‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Director Cites Jonathan Hickman’s Run As Major Inspiration: “His Deep Insight Into The Specific Family Dynamics Of The Four Affected Me The Most”
According to director Matt Shakman, while Fantastic Four: First Steps draws heavy influence from the entirety of the team’s 60+ year comic book history history, perhaps none of their print adventures played as big a part in shaping the upcoming MCU entry’s identity than those penned by veteran Marvel Comics writer Jonathan Hickman.
Kicking off in 2009, Hickman’s four-year run on Marvel’s First Family not only saw the current author of Ultimate Spider-Man Vol. 3 breate new life into the team’s stories, but also make several notable change-ups to their not just their own status quo, but that of the entire 616 universe.
From Johnny’s self-sacrificing death at the hands of the Negative Zone hordes, to the concept of ‘multiverse incursions’ that served as the catalyst for the events of 2015’s Secret Wars (and is currently being re-adapted for use in the MCU itself), to the establishment of the Future Foundation, to Spider-Man’s long-awaited signing as an official member of the team, Hickman’s time left an inarguable mark on the team’s canon.
And per Shakman himself, it was this specific run that played one of, if not the biggest parts in helping him craft his silver-screen take on the Fantastic Four.
As recalled by the director in his intro for the newly-printed Marvel Premier Collection release of the Fantastic Four: Solve Everything – itself collecting the first 19 issues of Hickman’s time at the helm of the book – “In preparation for Marvel Studios’ The Fantastic Four: First Steps, I delved into the 60-plus years of comics history. Marvel’s First Family has been continuously cared for by the best and brightest the company had to offer. None shone so bright as Jonathan Hickman.”
“The humor and heart I loved as a kid? It’s there and better than ever. The messy family dynamics? Made even more interesting as Val and Franklin take center stage. And that sense of optimism and wonder? I don’t think the Fantastic Four have been quite as fantastic as they are in the pages of this book.
“As we developed the script for the film, I returned again and again to this epic run — thrilled by brain-bending innovations like the Council of Reeds and riveted by heroic standoffs against the likes of Annihilus. But it was Hickman’s deep insight into the specific family dynamics of the Four that affected me the most.
“His Reed Richards is part Steve Jobs and part Oppenheimer, always on the edge of saving the world or destroying it. The author runs right at Mister Fantastic’s weakness: believing that he can and should do it all on his own. Reed is determined to ‘Solve Everything’ — but he learns that the cost of solving everything is… everything. Ultimate knowledge risks ultimate sacrifice: the loss of his family.
“Sue has come a long way from the ‘Invisible Girl’ of the early ’60s. In these pages, she is part United Nations Secretary General and part Field Marshal, backing up diplomacy with force when necessary. Hickman’s Sue may be the most powerful member of the Four — she’s the glue that holds the world together while Reed experiments in the lab with things that could destroy it. She brokers deals as the world’s finest diplomat, ending up as the Queen of the Sea. In one of my favorite F4 moments, she declares to Namor, ‘I am a Queen that bows before no King.’ Damn right.
How do these two very different people make up the greatest marriage in comics history? We see, page after page, that the secret is their unique balance of heart and mind. Before Jerry Maguire, these two completed each other.
“Sue and Reed are relatable not just as partners, but also as parents. We understand their anxiety, fretting over the destiny of Val and Franklin just as I fret over my 9-year-old daughter’s future. I cherish the family intimacy of scenes in the Baxter Building and never doubt that these parents love their children and would do anything to protect their future. I know that Johnny and Ben would do the same.
“And we know that, as super heroes, they will fight just as hard to protect our world.
“Having absorbed six decades of F4 publishing, many of Hickman’s magical moments and unique character dynamics stick with me. And they made it into our film in small and large ways. From Sue as a diplomat to Reed trying to solve everything even at the risk of imperiling his family. Johnny’s need to be taken seriously. Ben’s gentle nature, forever at odds with his appearance. The Future Foundation. The Bridge. The mystery of children and the anxiety we have as parents about their future.
“Hickman is a poet, of both the everyday and the extraordinary,” Shakman ultimately declared. “His work beats with a heart as big as Sue Storm’s, rendering an emotional journey that culminates in a scene that makes me tear up every time I read it. (I won’t ruin it… just wait for ‘Uncles.’) His writing is thrilling, thought-provoking and tender…and, like the characters he writes about, fantastic.”
Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to break down the MCU’s multiversal barriers on July 25th.
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