"No running into Iron Man": Matt Shakman on Fantastic Four universe, saying it's their own separate

The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be "its own universe," says the film's director, Matt Shakman. It comes in the wake of a lot of Marvel films emphasizing their multiverse-oriented storylines. After trying out this possibility once, MCU continued exploring it in almost every other project. This may have led to the reported fatigue about superhero movies. However, Shakman hopes to depart from this trend-hopping and carve a fictional world of his own.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps will bring the First Family to the MCU. This is something that the MCU boss, Kevin Feige, reportedly wanted for a while. So, at least four new characters will enter their comic book universe: Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm (Joseph Quinn), and Ben Grimm (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). According to the recent six-hour-long announcement, these Fantastic Four all will be a part of Avengers: Doomsday, where different universes will ultimately collide to fight a bigger threat together.

Until then, Shakman's tentpole will be a self-contained film, which will stand apart from the recent Marvel affairs. On the same topic, Shakman told Empire Magazine,

"We are our universe, which is wonderful and liberating. There's really no [other] superheroes. There are no Easter eggs. There's no running into Iron Man or whatever. They're it, in this universe."

Shakman is well aware that these four heroes will eventually be a part of a bigger universe. However, until then, he embraces the chance of getting to do something different.

"I love the interconnected Marvel Universe, but we get to do something so new and so different. Eventually, this world will meet up with other worlds — but for now, this is our own little corner.”

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Matt Shakman reflects on his creative decisions for The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Matt Shakman is bringing the First Family to the big screens, but he has a different approach when it comes to handling a superhero movie. He understands that the team of Fantastic Four are super-powered icons. However, his film will introduce them as astronauts and adventurers before digging into their powers and heroic identities.

"This idea is that they are the most famous people in America because they’re adventurers, explorers, astronauts — not because they're superheroes. And they come back and they're superheroes on top of it. But primarily they're astronauts, they're family.”

Shakman's Fantastic Four movie is based on a retro-futuristic alternate reality where the past we know collides with the future we are yet to witness. To achieve this effect, Shakman was inspired by the likes of Stanley Kubrick and his magnum opus, 2001: A Space Odyssey. It led to his decision to focus more on the practical elements instead of computer graphics.

“I really wanted it to feel like it was made in 1965, the way Stanley Kubrick would have made it. Within reason. [So, we've] used old lenses, and taken an approach to filmmaking that feels more of the time. Of course, we still have a lot of CG.”

It allowed him to bring a more grounded drama despite the inherent high-stakes nature of such projects.

“I really wanted to go with as grounded a version of space as possible, So, no wormholes. Their tech is very much retro-future, but it's also booster rockets. It’s a combination of Marvel and Apollo 11.”

Although a part of the MCU canon, Shakman hopes his Fantastic Four movie offers a positive outlook.

“This is very much about the spirit of the Space Race. It's about JFK and optimism. It’s imagining these four going into space instead of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin."

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is slated to be released on July 25, 2025, in the US theaters.

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Also read: Joseph Quinn reveals the WhatsApp group chat name for the cast of The Fantastic Four: First Steps