Jon Watts leaving the director’s chair for The Fantastic Four has left the MCU movie’s development in limbo, but producer Kevin Feige recently stated that Marvel Studios is approaching some “big-name” directors. However, there’s a reason why names like Christopher Nolan and Stephen Spielberg aren’t attached to Marvel projects.
The auteurs have to work within the parameters of the MCU, which would likely dilute their visions, not to mention that they have huge salaries. But now that the superhero movie is in desperate need of a director, Feige might be granting more leeway than usual, and the announcement has led to all sorts of speculation on Reddit as to who those “big-name” filmmakers are.
Phil Lord And Chris Miller
Mister_Doctor_0127 reckons that Phil Lord and Chris Miller are a possible directing duo that Disney could be poaching. The two directors had an amazing 2010s, as they directed the two envelope-pushing Jump Street movies and the groundbreaking The LEGO Movie. Given their expertise in animation and digital effects, that could be exactly what the studio is looking for when it comes to The Fantastic Four.
However, compared to other filmmakers, it’s hard to call them “big-name,” and the Redditor even explains why it’s just as unlikely that they’d be asked to helm the superhero movie. The user explains, “Given their history with Disney, probably not gonna happen.” Lord and Miller were the original Solo: A Star Wars Story directors, but were fired 90 days into production due to creative differences.
David Cronenberg
Frogandbanjo believes that Marvel Studios and Disney could be eyeing David Cronenberg for the superhero flick. The Redditor posits, “Between Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, and Thing, the answer is obvious.” While David Cronenberg has a legacy that few others do and is one of the most prolific American directors in history, he isn’t a “big-name” director in the sense that he makes huge movies, is consistently great, and is bankable.
The filmmaker is best known for his niche movies that focus on body horror, such as The Fly, and his upcoming Crimes of the Future deserves more anticipation, but that doesn’t exactly translate well to family-friendly superhero movies. In reality, the odds of Cronenberg being given the keys to one of Marvel’s biggest properties and undoubtedly one of the most important Phase Four movies is extremely unlikely. However, that isn’t to say that a Cronenberg-directed Fantastic Four movie wouldn’t be unique.
Jon Favreau
FatherToTheOne thinks it’s likely that Disney is approaching Favreau, but directing The Fantastic Four wouldn’t be Favreau’s first rodeo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, a lot of the MCU’s success is owed to the filmmaker, as he directed Iron Man, and if the 2008 movie didn’t turn out as well as it did, the prospect of a cinematic universe could have been nipped in the bud there and then.
The director clearly knows the history of Marvel well, and even though he’s busy creating iconic Star Wars characters and show-running The Mandalorian, Kevin Feige could still be trying to get him back. No other director has a better relationship with Disney, as Favreau, has a big hand in everything Star Wars, made one of the most important MCU movies, and has made two of the highest-earning Disney live-action remakes. As he has literally brought in billions of dollars for the studio, there’s no safer choice for The Fantastic Four than Favreau.
The Daniels
AntReduntAnt reckons the Daniels is being considered to be brought on by Disney. The Daniels is the moniker of filmmaking duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and at the minute, they must surely be overwhelmingly in demand. There’s no knowing how many offers they’ve had in 2022 or what those offers are, but after the success of Everything Everywhere All At Once, their agent must be working overtime.
Everything Everywhere is a sci-fi adventure comedy that’s all about hopping through multiverses, and it’s creatively shot with some remarkable action sequences. The movie is full of MCU sensibilities too. The Redditor explains, “They nailed explaining a unique take on the multiverse and balanced a story about a family coming to grips with each other in a single movie.” And though they haven’t been around as long as other seasoned big-name directors whose names are being thrown around, the 2022 movie catapulted them tenfold. Out of all the directors mentioned, the Daniels is certainly one of the most likely.
