The Fantastic Four are the first family of Marvel Comics; it was with their creation by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1961 that the Marvel Universe was truly born. While they are some of the most important characters in Marvel Comics, when it comes to adaptations they have had the worst luck of any bunch, with most people believing there's never been a good movie.
There was the 1994 Roger Corman produced film which was never intended for release. The 2005 film Fantastic Four and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer were respectable box office hits, but were poorly received by critics and never captured the imagination of the comics. The 2015 reboot is often regarded as one of the worst superhero movies of all time. With the acquisition of 20th Century Fox by Disney, it appeared fans were finally in store for a faithful version of the comics as they would eventually be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In December 2020, it was announced that Jon Watts, the director of the MCU Spider-Man trilogy would be helming the Fantastic Four's first MCU film. However, it appears the director is taking a break from the superhero genre as it was recently reported he was stepping down from directing Fantastic Four. While no release date is currently set for the film, it is likely that Marvel Studios is going to start looking for a director quickly, as the characters are a high priority for the studio. These are some of the directors who should be on the top of Marvel's list for a Fantastic Four film.
7 James Bobin
James Bobin is a British director who got his start working on the cult comedy series Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Concords. He made his feature directorial debut with the critically acclaimed 2011 reboot of The Muppets, which brought the iconic characters back in a big way. He followed it up with the 2014 sequel The Muppets Most Wanted. Those two Muppet films and his third film, 2016's Alice Through the Looking Glass, show Bobin has a strong working relationship with Marvel Studios' parent company Disney.
Across those three films as well as his fourth, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, the director has shown an ability to bring his quirky British sense of humor to family films, and with The Fantastic Four being first and foremost a family of superheroes, he might be the right fit for to bring the property to life in the MCU and could bring a new sense of humor to the MCU, similar to what director Taika Waititi did with Thor: Ragnarok.
6 Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris
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While Little Miss Sunshine focuses on a dysfunctional family unit similar to how The Fantastic Four operate, one thing that makes Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris such ideal picks for the MCU version of the team is the tone of their films. One of the key successes of the MCU has been for the various popular superhero movies to act as mini genres within the larger universe. Guardians of the Galaxy is science fiction, Captain America: Winter Soldier was sold as an espionage film while Ant-Man is a heist movie.
The Fantastic Four movie will need a hook, and while big science fiction adventure is the smart call, it also needs something more. Landing the directors of Little Miss Sunshine, Ruby Sparks, and Battle of the Sexes would indicate a Marvel movie unlike anything seen before, one whose aesthetic could resemble that more of a quirky low-budget comedy set against the backdrop of a massive cosmic adventure. That tonal clash could be what helps The Fantastic Four stand out.
5 Josh Reuben
Josh Reuben has directed two films, 2020's Scare Me and 2021's Werewolves Within. Both are low-budget though funny horror comedies that are great showcases for talented actors to flesh out dynamic characters and a director using the smaller budget to great creative advantage. Scare Me primarily focuses on two characters telling each other scary stories, while Werewolves Within features a large ensemble of colorful characters, and that emphasis on character and performance is exactly what is needed for a Fantastic Four director.
One thing that made the comic so revolutionary at the time of its publication was the ways the characters bounced off each other, sometimes bickering, and also the various family dynamics at play with the group. Reuben has showcased a talent for that in his two films, and like Favreau with Iron Man back in 2008, is a director just waiting to reach the top of his game with a major breakout hit. Horror directors (Sam Raimi, James Wan, David F. Sanberg) and comedy directors (Taika Waititi, Peyton Reed) also tend to be good fits with superhero projects, so Reuben feels like a qualified candidate.
4 Justin Lin
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The Fantastic Four is often defined by one word: family, and if anyone is fit for that job it is the director who turned The Fast & The Furious into the major franchise it is today. Justin Lin directed five Fast & Furious movies (Fast & The Furious: Toyko Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast and Furious 6, and F9) and was set to helm the final two entries until recently stepping down from Fast X due to creative difference. Lin's vision for the Fast & Furious franchise took the series from a streetcar racing film series to become a high stakes global adventure series with a multicultural found family at the thematic heart.
