Ever since the film rights to the Fantastic Four and X-Men were transferred to Marvel Studios following Disney’s acquiring Fox, Marvel Cinematic Universe have been waiting for both teams to be introduced to the superhero franchise. While plans for the X-Men are still being kept secret, the MCU’s Fantastic Four reboot is nicely slotted in the Phase 6 lineup. However, there’s been a behind-the-scenes shakeup, with some talent from Avatar coming aboard to help put this project together.
Josh Friedman, who helped create the stories for Avatar: The Way of Water and the upcoming Avatar 3, and is also working on the Avatar 4 and 5 screenplays, has signed on as Fantastic Four’s new writer. He replaces Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer (who were hired last September), and THR noted that Friedman’s recruitment “signals a potential change in tone.” While Kaplan and Springer are chiefly known for comedy, Friedman is well-versed in sci-fi, because along with the Avatar sequels, his credits include movies like Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, Terminator: Dark Fate and next year’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and TV shows like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Foundation, the latter of which is retuning for a second season and can be streamed with an Apple TV+ subscription.
