Marvel Studios

Marvel officially announced the development of a new “Fantastic Four” movie in late 2020, with “Spider-Man” trilogy filmmaker Jon Watts attached to direct, but a few months later, Watts stepped away from the project. Now a new report says Shakman will step in to fill that void.

Meet your Fantastic Four director

After proving he can handle a myriad of tones behind the camera with credits on shows like “Happy Endings,” “Mad Men,” “The Boys,” “Fargo,” and “Succession” (just to name a few), Shakman has become one of the go-to names for directing on the small screen. So far, he’s only directed one feature film — 2014’s crime drama “Cut Bank” — but last July, Shakman was announced as the director of a new “Star Trek” film at Paramount. And now, of course, he’s heading back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe to tackle one of the most high-profile jobs in superhero storytelling. One thing’s for sure: This man is busy. He’s also going to be a director of Apple’s Godzilla and the Titans show for Apple, which counts Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell among its stars.

Meanwhile, we’ve seen John Krasinski show up as Mr. Fantastic in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and Chris Evans has joked that he would sooner return to the MCU as the Human Torch than Captain America. So who will the members of Marvel’s new Fantastic Four be? We remain eager to find out, but it’s comforting to know they’ll be in good hands with Shakman at the helm. It’s worth noting that this isn’t an entirely done deal, as Deadline adds “that while a formal offer hasn’t been presented, early discussions have begun and that things are headed in the right direction.” But it sure sounds like Shakman is going to get the gig. 

Meanwhile, we’ve seen John Krasinski show up as Mr. Fantastic in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and Chris Evans has joked that he would sooner return to the MCU as the Human Torch than Captain America. So who will the members of Marvel’s new Fantastic Four be? We remain eager to find out, but it’s comforting to know they’ll be in good hands with Shakman at the helm.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t an entirely done deal, as Deadline adds “that while a formal offer hasn’t been presented, early discussions have begun and that things are headed in the right direction.” But it sure sounds like Shakman is going to get the gig.