Why does the Fantastic Four's cartoon gag seem so familiar? A (clobberin') timeline of Marvel ani...

Before they hit cinemas, the FF were all about Saturday mornings. Why does the Fantastic Four's cartoon gag seem so familiar? A (clobberin') timeline of Marvel

Before they hit cinemas, the FF were all about Saturday mornings.

Why does the* Fantastic Four*'s cartoon gag seem so familiar? A (clobberin') timeline of Marvel animation

Before they hit cinemas, the FF were all about Saturday mornings.

By Jordan Hoffman

Published on July 26, 2025 09:00AM EDT

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All suited up! The Fantastic Four ready for their out-of-this-world adventure in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'. Credit:

Jay Maidment/© MARVEL 2025

It may be hard to believe, but there was once a time when comic books were not foundational to a communications corporation's fortune. For decades, comics were cheaply made and quickly produced, and anyone who spoke about them with any sort of reverence would have been considered a lunatic.

It's been a long road from scorn to celebration, and part of that journey comes through generational exposure to the characters. Many of today's creators carrying the torch forward got their first glimpse at these heroes through Saturday morning cartoons.

Matt Shakman's *The Fantastic Four: First Steps *takes a retro-future approach to the mainstay characters from Marvel lore. It's far from the first time Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben have been on film, but it *is *the first time their movie is set during the period when their comic book first launched. Though we technically never get a date in *First Steps*, which is set in a parallel universe, the mid-century modernist design — think St. Louis' Gateway Arch and Eames chairs — put it firmly in the mid-to-late 1960s.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal, and Joseph Quinn in 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps'.

Courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios

In the world of the film, the four space explorers who return to Earth with superpowers are celebrated for their vigilantism. Children dress as them for Halloween, and there's even a cheesy cartoon based on their adventures. (Indeed, Ben Grimm/The Thing's catchphrase "It's clobberin' time!" appears to have derived from this show, much to the chagrin of the *real *Grimm, played by Ebon Moss-Bachrach.)

Welcome to the (retro)future: Inside the Fantastic Four's 'first steps' into the MCU

Pedro Pascal meets former 'Fantastic Four' star Jessica Alba in new photo

In the quick glimpses we see of the kiddie program, the look and sound are meant to mirror the Hanna-Barbera-produced Saturday morning series that aired on ABC from 1967 to 1968. This was the second-ever Marvel cartoon after 1966's *The Marvel Super Heroes*, which did not include the Fantastic Four. (Namor the Sub-Mariner, however, did make the cut.) The show has much of the Space Age look that the new movie has picked up on, and also deploys the sound effects banks heard in all the Hanna-Barbera shows.

The voice cast included Jo Ann Pflug as Sue Storm — she later appeared in Robert Altman's *MASH *(as Lt. Dish), and then was a regular on *The Fall Guy*. She was also fairly ubiquitous on game shows like *Match Game*, and was at one point married to game show titan Chuck Woolery.

The first animated version of 'The Fantastic Four'.

Ben Grimm was voiced by Jack DeLeon (credited as Jac Flounders), who was also often credited as Christopher Weeks and appeared on pretty much every sitcom in the 1970s and '80s. Most notable was the character Marty Morrison on *Barney Miller*, an out-of-the-closet and unashamed gay man.

Radio and B-movie legend Gerald Mohr voiced Reed Richards, and Paul Frees, who was also Boris Badenov on *The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle*, voiced Johnny Storm.

The 1967 version of 'The Fantastic Four'.

The closing credits to *First Steps *include the company Titmouse Animation (*Star Trek: Lower Decks*, *Digman!*), who were likely recruited to mimic the Hanna-Barbera style. But should this movie's iteration of the Four ever zip around in time, there will be a visual roadmap for cartoon reflections throughout the decades.

In 1978, the animation company DePatie–Freleng (best known for *The Pink Panther*) teamed with Marvel to make *The New Fantastic Four*. The stories leaned a little more into sci-fi and tech, especially with the inclusion of H.E.R.B.I.E., the group's little robotic friend not too dissimilar from *Star Wars'* R2-D2.

The four hands of the 1978 Fantastic Four - note the robotic arm of H.E.R.B.I.E.

H.E.R.B.I.E. (an acronym for Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-type, Integrated Electronics, should you ever want to conquer bar trivia) was included because the rights to Johnny Storm/The Human Torch were unavailable at the time, due to a standalone film project that was in development (and which ultimately wasn't made). Stan Lee himself concocted the idea of a robo-pal to round out the group.

All these years later, H.E.R.B.I.E. is a major part of a big-budget motion picture, getting a lot of screen time in *First Steps*.

Nineties kids, however, have their own connection to animated *Fantastic Four* adventures. *Fantastic Four: The Animated Series *ran for two whole years, packaged as part of a Marvel block that included *Iron Man* and *The Incredible Hulk*. The voice talent was radical on this one, with Brian Austin Green as Johnny Storm during season 1, and Chuck McCann, a television and animation actor with five decades of credits, as Ben Grimm. A great number of well-known performers did guest shots, like Mark Hamill, Brad Garrett, Michael Dorn, Richard Grieco, Keith David, Ron Perlman, and John Rhys-Davies.

An image from the 1994 animated 'Fantastic Four'.

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Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy-winning composer Michael Giacchino's score for *The* *Fantastic Four: First Steps *is one of the highlights of the movie. It includes this theme song for the cartoon within the film. Enjoy!

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Source: "AOL Movies"

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