Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is Marvel’s 32nd movie. Ruminate on that a bit. A franchise born of a genre Hollywood never properly took seriously has somehow grown into a cash cow the box office can hardly live without. 32 films across 14 years, generating over $28 billion collectively. That’s more than the Star Wars, Harry Potter, and James Bond franchises combined.  6n134z

You would think, given the unprecedented (financial) success of the superhero franchise, that the studio would have a few pretty pennies to invest in developing high-quality VFX, but installments from virtually all of Phase Four and the biggest eyesore of them all Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania have proven that to be very much… not the case.

Keep in mind, dips in CGI are not uncommon for a franchise that relies so heavily on both fantasy and sci-fi elements. Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, and even parts of Black Panther were all criticized at some point in time for moments of unrealistic CGI. But those were just moments. We’re talking about a pervasive problem in the MCU right now, one that’s only grown worse with every ing film — except for James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Somehow, magically, that film skipped over the whole debacle.  

I, for one, am curious if there’s a correlation here that we’re all missing.

The MCU’s laundry list of VFX offenders  72v50

As mentioned, dips in CGI are not uncommon, but it takes only a single glance at the recent offenders — Black Widow, Eternals, Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — to notice a pattern. All of them are from Phase Four, or in the case of Quantumania, Phase Five. 

That’s not even factoring in the abysmal CGI in Disney Plus’ She-Hulk: Attorney at Law or Ms. Marvel (also Phase Four). The only film to steep to that level of quality was the post-credit scenes in Eternals wherein Pip the Troll looked like something straight out of a cartoon. 

The examples go on and on, from Axl’s floating head in Thor: Love and Thunder to Doctor Strange’s eye-popping post-credit scene to Florence Pugh’s Yelena getting blasted off the helicarrier’s turbine to basically the entirety of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. All of these films save Black Widow and Eternals were sequels of movies whose previous installments were just fine. Something obviously happened; CGI doesn’t just regress. So, what is it?

Why could James Gunn pull off what Taika Waititi, Sam Raimi, Peyton Reed, and others could not? ok5j

Right around the time of Thor: Love and Thunder, it became clear that Black Widow and Eternal’s poor CGI was not just an anomaly. Something was happening here. Even the studios’ VFX artists itted to being embarrassed by the state of the franchise’s CGI. When you couple that with the shocking working conditions several VFX artists claimed ran rampant on Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania — which included 80-hour weeks and more than a few shortcuts — it would appear we have zeroed in on a possible answer. Or at least part of it.  

When VFX workers are overworked and operating with limited budgets, they can only do so much. Add in shortened deadlines (i.e. reshoots) and you’ve only exacerbated the problem. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Quantumania are just two films that saw plenty of reshoots close to their respective deadlines. As a matter of fact, Quantumania was still shooting no less than six weeks out from its premiere. Which brings us back to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. 

The film didn’t break ground in of CGI wonderment but it didn’t dissolve into mush either. Parts of it were downright spectacular: The hallway fight sequence, Rocket and his animal friends, Groot — Groot alone deserves to be commended. 

At the end of the day, Guardians is, was, and always will be, Gunn’s ion project. He breathed life into it from a tiny kernel of an idea way back when the MCU was just catching its stride. He always knew where the story was going. Barring a few unplanned turns along the way (Gamora’s death in Avengers: Infinity War, for instance), he always had an end in sight. Call it preparedness. Call it ion. Call it whatever you want, but the movie’s behind-the-scenes thoroughness speaks for itself. When you have a director whose vision is clear, a script whose plot (and dialogue) is tight, and a crew who are not overtaxed, you get an actually good superhero movie (shocking, I know). 

Is that to say all the other MCU movies in Phase Four (and Five) didn’t know what they were doing? Some of them did. But definitely not all of them. I’m not about to sit here and point fingers at all the other directors and say they didn’t care as much as Gunn did, but Gunn’s ion speaks for itself. Superhero fatigue isn’t just reserved for the fandom.

Whether I’ve landed on an answer or not remains to be seen, but keep in mind, the CGI problem isn’t exclusive to just Marvel. It’s actually a Disney-wide issue, as made evident by footage from Star Wars’ Ahsoka and The Mandalorian. The Disney Renaissance the company is striving so hard to re-capture (see: live-action The Little Mermaid, live-action Lilo & Stitch, live-action The Lion King, live-action Aladdin — you get the point) just might actually become the root of its demise… VFX speaking, of course.

