It’s Not Official, but ‘The Incredibles’ Lowkey Outdid ‘The Fantastic Four’ Years Ago
Pixar’s hit superhero animated movie has been long associated with Marvel’s The Fantastic Four, but the former’s director actually has a pretty impressive list of cinematic universes that inspired The Incredibles.
Ever since Stan Lee’s comic book about Marvel’s first family came around in the 1960s, the superpowers shared by an entire family has become quite a popular pattern in the movie industry, though it’s not only thanks to The Fantastic Four.
Just like Marvel, Pixar Animation Studios also had its own story about adventures of a superhero family, releasing The Incredibles back in 2004.
The movie had a wild success and grossed more than $630 million in the box office, spawning one sequel and having one more in production.
However, the connection between The Fantastic Four and The Incredibles might not be that obvious due to quite many sources that actually inspired the latter.
Is ‘The Incredibles’ Really Based on ‘The Fantastic Four’?
While the movie is definitely not based on Marvel’s story, it’s still inspired by “The Fantastic Four” comic books and shares some pretty obvious similarities with it.
Both The Incredibles and The Fantastic Four follow the families of four, every single member of which boasts of their own kind of superpower, with both also featuring a stretchy character, an invisible character and a strongman.
However, these might be the only similarities as The Incredibles explores the relationship dynamic between parents and children while The Fantastic Four is a family consisting of a husband and a wife, brother-in-law and best friend.
Apart from that, The Incredibles’ director Brad Bird addressed the issue back in the day, stating that Marvel’s The Fantastic Four was also on his list of sources of inspiration that mostly included James Bond movies.
Whatever, ‘The Incredibles’ Fans Still Think It’s the Best ‘The Fantastic Four’ Movie
Even though it’s been repeatedly confirmed that Pixar’s movie was made as a means to honor Marvel’s story while offering its viewers a completely different plot line, The Incredibles’ fans are still convinced that even The Fantastic Four: First Steps can’t really topple the animated film.
“I’ve said for many years that The Incredibles is the best Fantastic Four movie so far. It’s most definitely inspired by F4”, Redditor maybe_a_frog revealed in a thread.
“To be fair, not many superhero movies can top The Incredibles. Even its own sequel couldn’t”, LittleYellowFish1 agreed in a different Reddit thread.
