Full story
Scientist Reed Richards is broke and has a theory: a cosmic storm passing near Earth may have triggered evolution itself. To study it, he needs the space station of Victor Von Doom, an arrogant billionaire who was his classmate in college. Victor agrees in exchange for most of the profits. Reed brings his best friend, pilot Ben Grimm. On Victor's side are Susan Storm, Reed's ex-girlfriend and the company's head of research, and her brother Johnny, a showboating pilot.
The storm arrives ahead of schedule. Ben is outside the station, Reed tries to save him and Victor closes the shields only around himself. All four take the full blast. Back on Earth, each of them changes. Reed can stretch his body like rubber. Susan turns invisible and creates force fields. Johnny bursts into flame and flies. Ben becomes a huge, powerful creature made of orange rock. Ben's fiancée can't handle his new look and leaves him.
On the Brooklyn Bridge, Ben stops a man from jumping and ends up causing a pileup. The four act together to save a fire truck, and the press names them the Fantastic Four. They move into the Baxter Building, where Reed works on a cure. Johnny loves the fame and Ben hates it. Reed and Susan slowly rekindle their romance. Victor, with his company in ruins after the disaster, notices his skin turning to metal and that he can control electricity.
Victor turns them against each other. He convinces Ben that Reed is in no hurry to cure him and uses the machine Reed built: Ben becomes human again, and Victor gets even more power. With Ben out of the fight, Victor captures Reed and tries to freeze him. He also fires a heat-seeking missile at Johnny across the city, and Johnny shakes it off by dumping it on a garbage barge. Ben realizes his mistake, goes back into the machine and becomes the Thing again to save his friend.
The four face Victor together on a Manhattan street. Johnny heats Victor up as far as he can with a blast of fire, and Reed hits him with cold water from a hydrant. The thermal shock freezes the villain solid like a metal statue. Ben comes to terms with his new body thanks to artist Alicia Masters, who is blind and likes him as he is. At a party, Reed asks Susan to marry him. Victor is shipped to his homeland of Latveria, still frozen, and his eyes glow inside the crate, a sign the story isn't over.