Michael Peña is a scene-stealer even when he’s not in the movie. One of the biggest talking points ever since Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania hit theaters last week has been the absence of Peña’s fan-favorite Luis from the familial adventures. Director Peyton Reed has said his piece on the matter, but fans aren’t buying it.

Reed has revealed, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, that Luis was never in the plans for Quantumania, unfortunately. As much as the director loves the character, the fact that the core five would be going into the Quantum Realm so early on in the film ruled out any possibility of Luis’ participation. And besides, there were too many characters to introduce in the film anyway.

“There were no versions of this movie [with Luis]. There are a lot of characters in the movie. We obviously have our Lang, van Dyne and Pym family, but then we also introduced Kang, MODOK and all of our Freedom Fighter characters. So we had to make decisions early on about what stories we could tell and what stories we couldn’t tell. “I love those characters. They were really, really fun and part of the Lang family, but as we got further and further into [development] and knew we wanted to bring the family into the Quantum Realm pretty early in the movie, it just didn’t make sense [to include Luis and co.].””

It’s not uncommon for Marvel fans to find solutions that are much more creative than what we end up with in the movies. Naturally, there was no shortage of scenarios being suggested for how Luis could have still been included in the film, even without going subatomic.

A post-credits scene is always a good answer, even if the film already had two.

It would make a perfect scene to include him in Scott’s book tour. One thing’s for sure, he would definitely be a much better orator than the titular superhero.

Luis would have great advice for Cassie. Quantumania was a missed opportunity to show him as the coolest uncle of all time.

Or simply, just have him tag along with the family into the Quantum Realm. Seeing Luis come face-to-face with Kang could have been hilarious.

All of this to say that, if Reed and writer Jeff Loveness had really wanted Luis in Quantumania, they would have found a way, especially since Peña has said in the past “it would be great” to be in the third film.

The Luis-less Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is now showing in theaters.

Peyton Reed has ed an exclusive club of directors who have helmed an entire trilogy of Marvel films following Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but he’s already got his mind set on who to tackle next.

Reed now sits alongside James Gunn, Sam Raimi, and Jon Watts in having directed all three entries of one character’s trilogy, although his trilogy has been nowhere near as acclaimed as the ones around him. Quantumania is Marvel’s first release for 2023 and hasn’t quite been the roaring success many would’ve hoped for from the MCU.

Now his Ant-Man days are all but over, he’s expressed his interest in directing another less-known hero in the form of Nova. Reed likened his interest in adapting the Human Rocket to his intrigue in projects like Bring It On and to Ant-Man. Whether or not Nova fans would want Reed in charge of the character is a whole different thing.

“To me, he was almost like a subculture Marvel hero. It’s what drew me to Bring It On like, ‘A movie about cheerleaders? That’s weird,’ And drew me to Down With Love. ‘It’s like a sort of Rock Hudson, Doris Day homage as a romantic comedy set in the ’60s">with rumors from 2022 suggesting he’ll appear in an Disney Plus special presentation.

Given the recent talk of a cooldown period from Marvel instead of the rapid-fire approach from 2021-22, it may be even longer before Nova graces the live-action screens. Ant-Man, however, is currently in cinemas with Quantumania.

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The next stepping stone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s Multiverse Saga is knocking at our doors, with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania gearing up for its theatrical debut tomorrow. We may be in for a rocky start to Phase Five if early reviews are any indication, but with the promise of an ever-gripping performance from Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror and a big step forward in the MCU’s tonal intentions, we’d say it will be worth checking out nevertheless.

It’s a big step forward for the Ant-Man series as well; gone are the days of Scott Lang being the palate-cleanser Avenger with his rambunctious, humor-laden heist films, and in its place is a world where he may be the only thing standing between the MCU’s most dangerous villain yet and a prematurely conquered multiverse. One may almost be forgiven for not realizing that all three were helmed by Peyton Reed.

