Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman directed the iconic MCU television mini-series WandaVision back in 2021. With the director returning to his roots, Shakman is all set to direct the upcoming movie Fantastic Four in the MCU.
Wanting to follow the comics rather thoroughly, Shakman recently confirmed that the upcoming movie will stay true to the comic books no matter the cost. Stating that he isn’t looking at any other director’s work for inspiration, Shakman will provide his version of the Fantastic Four which people hope will be the truest comic book-to-movie adaptation!
Matt Shakman Promises To Be True To The Fantastic Four Comics!
In the world of comic books and movies where there are bound to be some deviations from the original stories, Matt Shakman has made a bold statement to not deviate from the comic books at all.
In an interview with Inverse, Shakman talked about his upcoming MCU movie Fantastic Four. With the previous movies being considered average, the director has quite some pressure on him to make his movie better than its predecessors. Talking about how he only sees the comic books, Shakman seems to allege that his movie will not deviate from the source material at all.
“I’m not so much looking at the other movies, I’m looking at the comics themselves. I’m a huge comic book fan. I’ve been a big fan of the Fantastic Four since I was a kid. So going back to Kirby and Lee and Byrne and following all the way up to what’s happening, certainly Hickman and Wade and Ryan North, what he’s been doing.”
He further continued,
“I’m trying to figure out who these characters are to me and how to bring them to life in the best possible way, and that’s really where I’ve started and how we’ve approached it.”
This seems to be somewhat opposite of what Marvel President Kevin Feige stated since he did not want the director to follow the comics at all for the MCU series Secret Invasion.
Kevin Feige Did Not Want Secret Invasion To Follow The Comics!
Secret Invasion turned out to be quite an underwhelming series. With average ratings to its name, people bombarded the series with negative reviews. The President of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, had specifically warned director Ali Selim, not to read the comic books before making the show (via CBS).
“When I first got this job the first thing they said to me is don’t read the comics. This has nothing to do with the comics. I think the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done a great job of being inspired by the comics and taking characters from the comics but telling a story that’s unto the Cinematic Universe by itself. It was time to tell the Nick Fury story. That was a decision made by Marvel.”
Well, people around the world know how that decision turned out. Secret Invasion received a rating of 6/10 on IMDB and 54% on Rotten Tomatoes. As for the Matt Shakman project, Fantastic Four is set for a release date of 2 May 2025 in theaters across the U.S.
