The highly anticipated debut of Marvel’s first family into the MCU didn’t come away with any major news at D23 Expo 2022 — however, Deadline reports that Fantastic Four has already had scribes hard at work on a script. Writers Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer have been officially announced as Marvel Studios’ choice for screenwriters on the Phase 6-launching franchise.
Matt Shankman (WandaVision), who was at D23 Expo as an audience member when Kevin Feige pointed him out to simply confirm him as the film’s director (and make a point that we weren’t getting any Fantastic Four casting news), apparently came on board after Kaplan and Springer. The Deadline piece detailed, “Insiders add the writing duo have actually been involved with the film for some time, even before Shakman was tapped as director, and have been outlining where this next series of films will fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe alongside Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige. Kaplan, Springer and Shakman will now come together to align their visions for this project before Kaplan and Springer dive into writing the script.”
The writing duo have previously sold a number of specs and were previously tapped for the upcoming Warner Bros. comedy Disaster Wedding, directed by Palm Springs’ Max Barbakow and produced by previous Fantastic Four director Jon Watts. As far as further announcements go, Feige specifically remarked that there’s a whole other D23 Expo (as well as Comic-Cons) between now and Phase 6.
Fantastic Four is expected to release in November 2024.
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