King's Man Director Thinks The Fantastic Four Could Be As Big As Spider-Man

Filmmaker Matthew Vaughn brought The King's Man to New York Comic Con this weekend, but while he was there he talked about his dream super hero movies as well. The director spoke to Comicbook.com about his ideal space in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying that he would like to help make the Fantastic Four as big as Spider-Man is.

Vaughn was at NYCC to talk about The King's Man, his upcoming prequel for the Kingsman franchise. Of course, Mark Millar's spy series was not the first comic book Vaughn adapted for the screen. His other directorial credits include X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass, making him a veteran of the genre.

With that in mind, we asked Vaughn if he hoped to come back to the Big 2, and what his dream project in that world would be. After a moment of consideration, he decided on Stan Lee's original super hero team.

"I've always loved the idea of doing Fantastic Four as it was originally written," Vaughn said. "I mean, it's one of my favorite comics."

Vaughn argued convincingly that, handled right, Fantastic Four has the potential to have the same cultural impact as Spider-Man. He went back to their original incarnation on the page, pointing out that the share all the same innate heroic values that make for modern comic book classics.

"I actually think Fantastic Four as an IP is, in theory, as big as Spider-Man, you know?" he said. "I mean, the values of the Fantasic Four and Spider-Man, those are the reasons I think if you're a kid, you can imagine being a part of the Fanstic Four Family, and you can imagine being Peter Parker. So yeah, I think Fan-Four would be the one that would excite me the most."

The rights for the Fantastic Four officially returned to Marvel Studios back in March, when the Walt Disney Company finalized its acquisition of 21st Century Fox's film and TV assets. The team has already appeared on the big screen three times now -- twice under director Tim Story and once under Josh Trank. Story's version was relatively self-contained, and their early-2000s special effects now earn derision among some fans. Meanwhile, the 2015 version was a critical and financial failure, dooming the Fantastic Four to a few years on hiatus.

Whether Vaughn finds his way onto the projects or not, there are some Fantastic Four movies in the early stages of development. Back in June, Marvel Cinematic Universe boss Kevin Feige announced that a new Fantastic Four film is in development, joining the existing inter-connected MCU. Ant-Man director Peyton read has expressed interest in the project, but that does not necessarily take Vaughn out of the running.

Meanwhile, just last month Geeks Worldwide reported that Marvel Studios is developing a Silver Surfer movie. Previous reports suggested that comic book writer Brian K. Vaughn would write the script.

In the meantime, Vaughn has his WWI-era spy thriller to promote. The King's Man hits theaters on Feb. 14, 2020.