The long-awaited Fantastic Four reboot hit a speed bump last month when director Jon Watts stepped down from the film. But excitement for the FF’s big-screen return is at an all-time high. Now, we have a better idea of who is in charge of the reboot. According to Moon Knight head writer Jeremy Slater, two of his show’s executive producers, Grant Curtis and Nick Pepin, have officially signed on to executive produce Fantastic Four. Fantastic Four Reboot gains
Slater confirmed Curtis and Pepin’s involvement with the reboot while speaking to ComicBook.com. Their first order of business is to find a new director along with a writer to pen the script. But Slater made sure to explain why he won’t be joining them. Before landing Moon Knight, Slater gained notoriety as one of three credited scribes on Josh Trank’s ill-fated Fantastic Four reboot in 2015. And he’s fine with not getting a do-over.
“My execs on Moon Knight are the same guys who are running Fantastic Four,” said Slater. “So we had a lot of talks about it. I was like, ‘I’m not going to pitch you for anything, because honestly, you don’t need my stink on it.’”
Neither Pepin nor Curtis were strangers to the Marvel Universe prior to Moon Knight. Pepin’s relationship to Marvel Studios dates back to 2016, when he began working as a production assistant on Captain America: Civil War before he worked his way up the chain of command. Meanwhile, Curtis was a producer on Sam Raimi’s original Spider-Man trilogy.
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Slater hasn’t shied away from discussing Fantastic Four in the past. In fact, Polygon’s 2020 profile of Trank made it sound as though Slater could have been the reboot’s saving grace if only he had been given more creative control. The story described Slater as a “badge-carrying nerd” who regularly supplied Trank with his favorite FF stories in an effort to make the film more comic-accurate. But Trank, who didn’t seem all that jazzed about the source material to begin with, wasn’t interested. Slater now claims that only one line from his original draft made it into the film. Regardless, he would rather have someone else try their hand at Marvel’s first family.
“I can’t wait to see it as a fan, but I just know that no one will ever accept a Jeremy Slater Fantastic Four movie for very good reason,” added Slater. “If your Uber driver shows up and you’re like, ‘Oh, I saw that guy drunk driving last week,’ you don’t get in the car with him. I think there’s some things that I just probably need to steer clear from for the rest of my career.”
Marvel hasn’t announced a release date for Fantastic Four.
How do you think Curtis and Pepin will fare as executive producers on the film? Let us know in the comments below!
Recommended Reading: Fantastic Four Vol. 1: New Departure, New Arrivals
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