Fantastic Four: A timeline of the heroes’ movie battles

This photo provided by courtesy Twentieth Century Fox shows, The Thing, in a scene from the film, "Fantastic Four," releasing in U.S. theaters on Aug. 7, 2015.Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox/The Associated Press

Johnny Storm, Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman and The Thing are heading to theatres this weekend, again. While there are many new things in director Josh Trank's Fantastic Four, the film also carries a heavy whiff of déjà vu. It's not only a reboot of the 2005 and 2007 movies' franchise, but the third cinematic iteration the Marvel icons have endured, thanks to an unreleased 1994 movie produced by schlock kingpin Roger Corman. A timeline of the heroes' big-screen battles:

1994: German studio Constantin Film obtained the film rights to Fantastic Four in the late eighties for a pittance – an estimated $250,000. But with its option scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 1992, unless a film was made, Constantin rushed through an on-the-cheap version to retain the franchise. Corman was brought on to produce, and Oley Sassone (Bloodfist III: Forced to Fight) hired to direct – all on a tiny, $1.5-million budget. The film was never released – though a bootleg copy can easily be found online – and the rights ended up shared between Constantin, Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox.

1995-2003: Now that a major studio was on board, a big-budget Fantastic Four movie was put on the fast-track – though even that couldn't stop it from falling into development hell. Various directors were attached before dropping out, including Chris Columbus, Raja Gosnell and Peyton Reed.

2005: Tim Story was finally hired to direct the new version, with Chris Evans, Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Chiklis playing the dysfunctional team, and Julian McMahon as Dr. Doom. The film opened to lukewarm reviews, but earned enough at the box office ($329-million U.S. worldwide) to justify a sequel.

2007: Story returned to direct Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but the critical reception was even weaker than the first film's, and its comparatively paltry earnings ($278-million worldwide) ensured the death of the franchise, at least this time around.

2009-2015: Not content with watching Marvel Studios bask in the glory of its Avengers-focused cinematic universe, Fox revealed it was retooling Fantastic Four in 2009. Three years later, Trank was hired to direct, and he assembled his new/old team: Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell. Third time's the charm?