The Fantastic Four's relevance to Marvel can't be overstated enough. They're the company's first family who ushered them to modernity when every other comic out there still dealt with mundane issues back in the 60s. And over the decades, Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm have continuously shown why they're one of the premiere groups in the source material. The thing is, they can finally make a bigger impact now that they're making the jump to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, thanks to Matt Shakman reportedly taking the directorial job up.

In a report by Deadline, sources have let out that Shakman is in early talks to direct Fantastic Four. This development comes after he directed and produced WandaVision for the MCU right when the studio's Phase 4 slate of projects was just starting. And while there is still no solid confirmation yet, the report mentions that discussions are heading in the right direction with him helming Marvel's First Family when they debut as the first film of Phase 6.

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This development follows Jon Watts' departure from the Fantastic Four film right after Spider-Man: No Way Home made a massive landfall of $1.89 billion at the global box office. This spurred Kevin Feige and Marvel to search for a new candidate who can focus on bringing this family of adventurers and explorers to the proper MCU after three films with Fox. The first two starred Chris Evans as the Human Torch while the final one was meant to start a new franchise but failed critically and financially.

While the green light hasn't been given yet, sources claim that Shakman is the frontrunner in the race to direct Fantastic Four. His work on WandaVision has earned the trust of Feige after WandaVision kickstarted Marvel's limited series strategy and earned the studio a couple of Emmy nominations for the said project. In any case, it can be only a matter of time before Fantastic Four finally gets its director in the form of Shakman.