Matt Shakman On Being Able To “Pass The Baton” To The Russo Brothers For ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ With ‘The Fantastic Four: First Steps’

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With the fourth attempt to immortalize Marvel’s First Family on the silver screen and the official launch of the MCU’s Phase Six, The Fantastic Four: First Steps helmer Matt Shakman said the latest entry serves to tee up further exciting releases from the juggernaut studio.

The director spoke to Deadline on the blue carpet for the world premiere of the superhero movie, starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach in the iconic roles, and how the Russo brothers factored in.

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“They were very curious about what we were doing, they came to tour our sets, they would watch scenes that we were cutting together, they wanted to get to know these people as they were working on their story and their script, so that I could pass the baton to them and these characters would be well cared for,” Shakman said of Anthony and Joe Russo, who will helm 2026’s much-hyped Avengers: Doomsday.

Releasing July 25 theatrically, the retrofuturistic take on the storied Marvel characters will take place in an alternate history/parallel universe exploring Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing as they take on Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and Shalla-Bal (Julia Garner).

Shakman said the film is equally influenced by the likes of comic book creator Jack Kirby’s original vision and Stanley Kubrick’s ’60s epic sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

For his part, star Ineson said of Doomsday: “I have no idea what Kevin Feige and everybody have planned, but I worked with Robert [Downey Jr.] a few years ago on Dolittle for a few days, and he’s an absolute gentleman and amazing actor, so I loved having the chance to work with him and watch him work, so, yeah, if I got the chance to team up with him again, of course I would.”

Having been recently bogged down with box office failures, the MCU is looking to retool its approach to theatrical and series releases, Kevin Feige told reporters last week. Last month, Ironheart executive producer Ryan Coogler also teed up how the series would connect to future Marvel Studios plans with Doomsday, which is currently in production now.

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Though much is under wraps about the film — centering on supervillain and Fantastic Four arch nemesis Dr. Doom (Downey Jr.) — confirmed cast members include Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd, Letitia Wright, Florence Pugh, Simu Liu, Tom Hiddleston, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Danny Ramirez, Hannah John-Kamen, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Kelsey Grammer, Channing Tatum, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Lewis Pullman and the quartet from First Steps.

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