The Fantastic Four • Summer Special

Written By Bart Simpson

With The Fantastic Four: First Steps in theaters this week, Nate and Adam felt inspired to cover the latest MCU blockbuster. But in the absence of a press pass, we decided to watch Roger Corman’s unreleased The Fantastic Four (1994) instead! We also revisit “I Am Furious (Yellow)” (S13E18), the most Marvel-icious episode of the classic era of The Simpsons.

Also in this episode:

  • The behind-the-scenes Hollywood shenanigans that kept this film from seeing the light of day 

  • Is Stan Lee one of the best guest stars ever on The Simpsons?

  • Roger Corman’s surprising influence on The Simpsons movie references

  • An ode to the golden era of internet cartoons

We will return with regular biweekly episodes in September. Until then, keep an eye out for more special one-off episodes and new articles on our blog.

For more Simpsons movie parody content, check out SpringfieldGoogolplex.com, or follow us @simpsonsfilmpod on Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok, YouTube, and Letterboxd. Discover more great podcasts on the That Shelf Podcast Network. 

Every Simpsons Reference to The Fantastic Four

By our count, The Fantastic Four has been indirectly referenced 6 times in the first 13 seasons of The Simpsons. The first reference appears in “Bart Star” (S9E6) from 1997, 3 years after the movie was cancelled.

Small References

Bart Star (S9E6): When playing football, Bart uses the Thing’s classic catchphrase, “It’s clobberin’ time.”

Treehouse of Horror X (S11E4): While not explicit, Stretch Dude’s powers seem modeled after Mr. Fantastic, while Clobber Girl may be named after the Thing’s catchphrase. (unconfirmed)

Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder (S11E6): When Homer and Otto bungee jump underground, they encounter several movie monsters including mole people, presumably from The Mole People (1956). However, the one mole person they see (Hans Moleman) has an “earthquake machine,” which the mole people in the movie lack, but Fantastic Four antagonist Mole Man does have. This villain appears in the 1994 film as “the Jeweler” for rights reasons. (unconfirmed)

Homer vs. Dignity (S12E5): When Homer orders a copy of The Amazing Spiderman #1 from Comic Book Guy—to eat it—the Fantastic Four team also appears on the cover of the comic.

I Am Furious (Yellow) (S13E18): When Comic Book Guy first meets guest star Stan Lee, he says his heart is pounding like “Thor’s hammer on Dr. Doom’s titanium-infused faceplate.” Later, Stan Lee jams an action figure of the Thing into Database’s 1960s-style Batmobile to “make it better.”

Extra Credit

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Further Reading & Viewing

Bart Simpson
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Interview with Matt Selman on The Simpsons Season 36 • Summer Special