With the director’s prior experience and love for comic books, getting the call from Marvel back during Ant-Man‘s development was a dream come true. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Reed made note of his prior involvement with Fox’s Fantastic Four franchise, remarking how his love for Marvel’s first family loaned itself quite well to the familial conflicts that drive Scott Lang’s adventures.

“Yeah, I developed Fantastic Four for about a year back in 2002, 2003 when I was finishing up Down with Love, and I chased it. It was my favorite comic growing up, and at the time, it was pre-MCU, obviously. But it became apparent at the time that Fox didn’t want to make the same movie I wanted to make. So when I came on board Ant-Man — and now that we’ve had a chance to do a third one — I really funneled a lot of my Fantastic Four love into Ant-Man. I mean, they are both about dysfunctional families who are superheroes.”

He also noted how Quantumania‘s setting of the Quantum Realm allowed for his ion for the Four to flow quite a bit more this time around, and how his non-involvement with the MCU’s Fantastic Four reboot will allow him to gleefully enjoy it as a moviegoer.

“My first memory of reading about the Microverse in the comics, which became the Quantum Realm, was a Fantastic Four story where Dr. Doom shrunk the Four down into the Microverse. So I really took that ion and transferred it into this thing. I really look forward to seeing Matt Shakman’s version of Fantastic Four. I think it’ll be a delight to see it on a massive IMAX screen and just enjoy it as a moviegoer.”

We doubt this is a nudge-nudge-wink-wink moment for a possible cameo in Quantumania, but we’re also suckers for speculation, and we’ve already given the possibility quite a bit of attention. Whatever the case may be, we won’t have to wait much longer to find out, so for now it might be best to just switch off the “what if” part of our brains and get ready to go along for the ride.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania releases to theaters on Feb. 17.

We’re just one day out from the cinematic debut of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and audiences seem to find new ways to quake in their boots with every ing day. Whether it’s brought on by the terrifying impact that Kang is set to make, anticipation for those delectable mid-credits scenes, or fear that maybe the critics got this one right, the energy in the auditoriums tomorrow will be nothing short of abundant.

One of the more hopeful sources of excitement is the beginning of an arc for one of the MCU’s newest superheroes, Cassie Lang. It’s unclear whether the daughter of the eponymous Avenger will be donning her Stature or Stinger mantle for Quantumania, but witnessing the beginning of her road to Avengerhood will no doubt be one of the brighter spots in a film that doesn’t look ready to pull many punches with some of its heavier themes and plot points.

If there’s one thing we already know about Cassie’s justice, it’s that she doesn’t quite take after her father. In an interview with /Film, Quantumania director Peyton Reed remarked how she’s grown into her own person since we first met her in 2015’s Ant-Man, and that the independent nature of her maturity, given Scott’s relative absence for a good portion of her life, allowed her to forge a path that was very much her own.

“We inherited this great concept from the events of Endgame, which is, Scott’s lost another five years with Cassie. She’s no longer a little girl. She’s a young woman. This movie sort of starts to tell the arc of her becoming a hero in her own right, but also the idea that she’s not her dad. She has very different ideas about justice and what are the issues at hand, and the problems the world was facing. And she’s quite critical of her dad. ‘You’re g books, man. You should be out there doing this other stuff.'”

The extra firepower of Cassie will surely come in handy as Scott and co. try to escape the Quantum Realm, but we still won’t hold our breath for much of a triumph over Kang. The villain still has at least two more films’ worth of conquering to do, and whether the events of Quantumania turn out to be fatal or not, we can almost certainly count on the ing of the torch to Cassie, making for a surefire ray of hope in a film that just might be in desperate need of one.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania releases to theaters on Feb. 17.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is turning out to be quite the film; what was meant to be a groundbreaking turning point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse Saga has quickly achieved the unenviable accomplishment of landing the second worst Rotten Tomatoes score for a Marvel film. The jury’s still out on the popular vote, and will probably stay as such until the film’s release tomorrow, but one way or another, Quantumania will go down as a surefire conversation-starter.

There’s quite a bit packed into this movie; Cassie Lang starting her superhero journey, Kang’s threat getting ready to springboard into something more active, additional appearance from the likes of M.O.D.O.K. and the Freedom Fighters, and a more dramatic tonal shift than we’re used to seeing from the series.

