Following confirmation earlier this month at Disney’s D23 Expo that Wanda Vision director Matt Shakman is reportedly directing the new The Fantastic Four, more details about the project are beginning to emerge. As shared by The Hollywood ReporterJeff Kaplan and Ian Springer have signed on to write the 2024 version.
The duo have already written independent comedies The Last of the Great Romantics and Bert and Arnie’s Friendship Guide. The first included an appearance of a pre-Eternals Kumail Nanjiani, so get ready to start speculating on how Kingo might cross! Kaplan and Springer have also Disaster Marriage and K-Pop: Lost in America in the works at the moment.
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The Fantastic Four is one of the most anticipated installments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Due to rights issues, the characters were not available to Marvel Studios until Disney acquired Fox. Following the 2019 merger, the project was first announced in 2020.
In the 2000s, Fox made a pair of The Fantastic Four films with Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis. It was followed by a widely reviled 2015 release starring Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell.
Casting for the new Fantastic Four has yet to be announced, but will inevitably drive a whole bunch of people crazy when John Krasinski and Emily Blunt aren’t involved. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness featured a popular fan cast cameo, but it seems unlikely to stick around, at least according to director Sam Raimi.
At this time, it’s unclear how the characters will fit into the larger landscape of the MCU. Legion Creator Noah Hawley has also previously been attached to a long-running project focusing on Doctor Doom, the Fantastic Four’s most notorious villain.