Per the norm as of late with the MCU, Fantastic Four has been said to have all kinds of problems but it might get worse.
It has been claimed the flick has script issues, casting issues, and we already know Fantastic Four lost its original director with Spider-Man‘s Jon Watts, and the original writer.
Recently did see new director Matt Shakman confirm the cast is set in place, so apparently all good there.
While promoting the upcoming release of Apple TV+’s Godzilla series, The Playlist caught up with Shakman who further updates the Fantastic Four movie.
The good news is that Shakman again confirms the casting announcement will be coming sometime after the actors’ strike ends, and Shakman even says he is a big fan of the comics. Cool.
However, alarm bells then go off, and they are loud.
Alarm Bell #1
When asked if his Fantastic Four movie will pay homage to the classic storylines from the Marvel Comics or if he has an original story in mind, this is where the first alarm goes off:
“…the idea that I’ve loved so much about Marvel is that we’re not just going to take a run that exists and translate it to film. We’re going to do what every great run has done, which is stand on the shoulders of what came before, but then think about how we as artists living in this moment, processing what we’re all processing, what story do we want to tell right now that feels true to us as people? And that is informed, though, by everything that’s come before.”
As I made bold above, what is alarming is the mention of “living in this moment,” “processing what we’re all processing,” and telling a story “we want to tell right now that feels true to us as people.”
Per the rumors, that sounds political AF.
Alarm Bell #2
Wait. We’re not done. Here comes alarm bell #2.
So earlier in the month, it became known in the Marvel Comics that Sue Storm is considered the “Indiana Jones” of Marvel. It says so right in the comic. The comic finally explained a big retcon from a decade ago in regards to Marvel Comics retconning the origin of Reed Richards and Sue Storm falling in love. In short, what the retcon does is put Sue Storm on an equal footing with Reed Richards, because apparently in their 60-year history, she never was before.
Well, the MCU’s Fantastic Four movie happens to be rumored to be all about Sue Storm. She’s the star, she’s the main character, and apparently, she makes the three other dudes look like crap in the movie, including her husband who has been holding her back, fitting with Feige’s approach to Captain Marvel, Phase 4, and beyond, so no surprise there.
So who happened to come up with the idea or at least write the story a decade ago retconning how Reed and Sue meet and are now equals? Matt Fraction.
A decade ago, Marvel Comics relaunched Fantastic Four following Jonathan Hickman’s run as part of its Marvel NOW! initiative. Long story short, Marvel NOW! was woke AF, killed, and replaced all the characters for politically correct reasons, and it’s something Feige has been adapting with the MCU.
Fraction’s Fantastic Four would not only retcon Reed and Sue so they are “equal,” but the FF would assign a team of replacements while they were out in space: She-Hulk, Medusa, Ant-Man (Scott Lang), and the purple-haired Darla Deering.
Much like a lot of the stuff to come out of Marvel NOW! that drove the fans away, Fraction left after 12 issues and the series was quickly canceled after 16 issues.
Getting back to the MCU’s Fantastic Four, here is the second alarm bell going off.
Shakman happens to be working on the Apple TV+ Godzilla series with Matt Fraction:
Shakman also mentioned that he keeps comic book writer Matt Fraction, who also worked on “Monarch: Legacy Of Monsters” and had a run on the Fantastic Four comic, in the loop creatively. “Yeah, I can absolutely talk to Matt about it,” he continued. “Yeah, he’s great. He’s brilliant. And, you know, he’s a big part of the Marvel family over there in terms of Hawkeye, for sure, as well as, you know, he’s worked on several of the films too. I think he worked on Thor. And yeah, he’s a brilliant guy.”
