Fantastic Four: First Steps Director Shares Comics Influences

Matt Shakman has been digging into Jack Kirby and Jonathan Hickman.

By Aaron Perine

The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman shared some of his influences for the upcoming Marvel movie. The filmmaker is headed back to the MCU for next summer's massive blockbuster. Inverse asked him about possible influences from the previous on-screen incarnations of Marvel's First Family. But, it would seem that Shakman is more interested in the comics experience of The Fantastic Four than those early 2000s entries. The director name drops Jack Kirby and even manages to get a little Jonathan Hickman in there. This all tracks with the retro focus that Marvel Studios has been teasing for The Fantastic Four: First Steps. As always, we wait for more images of what Shakman and company are building over there in the UK.

"I'm not so much looking at the other movies. I'm looking at the comics themselves. I'm a huge comic book fan. I've been a big fan of the Fantastic Four since I was a kid," Shakman explained. "So going back to Kirby and Lee and Byrne and following all the way up to what's happening, certainly Hickman and Waid and Ryan North, what he's been doing. I'm trying to figure out who these characters are to me and how to bring them to life in the best possible way, and that's really where I've started and how we've approached it."

What Does The Retro Future Feel Like?

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(Photo:

The man behind the music.

- Marvel)

As fans clamor for more information about The Fantastic Four: First Steps, composer Michael Giacchino has started to hint at what he's planning for the score for the movie. Nerd Reactor's John Nyguen spoke to the Werewolf By Night director about how he's taking audiences back to the future for The Fantastic Four's entry into the MCU. While that kind of gleaming past will figure heavily in the iconography for this film, Giacchino's also making sure the things feel fresh as well.

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"They're similar and different in many, many ways," Giacchino opined. "There's definitely room for both in the world. Those are two where I'll have my feet in both of those. The challenge for me is how do I differentiate them? Because you don't want them to just be the same thing. You want them to be different. And I think what Matt Shakman, who is directing The Fantastic Four, is bringing to the table is very fresh, very fun, very different. Even on the outside, you go all, 'this is this and this is that.' Well, they're not, and they're very different, and very unique in different ways. I'm really excited to work on that project and it's going to be a fun one for sure."

What comics would you like to see pulled into the mix? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

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