Christopher Nolan
TheDudeNeverBowls states, “Let’s just go for broke and ask Nolan to do it.” While there are big-name directors, Christopher Nolan is on a whole other level, and it’s almost gotten to a point where Hollywood plays by his rules. Nolan is already hard at work on his Tenet follow-up, Oppenheimer, but with that already being in production, the filmmaker could easily start work on The Fantastic Four in a year’s time.
However, Nolan is more hands-on than almost any other filmmaker, as he writes, directs, and has a major hand in the final cut of the film, and it’s hard to imagine Marvel Studios giving one filmmaker that much freedom. And though he has made superhero movies in the past, as he directed the Dark Knight trilogy, it’s hard to imagine Nolan being willing to play in somebody else’s sandbox.
Sam Raimi
Without even considering if it’s an option that Disney could be exploring, RedditorDeluxe1319 bluntly notes, “Get Raimi to do it.” Sam Raimi has just completed Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is a perfect example of how visionary auteurs can still work within the confines of the MCU and create a film that’s unique and distinctive. The 2022 movie is Raimi at his horror-comedy best, and it’s almost like a spiritual successor to his Evil Dead series.
The director is clearly invested in Marvel, as he helmed the original Spider-Man trilogy too, and he’s already directed a movie featuring Mr. Fantastic, so making The Fantastic Four is the logical next step. However, the horror elements of Doctor Strange 2 may have put some fans off and it could be what kept the movie from grossing a billion dollars, so Marvel Studios might want to go in a different direction.
Bryce Dallas Howard
ToggleOften thinks Bryce Dallas Howard could have been approached by Disney. But while Howard might be a big name when it comes to Hollywood actors, and Jurassic Park: Dominion will undoubtedly make over a billion dollars worldwide, she isn’t exactly a big-name director yet.
The filmmaker has only directed a short film, a documentary, and a few episodes of television, which can hardly be considered a big-name portfolio. However, the Howard-directed “The Return of the Mandalorian” is by far the best episode of The Book of Boba Fett, it’s full of well-crafted action and storytelling, and it proved that the filmmaker could easily handle a superhero movie.
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino directing an MCU movie is wishful thinking, but that doesn’t stop Worthyness from dreaming. The Redditor jokes that a Tarantino-directed F4 movie would be a “Dr. Doom movie featuring the Fantastic 4.” However, though everyone would just assume that the director would throw all of his trademarks into the movie, such as shots of bare feet and vulgar language, he has written superhero screenplays in the past.
Tarantino is professional and if he wanted to make a Marvel movie, there’s no doubt that he would play by Marvel Studios’ rules in terms of limiting the profanities and violence. On top of that, the MCU’s typical sense of humor is pop culture-laden, whether it’s arguing about the best Ben & Jerry’s ice cream or debating paradoxes in time travel movies, and nobody does pop-culture-referencing dialogue better than Tarantino.
Brad Bird
Brad Bird has been off the grid for a while, at least when it comes to directing live-action movies, but Fleshy1537 believes that The Fantastic Four could be the perfect return for the filmmaker. Bird is best known for creating The Incredibles and helming Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, one of the most influential action movies of the 2010s.
The director’s approach to directing action is unique and fun, and Ghost Protocol is a perfect example of his outside-the-box thinking. Bird made elevated the franchise by having every piece of tech that Ethan Hunt uses in the film malfunction, whether it’s the mask-making machine or the gloves he uses to scale Burj Khalifa. Applying that to a movie where a genius scientist is the main character could make for one of the funniest and most inventive MCU movies yet.
Steven Spielberg
When anybody says “big-name director,” the first filmmaker anybody thinks of is Steven Spielberg, and PaddlingPadalin thinks Disney and Marvel could be poaching him to direct The Fantastic Four. Steven Spielberg has directed the greatest action movies, the greatest sci-fi movies, and the greatest adventure movies of all time. And The Fantastic Four could be the filmmaker’s late-career masterpiece that calls back to classics like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
And as Spielberg has celebrated composer John Williams in his back pocket, that’d mean that a Spielberg-directed Fantastic Four movie would come with an undoubtedly spectacular Williams-composed score.