Given so many new horizons, it’s fitting that in another life, it’s biggest inspiration may have been an MCU without “Ant-Man” in the title. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Quantumania director Peyton Reed responded to the similarities between his threequel and the original script for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which explored the grief that Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa faced in light of missing out on five years of his son’s life thanks to the Blip; a situation that Scott has found himself in since the events of Avengers: Endgame, and a conflict that we’re only now seeing him face.

“Well, the Scott-Cassie relationship has always really been the spine of the Ant-Man movies. He’s gotten sucked into this world — and certainly being an Avenger now is a big deal to Scott Lang — but his number-one priority in life is being a good father to his daughter. So the thing that all the movies inherited from the events of Avengers: Endgame was this five-year period. And for Scott, he lost a very crucial five years with his daughter. She’s now 18, and she’s no longer a little girl. She’s a young woman. So that seemed like really strong dramatic fodder for our movie.”

And we’d be wise to anticipate the theme of grief being a bit wider than this; fans have been gearing up for a major character death for some time now, given Kang’s imminent non-defeat at the very least, and with Scott himself remaining a prime candidate for the chopping block, audiences might just have the chance to explore some grief of their own.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will release to theaters on Feb. 17.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is right on our doorstep, with Scott Lang’s third outing set to hit theaters tomorrow. And while early reviews certainly haven’t done the film any favors (a 53 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is only trumped by Eternals‘ 47), fans will no doubt be flocking to cinemas nonetheless given that it’s our first look at Multiverse Saga big bad Kang the Conqueror.

But it’s not just Kang that’s set to make his first splash with the MCU fandom; the likes of M.O.D.O.K. and a reimagined group of characters known as the Freedom Fighters look set to steal some of the spotlight in their own right. And, of course, the fate of the Ant-Man family almost feels like a character in its own right, given that the internet has been prophesizing a major Lang/van Dyne death since the first trailer dropped.

There’s one Ant-Man mainstay whose absence likely won’t go unnoticed for those who are plugged into Scott’s misadventures. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Quantumania director Peyton Reed itted that the omission of Michael Peña’s Luis, Scott’s heist associate and one of the MCU’s greatest sources of comedic relief, was a necessary one to make for the sake of the story being told.

“There were no versions of this movie [with Luis]. There are a lot of characters in the movie. We obviously have our Lang, van Dyne and Pym family, but then we also introduced Kang, M.O.D.O.K. and all of our Freedom Fighter characters. So we had to make decisions early on about what stories we could tell and what stories we couldn’t tell. I love those characters. They were really, really fun and part of the Lang family, but as we got further and further into [development] and knew we wanted to bring the family into the Quantum Realm pretty early in the movie, it just didn’t make sense [to include Luis and co.].”

On top of ensuring that the film isn’t overstuffed, Luis’ absence is also indicative of the much more serious tone that this particular Ant-Man film is going for. Scott, Cassie, and co. are in for the fight of their lives against Kang, and with a less-than-favorable outcome likely on the horizon, we imagine we’ll only be getting so much relief during the film’s runtime.

We’re nearly a week away until Jonathan Majors shatters any concept of the word “safety,” when Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania finally makes its bow in theaters. As we gear up for our formal introduction to Majors’ Kang the Conqueror, it would be wise for us to also be prepared to say goodbye to a member of Ant-Man’s family, or even Ant-Man himself.

Whatever damage Kang ends up inflicting upon our own nervous systems, it’s even more terrifying to think that this is only the beginning. As the de facto Thanos-level threat in the Marvel Cinematic Universe‘s Multiverse Saga (although, “Thanos-level threat” sounds to be an insulting undersell), this certainly won’t be the last time we see Kang come for the head of one or more of Earth’s champions, and as he looks primed to break free from the Quantum Realm before long, his power is only going to amplify as time goes on.

It’s all leading up to Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which will no doubt be this saga’s big Marvel team-up film a la Infinity War, and even though we audiences would never be able to pinpoint exactly how all of the events between Quantumania and The Kang Dynasty will unfold, it turns out that the creative teams behind each of these movies are only a rung above.

