Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four reboot recently found a director in WandaVision's Matt Matt Shakman, and the upcoming movie has now enlisted a writing team to work on the script.
According to Deadline, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer have boarded the project. The writing duo have reportedly been involved with the film since before Shakman was tapped to helm, and have been "outlining where this next series of films will fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige."
Kaplan and Springer are new kids of the block, but are described as "one of the hotter screenwriters in town having sold a number of specs in the last year." One of those projects is the Warner Bros. comedy Disaster Wedding, which recently enlisted Palm Springs director Max Barbakow on to helm.
Casting rumors have been doing the rounds for a while, but Feige made it clear during the recent D23 Expo that no one had been approached to fill the roles of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm or any of the supporting players. The Marvel Studios boss will now focus on putting the ensemble together with Shakman.
The big question is, will John Krasinski return as Mr. Fantastic after appearing as the character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Sam Raimi referred to the A Quiet Place star's casting as "fan service" during the sequel's press tour, which would seem to suggest that a different actor will be sought for this reboot.
Plot details are still a mystery, but Feige has confirmed that this will not be another origin story for Marvel's First Family.
“A lot of people know this origin story. A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before?” he said in a recent interview, comparing this new take on the heroes to Marvel Studios' pact with Sony to bring Spider-Man into the MCU. “We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen.”
Fantastic Four is currently set to hit theaters in 2024.