Director Matt Shakman broke Marvel fans' hearts exploring lost love in Disney Plus series WandaVision and, now, he's exploring a different set of couple-related circumstances in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
"I think when you do any project, you try to bring as much of yourself into it as possible. As a husband, as a father, I had a lot to bring into this," the filmmaker explains, when GamesRadar+ sits down with him ahead of the movie's release. "Obviously their relationship is hugely important, they're the first family of Marvel but also, sort of the first couple of Marvel. And they really complete each other, right?
"He's the smartest person in the universe but I often say Reed Richards is great for all mankind, and struggles with individual men," he laughs. "Sue, in some ways, is the most emotionally intelligent person in the world and so she's able to, I think, bring the everyday to his life, and he's able to bring the universe to hers. It's a little bit like Kirk and Spock in Star Trek in some way, right? The heart and mind coming together, completing each other. It's their unity that creates their strength. You know, it's true for all four of them, and it's definitely true for them as a couple."
Starring Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Vanessa Kirby and Pedro Pascal as husband-wife duo Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic and Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, the film follows the titular team as they try to save the world (and Sue and Reed's infant son, Franklin) from planet-eating baddie Galactus (Ralph Ineson).
If looking after a newborn isn't nerve-wracking enough, the trailers have already made clear that Reed feels responsible for putting their Earth on Galactus's radar ("I stretched the bounds of space... and they heard") and he's beating himself up over not being able to work out how to protect his loved ones and everyone else who count on 'em.
"Reed is always locked in his lab trying to solve everything. He's five minutes away from destroying the world or saving it at any moment," notes Shakman. "And I love the idea of taking that mindset of solving everything and applying it to having a child, which is a mystery that you cannot solve, right? Love is a mystery that you cannot write an equation for. Reed loves his wife but she's the one thing he can never solve, right?
"Now he has a child coming into his life, which is another thing. There's all that inevitable parental anxiety around children; if you have a child you understand what it's like," he adds. "When I was a kid, I almost died like six times. I literally fell down a well once. But then you add on to it, the idea that there are superheroes and there are villains coming at them all the time… I think I'd be very nervous and anxious as a parent, too."
The Fantastic Four: First Steps releases in UK cinemas on July 24, before arriving in theaters across the pond the following day. While we wait, check out all the upcoming Marvel movies and shows on the way, as well as our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
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