In an interview with ComicBook, Quantumania director Peyton Reed revealed how the MCU’s continuity works behind the scenes, noting how each subsequent writer and director inherit the events of the previous film, and are then tasked with carrying the story forward with a staggering amount of freedom; all with the approval of the one and only Kevin Feige, we presume.

“There’s maybe a rough temporary skeleton of a plan, but basically what happens is you do what’s best for your movie, and the people that come after have to figure it out after that. We inherit certain things. You have to run with it. You would just inherit these things, and that’s kind of fun.”

It’s an infinitely curious revelation, knowing that the reigning cinematic universe of the pop culture zeitgeist is far more on-the-fly than it may seem, and no matter what happens between now and The Kang Dynasty, we’ll all be tuning in for some good-old fashioned Marvel antics at the drop of a hat, even if it involves Kang swooping in and forcing fear into our hearts all over again.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania releases to theaters on Feb. 17.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantummania director Peyton Reed is contemplating a return to his roots with his next film project.

Per Entertainment Tonight, Reed reveals that he has met with of the original cast from his directorial debut, Bring It On (2000), to discuss shooting a potential sequel. The filmmaker spoke to actors Gabrielle Union, and Kirsten Dunst, and screenwriter Jessica Beddinger. He explained:

“We had Kirsten and Gabrielle and Jessica Bendinger, who wrote the original. We got together for the 20th anniversary, which was a couple of years ago and started talking about [it]… We’d always been thinking about it. What if there’s a legacy sequel that features the whole original cast? Obviously, 20-some years later, we would come at that movie from a totally different direction.”

Union, who played Isis in the original film, has championed the project. She announced earlier this year that she is developing a sequel. Union said the idea came up when she reconnected with of the cast and production team to promote the 20th anniversary of Bring It On. Her concept for the follow-up movie will focus on Isis’ former cheerleading team, The East Compton Clovers. 

Reed reflected on the exchange:

“And Gabrielle has not only ideas but great ideas. So, that is something that I hope we can continue to discuss.”

The original film explored themes of systemic discrimination and privilege with wit and sass. Six more Bring It On films followed, but without the orignal cast and the production team, nearly all of them were straight to video. What makes Union’s concept so unique is that it would reunite the creative minds and performers who made the magic happen in the original film. 

At the moment, the project is still in the development stage. Reed is hopeful that it will come to fruition, insisting the sequel “could happen.” In the meantime, catch his latest blockbuster effort when Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on Feb. 17.

While there was plenty of chatter about the Quantum Realm in the first two Ant-Man films, as an audience, we didn’t really get to spend an extended period of time there.  That’s all changing in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, though, which looks to be spending most of its screen time in the subatomic dimension, if the film’s title didn’t already give that away.

This meant that the creative forces behind the film had to come up with a distinct look for the primary setting, one the stars can believably pretend they’re in while performing against a blue screen (which was a gripe of Paul Rudd’s while filming).

At Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s red carpet premiere, director Peyton Reed peeled back the curtain about what he drew inspiration from for the film’s aesthetic:

The director gushed about drawing from multiple difference eras and sources of popular culture, but taking time to shout out 20th Century science fiction and heavy metal magazines, as well as The Wizard of Oz:

“We looked at a lot of stuff – electron microscope photography, heavy metal magazines from the 70s and 80s, there’s a bunch of great artists who did science fiction paperbacks in the 60s and 70s, we looked at that stuff. We sort of borrowed from all of these different things, The Wizard of Oz, many different things.” 

If anything, this would further clear up Alice Cooper’s presence at the premiere of the film, besides a potential cameo or OST appearance, or the less obvious link, his past affiliation with Marvel. 

In any case, we’re looking forward to seeing the blast-from-the-past aesthetic of the Quantum Realm, as Scott Lang and his companions grapple with time itself (and Kang the Conqueror) when Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on Feb. 17, 2023. 

In the end, Thor: Love and Thunder has definitely delivered more thunder than love as the MCU fandom continues to find fresh ways to dunk on Marvel‘s most recent big summer blockbuster, cementing Taika Waititi’s curious fall from grace in the eyes of ferocious film fans. Meanwhile, Disney raises hopes that a series we all thought was dead could return for a second run as Ant-Man director Peyton Reed speaks out on why he’s sick of his movies being thought of as snacks in between meals.

