After so many years of countless superhero projects, almost every major creative in Hollywood has taken a dip into the genre. Some may have a better track record than others, but there are plenty of comeback stories like Ryan Reynolds, Michael B. Jordan, and most recently, Fantastic Four-turned-Moon Knight writer Jeremy Slater.
20th Century Fox made its second attempt at a Fantastic Four movie in 2015 with Chronicle's Josh Trank in the directing chair and Jeremy Slater penning the script. The widely-panned flick introduced audiences to Miles Teller's Mr. Fantastic, Kara Mara's Invisible Woman, Michael B. Jordan's Human Torch, and Jamie Bell's Ben Grimm.
Throughout the production, there were reports of on-set difficulties with Trank, last-minute budget cuts, and even studio-mandated reshoots. As expected, the end result was a disaster. After several poorly received trailers, the movie only grossed $167 million worldwide, with only a 9% critic rating and an 18% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
With the writer behind the poorly-reviewed blockbuster now tackling Moon Knight, the topic of Fan4stic has naturally resurfaced.
Moon Knight Writer Talks Fantastic Four Reboots
In response to a fan question on Twitter, Moon Knight writer Jeremy Slater explained what went wrong with the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot that he co-penned the script for.
The writer of the panned Marvel flick revealed the problems with the movie stemmed from his attempts to "write it like an MCU movie" which "wasn't what the director wanted." Fortunately, that wasn't something Slater had to worry about with Moon Knight:
"Well, most of my problems with FANTASTIC FOUR stemmed from the fact that I was trying to write it like an MCU movie, which wasn't what the director wanted. I didn't have that problem here."
When asked he had been offered a role in Jon Watts' MCU reboot, Slater joked that they "don't need [his] stink on another Fantastic Four," but he's sure that "it's going to be awesome:"
"Trust me, they don't need my stink on another Fantastic Four. Plus, the Marvel creative execs on the project are all brilliant. It's going to be awesome."
Why Was Fant4stic So Bad?
From the very beginning, 2015's Fantastic Four was plagued with on-set issues, studio difficulties, budget cuts, and a downright poor script. All of these difficulties resulted in a widely panned final product that suffered from uninteresting characters, poor visuals, and an unnecessarily dark tone... but at least the cast did a great job.
The poor critical reviews and unexciting trailers led to a truly terrible box office run, grossing only $167 million worldwide. For context, the tragic box office gross amounts to less than even the budget of Spider-Man: No Way Home and comes in below the MCU's lowest-grossing movie, The Incredible Hulk, which made only $265 million worldwide.
Since Jeremy Slater's writing difficulties came from his attempts to pen the script like an MCU movie, that shouldn't be a problem for him when it comes to Moon Knight, and early reviews have certainly indicated critics are loving it.
After the horrific outcome of 2015's Fantastic Four, it may be for the best that Slater will be keeping clear of Jon Watts' MCU reboot, even if it is just to avoid jinxing it. But given the grand praise that Moon Knight is receiving, hopefully, he will be back for a second season and more future superhero adventures.
For those who have 100 minutes to kill - and really want to feel every minute of it - Fantastic Four is streaming now on Disney+ in select regions.
