Following Walt Disney Studios' purchase of 20th Century Fox, almost no property has more hype attached to it than the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot from Marvel Studios. Now that the MCU finally has the chance to bring Marvel's First Family into play alongside Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the possibilities for exciting stories are literally endless.
At the moment, Fantastic Four remains one of Marvel Studios' most mysterious projects coming in the near future, as its confirmation for development is the only known fact about it. Rumors have pointed to filming being set for sometime in 2023, meaning the movie wouldn't release in theaters likely until at least 2024, but the slate after that is as wide open as anything Marvel Studios has planned.
After losing Jon Watts as the director for the new solo film, there are no names that are publicly known to be attached to production as Marvel Studios inches closer to getting cameras rolling. However, a couple of names from the MCU's most recent Disney+ project have now joined this massive new entry, according to the latest news release.
Moon Knight Producers Join Fantastic Four
Moon Knight head writer Jeremy Slater revealed that producers Grant Curtis and Nick Pepin will serve as producers on Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four.
Speaking to ComicBook, Slater said that he's not pitching ideas to either of them about the movie, feeling as though they don't need his "stink" on their plans:
"My execs on Moon Knight are the same guys who are running Fantastic Four, so we had a lot of talks about it. I was like, 'I'm not going to pitch you for anything, because honestly you don't need my stink on it.'"
Slater also looked back to his own work on 2015's Fant4stic, although only "one line of dialogue" from his first draft of the script actually made it into the movie. Even so, he understands the optics behind him potentially writing the MCU's next movie with the potential for fans to recognize him only for that past failure:
"I don't think the original Fantastic Four was my fault per se, because I have one line of dialogue in that movie when Reed is about to do his science experiment as a kid, and he's like, 'Don't blow up.' I think that's the one line that held over from my script and everything else was changed. So I don't take a lot of ownership over it, but I also know the optics of if they announce, 'Hey, we're doing a Fantastic Four movie,' All of Twitter goes 'Yay,' and they're like, 'And the guy that wrote the last one's doing it again,' and all of Twitter goes, 'You idiots!'
Even with those minor issues, Slater feels incredibly confident in Curtis and Pepin's abilities to find the right people for every job needed on Fantastic Four:
"Grant and Nick are amazing executives. They're going to find brilliant writers and brilliant directors. And they don't need my stink anywhere near that project. I can't wait to see it as a fan, but I just know that no one will ever accept a Jeremy Slater Fantastic Four movie for very good reason. If your Uber driver shows up and you're like, 'Oh, I saw that guy drunk driving last week,' you don't get in the car with him. I think there's some things that I just probably need to steer clear from for the rest of my career."
Slater Confident in Moon Knight Producers
Jeremy Slater redeemed himself from his experience on Fant4stic in a big way with his work on Moon Knight under the leadership of Grant Curtis and Nick Pepin. Now, those two will move on to one of Marvel Studios' most anticipated projects in Fantastic Four, joining the team early as Marvel makes sure that everything goes as well as possible for the upcoming movie.
While it's unclear what exactly Curtis and Pepin's contributions will be on the new Fantastic Four film, Slater spoke incredibly highly about his experience with them on Moon Knight, which earned great reviews from fans and critics across the board. They put their best effort forward to deliver a character that fans had never seen in live-action before, and now, they'll have the opportunity to take on a much more familiar group with their next official project.
It will likely be some time until more information about Fantastic Four is revealed, particularly with Marvel now in search of a new director along with its entire core cast for Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. Even so, with Grant and Pepin now on board, they'll be able to help things run more smoothly under Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and other top executives.