Fantastic Four Director Matt Shakman Breaks Silence on MCU Casting Rumors (Exclusive)

Marvel Studios is getting ready to begin their fifth Phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is already getting some great reactions and will probably go down as the best in the Paul Rudd-led franchise. The film serves as the introduction to The Multiverse Saga’s main antagonist, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), and he is set to be one of the most menacing villains to grace the MCU. Kang has serious ties to another upcoming franchise in the MCU as he is the great grandson of Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. There have been numerous rumors of who has been cast in the upcoming reboot, with Adam Driver, Dev Patel, Penn Badgley and Diego Luna all rumored to headline the film as Mr. Fantastic. There have been multiple other rumors of other actors being in talks for the roles, so when we got the chance to talk with Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman, we asked him about it. In a new interview with ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian, Shakman discussed those rumors and whether or not the roles have already been cast.

“There are a lot out there, man. They really are. It’s pretty crazy. As I learned from WandaVision, too, it is so lovely to see the level of engagement that fans have with this material, because I’m a fan too, and I have been reading Fantastic Four since I was a kid,” Shakman told us. “I love these characters. I love the chance that we have to bring them to the MCU and I really want to get it right and I know that everybody out there is really excited and feels passionate in the same way wanting to get it right. And so I encourage it. I think it’s great. But yeah, I have no early answers for anyone today about casting.”

“Yeah, unfortunately, I have no comments to make.” The Fantastic Four director added when asked if the roles had already been cast.

The next Marvel Studios film to be released will be Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quatumania. Empire Magazine recently had a chat with director Peyton Reed about how the stakes have risen going into Quantumania. “People felt like, Oh, these are fun little palate cleansers after a gigantic Avengers movie,” Reed told the outlet. “For this third one, I said, ‘I don’t want to be the palate cleanser anymore. I want to be the big Avengers movie.’”

“I grew up a real Marvel comics nerd, and there are a handful of antagonists in the Marvel comics universe who are all-timers,” Reed continued. “Loki, obviously. Doctor Doom from the Fantastic Four. And Kang the Conqueror. In conversations with Kevin Feige and Marvel, it was like, I want to put Ant-Man and Wasp up against a really formidable villain in this movie, and so we’re doing Kang the Conqueror.” 

“In the comics, Kang has dominion over time, he’s a time traveler. His situation is a little bit different in this movie, which I won’t spoil for you, but he’s someone who, [while] we live very linear lives, from childhood to death, Kang doesn’t exist that way,” the director smirked. “It struck me as interesting to take the tiniest Avengers — in some people’s minds maybe the least powerful Avengers — and put them up against the most powerful force in the multiverse.”

The studio describes the film as follows: “In the film, which officially kicks off phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together, with Hope’s parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the family finds themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible. Jonathan Majors joins the adventure as Kang.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will hit theaters on February 17th!

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