‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Director Thinks Fantastic Four Needs The Correct Story Told

Avengers: Infinity War co-director Joe Russo feels the Fantastic Four still have value as a cinematic property despite their cinematic failings, he said on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast.

“What do you do with Wolverine at this point though, coming off what [Logan director James Mangold] just did,” Horowitz said, prompting Russo to respond, “What could you do with Peter Parker after two — you know.”

“I think there’s always new stories to tell,” Russo said. “Maybe it’s ten years before the next Wolverine story, who knows — someone’s gonna come attack me now for saying that — there’s always a path forward if there’s a story worth telling.”

“And I think another thing we appreciate about Marvel is they’re very good at making sure there’s a story to tell before committing to it,” he continued. “And frankly, there’s a lot of IP that can be mined. There’s thousands of Marvel characters, and maybe there’s a new direction to go in.”

Asked which under-served characters he hopes to see benefit upon completion of the Disney-Fox purchase — Disney’s $52.4 billion dollar acquisition of Fox’s film and television assets would allow Fox-controlled characters like the X-Men and the Fantastic Four to be utilized in Marvel Studios’
shared cinematic universe — Russo said, “I think we all agree that the Fantastic Four need the correct story told.”

“[They’re] characters who were important to me, Ben Grimm was one of my favorites,” he added. “And I think there’s a version of that film and that world that still needs to be told.”

Fans continue to call for the family-slash-superhero team to enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with even A Quiet Place star John Krasinski expressing interest in possibly starring in the franchise’s third reboot.

Fox first adapted Marvel’s first family in 1994’s low-budget The Fantastic Four, a film often accused of being made to preserve Fox’s legal duties to produce a film in order to maintain the screen rights to the characters.

Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing first made their live-action debut on the big screen in 2005’s Tim Story-directed Fantastic Four, which starred Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans and Michael Chiklis as the squabbling superheroes. A sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, followed in 2007, grossing just $290 million worldwide — a drop from the $330.5 million earned by its predecessor.

Fox cancelled their plans for a Silver Surfer spinoff and would instead later reboot the series entirely with 2015’s Josh Trank-directed Fantastic Four — or Fant4stic — which starred Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Bell as a younger and darker take on the team. That film, mauled by critics and fans alike, grossed just $168 million worldwide on a reported $155 million budget.

Avengers: Infinity War is now playing.