Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies | Tagged: avengers, The Fantastic Four, thunderbolts

Thunderbolts and The Fantastic Four Are Getting Some Script Help

Marvel wants to ensure its next crop of movies is up to par and has brought in writers to help with the scripts for The Fantastic Four and Thunderbolts.

2023 was not exactly a stellar year for Marvel Studios. They were coming off a slightly rough phase four, where it felt like the once-too-big-to-fail studio might be in trouble. That became more apparent in 2023, and things didn't get much better save for a few bright spots. In many ways, the strikes were a blessing for Marvel because they forced the studio to slow down and give everyone involved the time they needed to breathe and figure out what was going on. Some of the details of that slowdown are starting to emerge. We got some word about the many television shows that are happening at Marvel Studios, but there have also been some shifts on the movie side as well.

The First Step Is Admitting There Is A Problem, Marvel

On Valentine's Day, Marvel put us all out of misery and finally announced the cast for The Fantastic Four after leaving people to speculate for over four years. We also got a shiny new logo as well. Marvel's first family is also getting a little help on the script side. In a recent piece from The Hollywood Reporter, they have brought on Eric Pearson to work on the script. He has worked on other Marvel projects and "has a reputation for taking projects over the finish line." The article also cites that Marvel wants this film to succeed because "the studio is still searching for characters and actors who can carry its universe forward after the exits of Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans." It very much feels like Marvel is still figuring out what it wants to do and how it wants to approach storytelling in a post-Avengers: Endgame world. The Fantastic Four will be released on July 25, 2025.

Thunderbolts is another Marvel film getting some help at the script level. Joanna Calo, the showrunner for The Bear, was brought on to work on the script. That makes sense, considering that Ayo Edebiri was supposed to be in that movie but had to back out due to scheduling conflicts. We know that this one is starting production soon; star Florence Pugh said she is going straight from Dune: Part Two press to Atlanta to get started, but we still don't know much about the film. However, THR's sources say that previous drafts of the film "centers on villains and antiheroes going on a mission that was supposed to end with their deaths." Who knows if that is the film that actually makes it to the big screen. Thunderbolts will be released on May 2, 2025.

Finally, there is the next Avengers movie. Kang, played by Jonathan Majors, was supposed to be the villain leading up to the next Avengers film, but that isn't working out anymore. The legal issues surrounding Majors have caused Marvel to cut ties with the actors, and Disney isn't even releasing Magazine Dreams, the film starring Majors they got for Searchlight back at Sundance 2023. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania being a mess already made it feel like things with Kang might not be going well, but Majors was the nail in the coffin. We've known this for a while, but Marvel is retooling the next Avengers film, and we can expect them to either recast Kang and never mention it a la Mark Ruffalo or write the character out. The next Avengers film will be released on May 1, 2026.

There are many things happening in the background at Marvel right now, but it seems people are aware that aspects of this new era are not working, and they have to reset and change direction. Plenty of movies and films are on the way, and the hype is still there; the numbers for Deadpool & Wolverine prove that, and a break between films will make people appreciate them more. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and whatnot.

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