Spider-Man director Jon Watts has bailed on the Fantastic Four movie
Watts has said he needs a break from superhero movies—thus dipping out on a film franchise that's devoured the careers of stars and directors alike
Is there a major superhero property—or, maybe, attempted major superhero property—more obviously cursed than Marvel’s Fantastic Four? Marvel’s “First Family” has seen its fortunes in the comics rise and fall based on reader interest and creative experimentation over the years, with some of the most celebrated work of the franchise’s history coming in recent years. But in the theaters, Reed Richards and company have only ever trended toilet-ward.
Thus, news today that the upcoming Fantastic Four movie—ostensibly a key element in Marvel’s plans to finally integrate the Richards/Storm clan and their various rock monster friends into the wider MCU—has just lost its director. And not some Johnny-come-Stormly, either: This is Jon Watts, the architect of the three massively successful Spider-Man movies that Marvel Studios keeps joint custody of with Sony.
This is per Deadline, which reports that there’s nothing especially sinister about Watts’ departure from the project; he’s apparently just very tired after directing all these dang Spiders-men. (Both Watts and Marvel have reportedly confirmed that the split was amicable.) Which is nice! But it doesn’t stop the fact that Marvel has now lost the one trusted and stable (and billion-dollar-earning) element it had in this effort to integrate a film franchise that has devoured the careers of stars and directors alike over the years into its biggest cash cow. (Remember when Fantastic Four director Josh Trank was gonna do a Star Wars? Disney presumably doesn’t.)
Details about the MCU Fantastic Four movie are nil at this point. (Seriously: Watts attachment was literally the only concrete fact about this thing, and it’s now history.) Disney re-acquired the film rights to the characters as part of its Fox purchase a few years back; meanwhile, there’s some speculation that a version of Reed Richards might pop up in Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, since Marvel has been teasing that “The Illuminati,” a group of Marvel bigwigs who Mr. Fantastic is a member of, might make an appearance in that film.