Matt Shakman is a director who knows his way around all kinds of genres, from comedies like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to dramas like The Good Wife. In recent years though, he’s been able to leave his stamp on more fantastical stories, which includes helming two episodes of Game of Thrones, the entirety of WandaVision and, most recently, the first two episodes of Apple TV+’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Next up, Shakman is set to direct the upcoming Marvel movie Fantastic Four, and he gave his thoughts to CinemaBlend on how Godzilla and the MonsterVerse franchise have the same appeal as Marvel characters.
Monarch premiered its first two episodes last week, throwing Apple TV+ subscribers into the post-Godzilla time period when the public has only recently learned about the existence of the Titans. I spoke with Shakman prior to this latest MonsterVerse installment’s arrival, and one of the first questions I asked him was how his experience on Monarch compared to the work he did in the MCU with WandaVision (which, like most of the Marvel movies in order and the MCU’s other TV offerings, can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription). This was his response:
You know, I love Godzilla just as I love the Marvel Universe, and I think I grew up loving Godzilla movies in the same way I grew up reading Marvel Comics. And so the chance to be in this sandbox and to play with these characters, whether they're monsters or whether they're superheroes, it's always a joy. And I think when you get to work with these characters that have existed through time, these monsters, these superheroes, you get the pleasure of trying to imagine and reimagine them for our world and our time and our moment. And I love doing that on WandaVision, and I love doing that here on Monarch. And I think Monarch is such an incredibly fresh way of telling this multi-generational human story, this mystery. And the monsters are so important to the storytelling and to these human characters in such an emotional way that I was blown away by what Matt Fraction and Chris Black had created, and was so excited to partner with them to try to bring it to life.
With Godzilla debuting in 1954 and what would become the modern Marvel Comics mythology beginning with the Fantastic Four’s introduction in 1961, both these franchises have had decades to pull in dedicated fans like Matt Shakman. But with the passing of time also comes numerous opportunities for talent like himself to reimagine these properties for contemporary audiences, and WandaVision was Shakman’s first opportunity to do that in the superhero realm. Then there’s Monarch, which both delivers the Titan-fueled action (which included the opening Skull Island sequence involving John Goodman in the first episode) and is focused on telling that human story unfolding in the 1950s and the 2010s. It’s the best of both worlds, and while working alongside showrunner Chris Black and executive producer Matt Fraction, Shakman was able to give this new MonsterVerse chapter a strong start.
Later on in our conversation, I brought up with Shakman how Monarch: Legacy of Monsters looks to be a fresh entrance into the Godzilla mythology, which has been interpreted by many different storytellers over the years, and then noted how the Fantastic Four has also passed through many hands. As such, I was curious about if there was anything he learned from working on Monarch that he plans to apply to his Fantastic Four reboot, and he responded:
Every project definitely informs the others that come after. You learn so many different lessons along the way, but I think it's like what we were talking about earlier. I love the Fantastic Four characters as much as I love Godzilla, as much as I love Vision and Wanda, and I just want to find the best way to bring them to life, and to look at them through the eyes of today in a way to understand how to interpret them in this moment. I think that's what's great about these characters, about Godzilla. There will be Godzilla movies made for hopefully hundreds of years to come, and you can tell different stories and different generations, and different filmmakers will will look at their world using Godzilla as a lens in a different way. And I think that's what what the Marvel characters offer us as well.
Matt Shakman was confirmed to be directing Fantastic Four in September 2022, though reentering the MCU required him to exit Star Trek 4. Josh Friedman wrote the most recent draft of the script, and while no specific plot details have been revealed yet, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige did say that the reboot won’t be an origin story. The Fantastic Four haven’t had the easiest time on film, particularly with the 2015 movie bombing both critically and commercially, but Shakman sounds confident that he can do Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing and The Human Torch justice. More importantly, he knows many more people will be able to put their spin on Godzilla as the decades pass, and the same will be done with Marvel characters.
Fantastic Four is currently dated for May 2, 2025 and is still expected to be the first Phase Six movie. As for the MonsterVerse, new episode of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters premiere on Fridays, and the franchise’s next movie, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, is slated on the 2024 release schedule for April 12.
