‘WandaVision’ director explains how his MCU debut gave him a huge assist for ‘Fantastic Four’

All eyes are on WandaVision director Matt Shakman to finally nail a Fantastic Four silver screen adaptation, especially considering how long MCU fans have been waiting for the super team to be included in the family.

The pressure for Shakman, however, is nothing like his first days working on WandaVision, and he considers that his biggest advantage, he revealed in an interview with Collider. Ever since developing what is considered by many as the best television show in the MCU, Shakman got to step up as the assigned director of the Fantastic Four project, after Spider-Man chief Jon Watts gave up his chair.

With great power comes great responsibility, as the famous Marvel saying goes, but the fact that Shakman was now meeting “family” every time he came to work helped.

“When you join something for the first time like I did on WandaVision, you’re just meeting everybody for the first time. Now it feels like you’re spending time with your family, which is wonderful and so it’s a great office to show up to every day.”

“Marvel is a wonderful place to work,” director-producer told Collider. “I was thrilled to be able to come back and work with them because even though they produce the biggest movies, it’s a very small family of people that you’re collaborating with.”

Other directors have accused Marvel Studios of operating as a machine that stifles creativity for the sake of formula, but that doesn’t seem to be Shakman’s experience. The WandaVision and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia director highlights the environment’s passion, cooperation, and all-around “joy.”

“They’re all lovely people who are passionate about what they do. So you are working with huge film fans, everyone is making the same movie, you’re all moving in the same direction and that’s just a joy. It’s not very often that that happens, especially when you’re dealing with something on a really large scale, like the [Fantastic Four].”

Although Fantastic Four isn’t expected to premiere until February 2025, Shakman’s words should be enough to get people excited about the film. And in case the director’s enthusiasm isn’t enough of a selling point, then the fact that his work on WandaVision (where he also served as executive producer) was rewarded with a slew of Emmy nominations — including wins for the costume design, the music, and the production design — should do the trick.