Thor: Love and Thunder just keeps dropping in fans’ estimations as ‘psychotic’ easter egg is uncovered 4l4h6i

In the words of that kid from The Simpsons, “stop, stop… He’s already dead!” Thor: Love and Thunder‘s reputation is truly in tatters as it is, but Marvel fans apparently can’t help themselves as they’ve torn into Taika Waititi’s underwhelming fourth-quel all over again. This time the onslaught was caused by a newly discovered easter egg that’s being described as “psychotic” due to the implications it raises for the moral com of a certain character. Yes, it’s even worse than the Infinity Conez ice cream parlor.

One year later, Disney might have just indicated that an underappreciated MCU series is getting renewed 4y3n43

One year ago this holiday season we were tucking into weekly installments of Hawkeye, a Phase Four entry that’s been unfairly forgotten over the past 12 months. But Disney reminded us all about its existence today by curiously calling our attentions to the Jeremy Renner vehicle on Twitter. Was this just a case of the streaming service’s social team encouraging people to revisit it on Disney Plus? Or a hint that a second season is being developed? The latter would certainly be a worthwhile early Christmas present.

Ant-Man trilogy director is fed up of his movies being treated as franchise filler 3m5530

Even if you’re a giant-sized fan of the MCU’s littlest hero, you have to it the first two Ant-Man movies are among the smaller-scale entries of the franchise. But that’s not the case with the Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which promises to be a key chapter in the Multiverse Saga. And it’s possible that was born from director Peyton Reed’s desire to grab a bigger chunk of the action. He’s revealed that he’s fed up of his Marvel efforts being viewed as mere “palate cleansers” in between Avengers movies. So get ready for a full meal come February.

Elvis has entered the building? Austin Butler is supposedly firing up for hot new Marvel role 53i2m

Austin Butler’s star is definitely on the rise following his breakout turn in the title role of Elvis, and it appears that he’s looking to use his hot ticket status to blaze a trail into the MCU. Yes, as all these fire puns indicate, a new rumor states that Butler’s reps have reached out to Marvel Studios to let the right people know that he’s interested in playing Human Torch in the Fantastic Four reboot. That’s about as official as it gets right now, but Butler wouldn’t be a bad pick for our next Johnny Storm.

Stay where you are, Hawkeye hopefuls, as another parcel of the latest Marvel news around will be dropping on your doorstep tomorrow.

Despite being Marvel’s first family, The Fantastic Four have had a rough time on the big screen. First came the terrible Roger Corman 1990s movie, famously only made, so the rights to the IP wouldn’t expire. Then came the two Fox movies in the 2000s, which weren’t awful, but landed squarely in mediocrity. Most recently, we got 2015’s Fantastic Four, which has a reputation as one of the worst superhero movies of the modern era.

Marvel Studios is hoping to turn that around with its Fantastic Four movie, which is being directed by Matt Shakman and is currently scheduled to open Phase 6 on Feb. 14, 2025.

But from the sounds of it, we could have had a great movie back in the early aughts. Ant-Man director Peyton Reed was hired by Fox to work on the project, though due to creative clashes with the studio, the movie never entered full production. We know that Reed’s team would have had a stacked cast, with him planning to cast Alexis Denisof as Reed Richards, Charlize Theron as Sue Storm, John C. Reilly as The Thing, Paul Walker as the Human Torch and Jude Law as Doctor Doom.

Now, in an interview with Somos Geeks to promote Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Reed has said his plans for this movie live on in his MCU work

“I developed Fantastic Four 22 years ago for about a year and at that time Fox didn’t want to make a movie as big as these movies now are. So I think I channelled my ion for Fantastic Four into the Ant-Man movies because they’re both stories about families of superheroes. 20 years is a long time and I want someone else to do Fantastic Four. Just between you and me, I’ve seen initial artwork for the Fantastic Four stuff, it’s going to be great.”

We’re hoping for a cast reveal of Fantastic Four soon, with the arrival of the team likely to bring a bunch of fresh talent to the MCU. We’re particularly excited about who they choose to play Doctor Doom, who’s one of Marvel’s best villains and, if done right, could be one of their most complex characters to date.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania hits theaters on Feb. 17, 2023.