We knew it was coming, but we just didn’t know when. And, well, we still don’t, but at least we know a Fantastic Four movie is on its way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. During Disney’s marathon Investor Day presentation, which detailed the futures of Star Wars, Disney Animation, and Pixar movies, along with a ton of shows from each coming to Disney+, Kevin Feige ended his portion with some major news for the MCU. Marvel Studios will produce a film for Marvel’s first family, and Spider-Man director Jon Watts will direct.
They offered up a title treatment for it which looks…pretty much how you’d expect.
Jon Watts will direct the new feature film for Marvel's First Family, Fantastic Four! pic.twitter.com/Eu26ghxbGT
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) December 11, 2020
There’s a lot of hope that a Fantastic Four film at Marvel Studios can finally right the ship that has gone so astray for so long. The first FF film in 2005 was a bright and at times pretty hokey version of the characters. Its 2007 sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, was not as good even if its scope was larger. And, of course, the less said about Josh Trank’s 2015 Fant4stic the better.
Marvel
Since the Disney/Fox deal went down, Feige maintained he’d give the X-Men a bit of a rest before having them join the MCU. But Marvel’s first family deserves a good movie. And it seems Feige believes Watts is the man to do it. He, after all, took over the director’s chair for Spider-Man in 2017 with Homecoming following three not-great cinematic outings at Sony. People have affection for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 and Mark Webb’s two Amazing Spider-Man films but they were not well received.
Homecoming and Far From Home, however, have done gangbusters. Tom Holland’s version of Peter Parker is universally beloved and the upcoming third film has a bevy of rumored and confirmed returning stars from the previous Sony films. These are big, ambitious, and franchise-important films. It’s a huge vote of confidence for Feige to put Watts in charge.
Marvel
The Fantastic Four began life in 1961 from writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby. They remained an integral part of Marvel Comics ever since, appearing in different forms and iterations for the past 59 years. We’ll have to see if they can finally have their due in film… sometime in the future.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
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