Ever since the Fox-Disney merger finally went through last year, two questions have dominated the minds of die-hard MCU fans: When are the X-Men going to make their way over to the mainstream Marvel universe? And when are we finally going to see this world’s version of the Fantastic Four? Disney has finally answered that second question, announcing that Jon Watts—the helmer of two well-received Spider-Man films, Homecoming and Far From Home—has accepted the challenge of potentially making a good movie out of Marvel’s so-called First Family at last.
Disney announced the news today as part of its gargantuan, journalist-destroying investor’s call, saving it for pretty much the very last item of the day. And really, it’s all pretty light on info: We don’t know who’ll be playing Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny. We don’t know who they’ll be fighting. (Although if it’s not Victor Von Doom, that kind of seems like a waste.) And we definitely don’t know how these four cosmically empowered misfits will fit into the wider MCU ecosystem. (After all, in the comics, the Four are luminaries and founders of the superhero community; here, they’ll presumably be newcomers earning their place alongside a teenager from Queens and Iron Man’s old butler.)
Still, though: Watts has established a track record for himself at finding the “human” in superhuman, and so there’s at least some reason for optimism—even as the franchise’s track record over the last 20 years has left something to be pretty heavily desired.