Combine that with his work on Star Trek Beyond, which also focused on a large ensemble who acts as a surrogate family that returned to the series to the 60s roots of exploration and adventure, which is very in keeping with The Fantastic Four comics and Justin Lin almost seems tailor-made to helm Fantastic Four.
3 Gillian Robespierre
Gillian Robespierre directed 2014's Obvious Child and 2017's Landline, and both films showcased the director's talent for highlighting character relationships. Her two films, while small in scale, focus on character dynamics and that emphasis is just what The Fantastic Four needs. Robespierre could also bring to the franchise is a level of authenticity. One key element to The Fantastic Four that the prior films failed to capitalize on is that they are New Yorkers. While they may not fight crime the same way Spider-Man does in the city before they ever got their superheroes the characters grew up in the city and have a history with it that informs who they are before their powers.
Robespierre was born and raised in New York and could add unique details that would ground the characters. She is of the Jewish faith, and The Thing is one of Marvel's most iconic Jewish characters, so a director who can bring a level of character authenticity to the project is very important. Her two films, very much focused on the lives of women, would add perspective to Sue Storm. Many of The Fantastic Four films have put the central focus on Reed Richards, yet while Robespierre could provide a point of view for all the characters given her history maybe giving the focus to Sue Storm as the film's central point of view might be just what the franchises need to rebound.
2 Peyton Reed
Peyton Reed has already worked with Marvel Studios on the three Ant-Man movies, with the third film in the series, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, just bumping up the release schedule to February 17, 2023. Marvel Studios almost brought on one MCU franchise director with Jon Watts to helm a Fantastic Four movie, so there is no rule against Reed jumping on board.
Reed directing Fantastic Four would also be something years in the making. The director had originally pitched a Fantastic Four movie in the 2000s to Fox, which would have been a period piece set in the 1960s. Reed left the project, as Fox wanted to go in a different direction and instead made the 2005 Fantastic Four film. Reed has always had a passion for the team and has expressed interest in making the movie someday. In 2015, Reed's Ant-Man crushed The Fantastic Four reboot at the box office, and when Marvel Studios got the rights to the first family of Marvel back many assumed they would give it to Reed. With Watts now gone from the project, it is entirely possible Marvel Studios could offer it to Reed and let him fulfill his passion project.
1 The Daniels
One of the things that made The Fantastic Four, as the comic itself said 'the world's greatest comic magazine,' for years was that the series was known for its rich imagination. It was in the pages of The Fantastic Four comics that The Silver Surfer, Black Panther, The Inhumans, Galactus, The Negative Zone, The Watcher, and many more first emerged. A Fantastic Four movie needs to capture that same sense of imagination, with a gonzo sense of energy that is weird and heartfelt; with that being the creative goal: The Daniels seem like the best filmmakers that Marvel Studios should pursue.
The Daniels, filmmaking duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, originally broke out with their music video for the hit song 'Turn Down for What.' In 2016, they directed the movie Swiss Army Man, which featured Daniel Radcliffe as a farting corpse in a movie that was also a surrealist dark comedy that draws a parallel between the bodily functions of humans and the emotions and truths they often repress. Their latest film is 2022's Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is a brilliant multiversal epic that takes place in one building and offers a deep exploration of family, nihilism, and what is the meaning of existence in a vast multiverse.
Their films are often very weird and surreal, but they wear that proudly, making their offbeat nature akin to Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. Marvel Studios reportedly approached the duo to direct Loki, but they passed on it in favor of Everything Everywhere All At Once, and while they should absolutely continue to make original films, they are also the same filmmakers who could give The Fantastic Four the same creative spark that made the original Stan Lee and Jack Kirby run so iconic.