THR has reported that Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie has a new writer. Marvel Studios has tapped Josh Friedman to rewrite the script for the upcoming feature which will be directed by WandaVision‘s Matt Shakman.
Josh Friedman has been part of James Cameron’s writers room for the Avatar sequels, and shares a story by credit on Avatar: The Way of Water with James Cameron, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, and Shane Salerno. He also co-wrote the script for Avatar 4 alongside James Cameron. Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer were the previous writers on the Fantastic Four movie. It’s not clear if Friedman will work from that script or start from scratch. Kaplan and Springer are better known for their comedy scripts, while Friedman is much more involved in the world of science-fiction.
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 yet again. “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 telling Entertainment Weekly last month that Fantastic Four will become 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.”
In addition to the Avatar franchise, Josh Friedman also worked with James Cameron on Terminator: Dark Fate and co-wrote Wes Ball’s upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. He also co-created Apple’s Foundation series based on the stories by Isaac Asimov. Fantastic Four will be released on February 14, 2025.