RUMOR: Marvel Wants Spielberg Involved In Its New ‘Fantastic Four’ Film

Since Jon Watts departed Marvel Studios’ planned Fantastic Four reboot, there have been numerous rumors about the project circling the internet. These range from unverifiable updates to very obvious and wishful fan-casts. Admittedly, the latest rumor does sound too good to be true, but because it’s beginning to gain so much traction on the web we thought we’d share it here.

According to ComicBookMovie.com (not to be confused with ComicBook.com), filmmaking legend and Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg has been approached by Marvel to helm its next Fantastic Four movie. The site even claims that “there are whispers the director has already agreed” to take the job.

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While bringing someone like Spielberg onboard this project would almost guarantee its success – and we all know Marvel needs these characters to succeed after so many previous attempts to adapt them failed – I personally don’t believe Spielberg would do it.

Forget the fact this is a rumor (and should be taken with a grain of salt, as always) or that ComicBookMovie.com doesn’t exactly site its sources for this information. While Spielberg has even recently voiced his support of Marvel’s superhero films, I just think he’s way too busy.

I will say that for the first time in a long time, it’s unclear what the director’s next film will be after his semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans comes out later this year. Although he has recently voiced an intention to make a Bullitt sequel of some sort at Warner Bros., it is not clear if that will be his next project. And he’s done this before. He had previously announced his intention to direct Indiana Jones V too, before handing the reigns to James Mangold. Several years ago, he also announced his intention to direct a movie about the DC superhero Blackhawk. That still hasn’t happened.

Not to say that the man doesn’t follow through with his plans – he does. Even if he doesn’t direct something he’s initially attached to – at the very least he always come onboard as producer. As a cinephile and one of his biggest admirers, I think what it all comes down to for Spielberg is passion. It’s what drove his West Side Story reboot. It’s what spurred The Fabelmans. At his age, realistically he’s only got so many films left to make, so I think he wants to make sure whatever he does create is enjoyable all around.

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With all that being said, even if this rumor is true, I could only really see Spielberg coming onboard as a producer. Considering his background in the sci-fi genre, I think he’d be most effective providing constructive feedback in that capacity too.

Now, once again, this is all just speculation. But it’s also one of the few instances I’d love to be wrong.

Just last month, Deadline’s Justin Kroll confirmed that the studio was looking at some pretty big names for the project, so anything is possible.

With both San Diego Comic-Con and D23 around the corner, however, I’m sure we’ll know more about Fantastic Four and every other upcoming Marvel project very soon.

SOURCES: ComicBookMovie.com, The Omelete, Deadline, Collider