In a turn of events that was as predictable as it was inevitable, the arrival of James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water on digital and on-demand suspiciously coincided with a renewed belief that the sci-fi sequel was nowhere near as great as everyone compared it to be.
While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, claiming that the third highest-grossing release in the history of cinema is a widely unpopular disappointment is roughly 2.3 billion miles wide of the mark, seeing as the ticket sales paint a pretty clear picture of paying customers happily shelling out to see if more than once on the big screen.
With that in mind, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s second major creative overhaul in less than a week has generated an entirely expected response after the news broke that The Way of Water co-writer Josh Friedman had been brought in to replace Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer as the architect behind Matt Shakman’s incoming Fantastic Four reboot.
Perhaps the most interesting thing is that while Kaplan and Springer’s respective backgrounds are rooted in comedy, Friedman’s filmography is embedded much more in sci-fi and fantasy, with his previous credits including Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, upcoming sequel Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, the Avatar franchise, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the Snowpiercer TV series, and Apple’s ambitious Foundation.
If anything, that’s an exciting catalogue of credits, and could lend further weight to the theories that the MCU’s Fantastic Four isn’t going to shy away from the team’s cosmic origins when it finally comes to theaters in February of 2025.