Matthew Vaughn is no stranger to comic book adaptations, having directed and/or written Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class and the Kingsman franchise. He was even a producer on the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot, and while that take was critically maligned and commercially bombed, now that Marvel’s First Family is available to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Vaughn is interested in overseeing their next cinematic adventure directly. As the filmmaker put it:
Yeah I've always loved the idea of doing Fantastic Four as it was originally written. I mean it's one of my favorite comics and I actually think that Fantastic Four, as a nice piece of IP, is in theory as big as Spider-Man. I think those, the values of Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, I think those are the reason, if you're a kid, you can imagine being a part of the Fantastic Four family and you can imagine being Peter Parker. So yeah, I think Fan-Four would be the one that would excite me the most.
Matthew Vaughn expressed a similar sentiment back in 2017, saying that making a Fantastic Four film would be his way of apologizing for how the last film turned out. It’s no secret that the FF haven’t had the greatest film run, but following Disney’s acquisition of Fox, Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Thing, The Human Torch and their lineup of allies and enemies can finally be incorporated into the MCU, and many fans have their fingers crossed that the foursome will finally be given their proper big screen due.
Besides having a solid track record with comic book movies, and filmmaking in general, it’s a welcome bonus that Matthew Vaughn grew up as a fan of the Fantastic Four, as he mentioned during his interview with Comicbook.com. A director with his sensibilities might be just the person to reverse the superhero team’s big screen luck, though if he’s sticking around the Kingsman franchise, who knows if he’d have time to tackle this project.
Maybe if Matthew Vaughn were to pass on directing duties for Kingsman 3 (the final chapter of the Harry and Eggsy story) to someone else, he and Marvel Studios could work out a deal to helm the next Fantastic Four movie. That said, Vaughn might not be the only filmmaker gunning for the job. Peyton Reed, who already has MCU cred with the Ant-Man movies, pitched a ‘60s-set Fantastic Four movie in the early 2000s, and he’s expressed interest in the past about taking a second crack at the team.
At last summer’s San Diego Comic-Con, Kevin Feige indicated that an MCU-set Fantastic Four movie is in the works which will bring the team “up to the sort of platform and level they deserve.” There’s still no word on when that will drop in theaters, though it’s possible it could be part of the Phase Five slate.
It’s also worth mentioning that before the Disney/Fox merger went through, Legion showrunner Noah Hawley was working on a Doctor Doom movie. However, now it looks like that project won’t move forward, which allows for Victor von Doom to once again be used as the team’s arch-nemesis. That said, don’t discount the possibility that villains like Diablo, Puppet Master or Mole Man could be introduced before Doom.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates on the Fantastic Four’s film future, but for now, you can keep track of what else the MCU has coming down the pipeline with our comprehensive guide.
