Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four Reboot Loses Spider-Man Director

One of the most anticipated films in the upcoming Marvel Studios slate has lost its director. Following the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, Disney has been preparing to reboot the iconic Fantastic Four characters in a new movie from Marvel Studios, finally bringing them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jon Watts, who has directed all three of the Tom Holland Spider-Man films, was announced as the director for Fantastic Four a while back. He’s now stepping away from the project entirely.

According to Deadline, Watts is exiting Fantastic Four as its director. There’s nothing more to this split other than Watts wanting to spend a little time away from the superhero blockbuster space after making three Spider-Man movies in five years. Watts’ latest, Spider-Man: No Way Home, is the third highest-grossing film of all time domestically.

“Collaborating with Jon on the Spider-Man films has been a true pleasure,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and co-president Louis D’Esposito told Deadline. “We were looking forward to continuing our work with him to bring the Fantastic Four into the MCU but understand and are supportive of his reasons for stepping away. We are optimistic that we will have the opportunity to work together again at some point down the road.”

“Making three Spider-Man films was an incredible and life changing experience for me,” added Watts. “I’m eternally grateful to have been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for seven years. I’m hopeful we’ll work together again and I can’t wait to see the amazing vision for Fantastic Four brought to life.”

Deadline indicates that both Watts and Marvel Studios still plan to work together again sometime down the road. The likely project that reunites them will be an eventual fourth installment in the Spider-Man series. Holland’s Peter Parker finally returned to the character’s humble roots as a friendly neighborhood hero at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home, so there is still a lot of story left for him to tell.

As of now, there has been no indication as to who the studio could be targeting to fill Watts’ shoes on the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot.