Why Fantastic Four: First Steps Could Bring in Agatha All Along Star Kathryn Hahn

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is on the way in 2025 and Kathryn Hahn says she would love to work with Marvel on that project. The Inside Total Film Podcast talked to the Agatha All Along star ahead of the show’s big premiere on Disney+. San Diego Comic-Con this year made it clear that Marvel Studios views Fantastic Four as a priority. Some fans might have forgotten, but the man behind the camera for the 2025 movie has a history with Hahn. Matt Shakman directed WandaVision and that means he helped birth the Agatha-mania that created Agatha All Along. It’s not exactly a surprise that they would want to work together again.

“I would love to play with that cast. They are all incredible,” Hahn told the podcast. “And Matt Shakman, who is incredible too, he’s directing the film and did all of WandaVision. I’m very excited for that movie.”

It’s clear Hahn still holds Shakman’s work in high regard. With the retro trappings of The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the kind of sitcom magic they perfected together in that earlier series would translate well. Adding fuel to the fire, there is speculation surrounding Marvel’s First Family being introduced with Franklin Richards in tow during this MCU blockbuster. Agatha Harkness took care of the Fantastic Four’s son in those books, and could serve a similar purpose in the upcoming movie. While she wouldn’t have to be a main character, it would be a fun nod that would delight comic fans.

Agatha Has A History With The Fantastic Four

Agatha Harkness is a character that has some significant comics moments. But, she can also be regarded as a bit of a blank slate for newcomers. One of the big moments that everyone can point toward is her taking care of Franklin Richards. She actually debuts in Fantastic Four #94 back in 1969! As a governess, she protected him from intruders and helped identify his powers as emerging. (This is all old-school comics shenanigans and kind of delightful. Some light hints at her having powers in the alternate reality of the new movie would be hysterical.) So, there’s some light text to draw from there.

Previous interviews with Matt Shakman have shown the director to be thinking about how to take comic moments and bend them a bit to serve the MCU. Seeing as how she wouldn’t have to be in too much of Fantastic Four: First Steps, it would be interesting for this little factoid to get a little shine. The filmmaker talked to Inverse about the team’s comics history and how the earliest days have really appealed to his creative process.

Shakman began, “I couldn’t say too much about direct comic precedent and what we’re building off of, but I would say that every new MCU project is kind of like its own new comic run, none of them are adaptations strictly of any particular issue and much like many of these famous comic books, whether it’s Vision & Scarlet Witch or Witches’ Road or House of M.“

“Each one of those was building on what had happened before as well, so that’s really what we’re doing. We’re taking everything that’s existed about Wanda in the past and osmosing it and thinking about it, but making something new, original, now,” the director added. “Something created in this moment, responding to this moment and that’s what’s exciting about it.”

Retro Vibes From Fantastic Four: First Steps Would Only Help

Agatha All Along is going back to the well of TV and movie references for the Disney+ series. Shakman and writer Jac Schaeffer really hammered home the throwback elements in WandaVision. Now, everything we’ve seen from The Fantastic Four: First Steps also has a decidedly “retro” tilt. Everything gleams with a sort of 50s futurism with white enamel and atomic age furniture details. Getting Kathryn Hahn back into some period-costuming probably wouldn’t be that difficult.

But, having her pop-up in next year’s summer extravaganza would allow the star to shine in a similar way to WandaVision. Namely, with the comedy of a family dynamic. Hahn has some absolutely killer line reads as Agatha Harkness in the Disney+ show. Her bouncing off of Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bacharach and Joseph Quinn would be a delight. 

Back when Monarch: Legacy of Monsters was stomping around on Apple, Shakman talked about how his Fantastic Four were going to take some cues from another famous family. Of course, the director was associated with It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and learned a lot from that chaotic mix of characters.

“I’ve learned so much from working on It’s Always Sunny over the years,” Shakman explained to ComicBook. “Those guys bring a unique combination of playfulness and precision, and I think you have to have both of those things in everything you make. You have to still be a kid in the sandbox playing and inventing, but you also have to be rigorous about what you’re doing and comedy is even more rigorous than anything else. The precision of making something funny is often way harder than making something really complicated with special effects work. So, playfulness and precision.”

Do you think Hahn will get a chance to cameo in Fantastic Four? Check out all the pop culture conversation at @ComicBook!