The buried Roger Corman production was the stuff of pop culture lore for decades before anyone saw it. Trank didn't seem to care about the characters or the superhero genre, while Slater wanted something more faithful to the comics. According to Slater, Trank left him out of studio chats and withheld script notes. For Trank, Fant4stic was a chance to make something that would feel like a "cross between Steven Spielberg and Tim Burton," with a dose of David Cronenberg. Some scenes do elicit the responses that Trank desired, particularly when the quartet are confronted with their bodies’ changes.