Kate Mara Reveals Her Biggest Regret About Fantastic Four

Before Spider-Man, before the X-Men, before Black Panther, there was a group of superheroes who paved the way for everything to come in Marvel Comics. The Fantastic Four are Marvel's First Family. Their early comics were some of the first to showcase people who weren't psyched to have superpowers, often struggling with the weight of their responsibility to protect others. Their adventures brought us some of the greatest comic book villains ever, including Doctor Doom and Galactus. Still, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm have never really gotten the big screen treatment they deserve. 

There have officially been three live-action feature-length Fantastic Four films so far (not including the weird 1994 version that was never released). The problem is that none of them really struck a chord with either audiences or critics. That could change once the characters are rebooted into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for now, we're left with the memories of 2015's Fantastic Four. The film bombed at the box office and was plagued by behind-the-scenes issues.

In a recent interview with Emmy Magazine, Kate Mara, who played Sue Storm/Invisible Woman in the film, opened up about her "horrible experience on Fantastic Four." In a follow-up interview with Collider, Mara went into more detail about what she learned and what lessons she's taking with her for future projects. 

While promoting her new FX series, A Teacher, Mara sat down with Perri Nemiroff of Collider to elaborate on the comments she made to Emmy Magazine. While she didn't go into details about what specifically happened behind the scenes of Fantastic Four, she did say, "I don't regret doing it at all, but do regret not having stood up for myself. I regret that for sure... If I was in that situation today, it just wouldn't have happened or it just would have been a different environment, I think."

Mara's comments emphasize the importance of open conversation and respect in the workplace. While it sounds like making the movie wasn't a pleasant experience, it wasn't necessarily all bad. She met her future husband, Jamie Bell, during production. And as she related in the interview, she picked up a vital skill through the experience. "This is another great lesson that I learned... asking other actors what their experience was like working with either a producer or a director or another actor," she said. "I never used to do that and now I do because I think that if you really respect another actor and they've worked with someone that you're thinking about working with, then you can learn a lot just by talking to them."

It's always disappointing when a film so many people worked hard on doesn't come out as well as it should have. However, making sure everyone involved in a film's production feels safe should always take precedence over Rotten Tomatoes scores and box office receipts. It sounds like that didn't happen with Fantastic Four, but Mara is taking these lessons into her other projects, and advocating for others to do the same. For the movie industry, the fight against on-set toxicity continues.