Josh Friedman, who worked on ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ and created ‘Snowpiercer,’ has been tapped by Marvel Studios to write the script for Fantastic Four.
Matt Shakman, the key director behind Marvel’s WandaVision, is on board to direct the film, which is set to be released on February 14, 2025, and will kick off Phase 6 of its storytelling universe, according to reports.
The ‘Fantastic Four’ were the heroic team who introduced readers and the rest of the world to Marvel Comics and heralded the start of the Marvel Age, as the self-generated hype machine described it in the 1960s.
Fantastic Four No. 1 introduced Reed Richards, a scientist dedicated to his work and unafraid to push the boundaries of science; Sue Storm, his girlfriend-turned-wife; Johnny Storm, Sue’s hothead and hot-rod-loving brother; and Ben Grimm, Richards’ beefy best friend.
They become heroes Mr Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and The Thing after an unauthorised trip into space and exposure to cosmic rays.
Previous writers on the project included Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer, and Friedman’s hiring indicates a potential shift in tone. Kaplan and Springer are inexperienced screenwriters best known for their comedic scripts.
Among the projects in the works are the Rebel Wilson comedy K-Pop: Lost in America and Disaster Wedding, which will be directed by Palm Springs filmmaker Max Barbakow.
Friedman, on the other hand, is a seasoned sci-fi author.
He co-wrote ‘War of the Worlds,’ the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise update on the H.G. Wells classic, and then worked as a writer-creator on ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,’ James Cameron’s Terminator TV series.
Years later, he’d return to work on 2019’s ‘Terminator: Dark Fateand’ was one of the writers Cameron turned to for assistance in world-building and story-crafting for his multi-movie Avatar franchise.
