the film, the Silver Surfer initially acts as Galactus’ herald without revealing his purpose.

All portray the Surfer as a conflicted alien whose loyalty to his master begins to unravel as he understands Earth’s value. While the movie upgraded the visuals, the animated series nailed the concept and tone a full decade earlier. It boasts the same cosmic dread, mystery, and inner turmoil.

6

Silver Surfer Rebels Against Galactus

The Silver Surfer’s most powerful moment in Rise of the Silver Surfer and First Steps is their rebellion against Galactus. At the climax of First Steps, she turns against her master and knocks Galactus into the Fantastic Four’s wormhole, saving Earth. In Rise of the Silver Surfer, the Surfer attacks Galactus, destroying them both in a cosmic rift.

The animated Fantastic Four series covered similar ground in season 1, episode 6, “The Silver Surfer and the Coming of Galactus, Part 2.” In this version, the Surfer realizes Earth’s potential for life, beauty, and love – concepts he’d long forgotten. He pleads with Galactus to choose another planet.

When Galactus refuses, the Surfer turns on him, triggering a battle that results in Galactus’ departure. Both versions highlight the Silver Surfer’s humanity beneath his alien exterior. His choice to defy Galactus is a turning point, not just for the planet, but for his idenтιтy. The movies echoed this animated storyline almost exactly, right down to its emotional beats.

5

Mole Man Sinks A Famous Landmark

In The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the team’s backstory includes a quick montage of Mole Man attacking New York and sinking the Pan Am building. It’s a nod to an old-school villain and a shocking moment. However, this exact concept was already used in the animated series.

In Fantastic Four TAS season 1, episode 11, “Mole Man,” Mole Man rises from underground and uses his machinery to sink the Rockefeller Center. His plan is similarly less about chaos and more about blackmail – he wants respect and attention. The visual of a landmark collapsing into the earth, however, remains the same.

Both iterations highlight Mole Man’s power and bitterness. He’s a villain driven by resentment, and both versions show him as an underestimated threat. Though it was his live-action debut in First Steps, Mole Man’s iconic scheme happened years earlier.

4

Doctor Doom Captures Reed Richards

In 2005’s Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom eventually captures Reed Richards. He freezes, leaving him helpless and immobilized as Doom confronts the others. The animated version was already ahead of the curve.

In Fantastic Four TAS season 1, episode 8 “The Mask of Doom, Part One,” Doom not only captures Reed, but also Johnny and Ben. He imprisons them in highly customized traps. Reed’s stretches out so far with him that he cannot affect it, rendering his powers useless.

It’s a chilling, creative scene that showcases Doom’s intellect and psychological warfare. The movies reused this idea in a more cinematic way, but the animated version was more inventive in terms of how each hero was neutralized. Doom’s ability to plan meticulously and exploit individual weaknesses wasn’t invented in Hollywood – it was animated on TV first.

3

The Fantastic Four Infiltrate Galactus’s Space Station

The Fantastic Four: First Steps team investigates Galactus’s arrival by launching into space and entering his enormous base. Inside, they confront the Silver Surfer and Galactus in their first effort to stop Earth’s destruction. This moment draws heavily from the animated series’ season 1 finale.

In Fantastic Four episode 13, “The Silver Surfer and the Return of Galactus,” the Fantastic Four leave Earth to investigate Galactus’ presence in orbit. They board his space station, concerned that the Surfer has led him back to Earth. However, they discover Doom at the center of the chaos.

Both scenes feature deep-space visuals, alien architecture, and high-stakes diplomacy rather than just punching. It was an ambitious, forward-thinking sequence in animation, and its live-action adaptation kept the spirit alive. Marvel’s cosmic scale storytelling owes a lot to this early animated scene.

2

Doctor Doom Tries To Steal The Power Cosmic

One of the most memorable elements of Rise of the Silver Surfer is Victor Von Doom’s obsession with stealing the Silver Surfer’s board and powers. In the climax, he succeeds – temporarily wielding the Power Cosmic and becoming a nearly unstoppable force. This exact storyline already played out in Fantastic Four: The Animated Series.

In season 1, episode 13, “The Silver Surfer and the Return of Galactus,” Doom tricks the Surfer and siphons his cosmic energy, becoming a god-like being. The result is that Galactus himself returns to Earth to stop him. It’s a strikingly similar identical arc.

Doom manipulates, steals, ascends, and ultimately falls in both. The animated version even handled the escalation better by bringing Galactus back into the mix. While the movie took a streamlined route, it was clearly inspired by the show’s bolder, more cosmic interpretation of Doom’s ambition.

1

The Thing Laments His Love Beneath A Streetlight

In Fantastic Four (2005), Ben Grimm, heartbroken and transformed into the Thing, calls his fiancée Debbie from a phone booth at night. Standing beneath a streetlamp, he’s bathed in shadow, his trench coat and fedora barely concealing his rocky form. It’s a quietly tragic moment.

Long before this, the Fantastic Four animated series nailed that same emotional beat in episode 2 of season 2 (“Inhumans Saga, Part 1: And the Wind Cries Medusa”). Ben stands alone outside Alicia Masters’ apartment. Lit only by a lamppost, he delivers a somber monologue about love, loss, and what it means to be seen.

The sH๏τ composition, the lighting, and the mood are all eerily similar. The 2005 film brought it to live action, but the melancholy of the Thing, alone and misunderstood, was already perfectly portrayed on Saturday morning TV. It truly demonstrates the lasting influence the Fantastic Four animated series had on the movies.