Fantastic Four Director Tim Story Is Looking Forward to a Galactus Redo in Marvel Studios Reboot

Former Fantastic Four director Tim Story says he “can’t wait” to see Marvel Studios bring Galactus to life when the franchise is rebooted within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Story’s 2007 sequel, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, re-imagined the planet-consuming Devourer of Worlds as a cosmic cloud that takes the shape of the character’s stories-tall helmet from the classic Marvel comic books. Left mostly off-screen as a discreet cameo, the Fox version of Galactus was ultimately destroyed by his herald, the space-faring Silver Surfer (Doug Jones and Laurence Fishburne), when he joined forces with the Fantastic Four.

“Some were afraid of what Galactus might look like in his [true form],” Story told DesdeHollywood when interviewed ahead of his new movie Tom and Jerry. “What I am so looking forward to is when they [Marvel Studios] get their hands on Galactus and show Galactus, I can’t wait. I can’t wait. When I saw Ant-Man big on-screen [in Avengers: Endgame], when I saw that, I went, ‘Oh my God, wait until they get to Galactus.’”

When reflecting on his Fantastic Four duology in a 2014 interview with ScreenCrush, Story further explained why 20th Century Fox “shied away” from the larger-than-life design of the classic Marvel character created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby:

“I think at the time there was a little bit of a fear of going all of the way with that. Because it’s hard to completely grab the concept,” Story said at the time. “You know, if you know about Galactus, you know how powerful he is and how big or small he could be. And the fact that he does travel in a spaceship and so forth and so on. That’s a very big concept to kind of digest. And I think at the time we made the movie, I think the studio also had a little fear of what that was going to be. I think to a certain degree, we shied away from it because of that.”

Asked whether he wishes he could have realized Fantastic Four a decade later in the era of Marvel Studios, which embraces the comic books and the cosmic in franchises like Guardians of the Galaxy, Story said, “Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.”

“Because the Silver Surfer, if you know his origin, it’s very alien. It’s outer space. It’s a whole other thing and so, I don’t think at the time I was making the movie the appetite was for that. I really don’t believe I could have gone that far then. I don’t believe I could have,” Story said of his 2007 sequel. “So when you look at where the audiences are now, it would be fun to bring that to the screen. The excitement is so big for the filmmaker, whether it’s this group or what — to bring that to the screen, yes, to answer your question, it would have been really fun to do it in this day now.”

Story added, “It’s just more acceptable of the supervillain because, my gosh, when you think of somebody like Galactus — that’s big. That is big. The costume is big. And you’ve got to really go for it and you can’t just put your toe in the water, you’ve got to freaking dive in.”

Kevin Feige produces the coming Fantastic Four reboot from Spider-Man trilogy director Jon Watts. Marvel Studios has not announced a release date.