Disney’s purchase of the Fox assets is far from a done deal, but Marvel Cinematic Universe directors have long been fielding questions about how they would bring other Marvel properties, the licenses for which are not held by Disney, into the MCU. Such a question has fallen into the lap of Peyton Reed, director of Ant-Man and the Wasp, who pitched a Fantastic Four movie to Marvel back in 2003. As it turns out, Reed is still bullish on the prospects of a modern day Fantastic Four movie.
“When Ant-Man came around I jumped at the chance because it is a kind of movie that I’ve wanted to make for a long time,” Reed said in an interview with Forbes. “I’ve done comedies, I developed a version of Fantastic Four back in 2003 and so these are the kinds of movies I grew up on, have loved and always wanted to make. From the other side, there’s a leap of faith that a studio has to make that the person they hire is going to be able to handle it.”
RELATED: Ant-Man and the Wasp’s Evangeline Lilly Says Ant-Man 3 Not a Lock Yet
Reed once described the plot of his Fantastic Four movie, which would have taken place in the 1960s and imagined the superhero team as rock stars akin to the Beatles at their height. The director was even able to net the job, but eventually left due to creative differences. It’s been more than a decade, but Reed still thinks a Fantastic Four movie could exceed Fox’s dismal output since Fantastic Four in 2005.
“I stand by the fact that the Fantastic Four, the comics, are the crown jewels kind of thing and that I think there is still an amazing, unbelievably great Fantastic Four movie to be made,” Reed said. “Beyond that, there have been no specific conversations about it. That merger is not even a done deal but it’s absolutely something that would be interesting particularly now because I think it’s like an insane challenge at this point. Also, I think thematically the Ant-Man movies deal with a lot of the same things that Fantastic Four does.”
Reed’s next film is Ant-Man and the Wasp. Opening Friday nationwide, director Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man and The Wasp stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, Tip “T.I.” Harris, Judy Greer, David Dastmalchian, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, Hannah John-Kamen, Randall Park and Walton Goggins.