Fantastic Four director says the movie will be unlike anything we’ve seen at Marvel so far

Last Updated on October 9, 2023

We’ve seen the Fantastic Four on the big screen several times over the last twenty years, but fans are hopeful that the next incarnation will finally get it right now that Marvel’s first family has come home. The new Fantastic Four movie will launch Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and director Matt Shakman teased the project while speaking with Collider.

“It’s different in so many ways,” Matt Shakman said. “I wish I could be specific. I wish I could say more. But we are doing things very differently from a story standpoint, from an approach to the filmmaking standpoint, that really fits the material. I wish I could say more. I would love to, but I can’t. But I think it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen before, and certainly unlike anything at Marvel that you’ve seen before.“

Now that the WGA strike has concluded, work can resume on the script, but we shouldn’t expect to hear anything regarding casting until the SAG-AFTRA strike is over, despite all the rumours. “We’re in the middle of a SAG strike, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they get a great deal really soon and we can go back,” Shakman said. “Then, once that’s resolved, there’ll be a plan at that point, but I can’t say too much. There will be an announcement at some point! I know that the internet is very excited to find out, and I’m excited to share it. I just can’t do it yet.“

As this will be the third Fantastic Four movie (or fourth if you count the unreleased ’90s movie), Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has said that they won’t simply be retelling the team’s origin. “A lot of people know this origin story,” Feige said. “A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before?” As the Fantastic Four have decades of history behind them, Feige admitted, “We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen.”

Marvel has big plans for the superhero team, with Kevin Feige saying that Fantastic Four will be a big pillar of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Fantastic Four is the foundation for everything that came after in the comics. There’s certainly been versions of it [on screen], but never inhabiting the storytelling of the MCU. And that’s something that is really exciting for us.” Feige said. “People will start to hear more about that soon. We plan on that being a big pillar of the MCU going forward, just the way they’ve been in the comics for 50 or 60 years.” Fantastic Four is scheduled for a May 2, 2025 release.