A Vaughn Again Hero: Matthew Vaughn Wants To Direct A Fantastic Four Reboot

There is one name that you just can't seem to escape from in Hollywood, and it's that of Fox's golden (circle) boy Matthew Vaughn. After waving his directorial magic over the likes of Layer Cake and Stardust, Vaughn biggest endeavor was to overhaul the X-Men following 2006's maligned The Last Stand. Seeming to find his niche, Vaughn has continued to excel in the genre of comic books and graphic novels, but what could be next in his sights?

Well, sticking with the theme of spandex, Vaughn hopes to atone for his past mistakes and return Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four to their former glory. Given Vaughn's ties to Fox with X-Men: First Class and the two Kingsman movies, the director is certainly in a pretty good position to bring the quartet back to our screens. However, with Vaughn serving as a producer on Josh Trank's 2015 car crash that was Fant4stic, will it be a case of once bitter, twice shy.

A Fantastic Idea?

Speaking to CinemaBlend, Vaughn has high hopes that he could helm his own Fantastic Four outing as an apology for Trank's tanking:

"The other one I've felt an obligation to do is, I wouldn't mind maybe making a Fantastic Four film to apologise to everyone out there that maybe it didn't go very well for them...One of my favourites is the Fantastic Four, so maybe one day I'll try and rectify the mistake."

Given Vaughn's less than enthusiastic words about the previous entry, it is safe to assume that he would tackle a reboot rather than a sequel. While this would undoubtedly mean the end of the road for Fant4stic stars like Michael B. Jordan and Kate Mara, Vaughn has already showed just how well some new blood can work thanks to First Class. With Fox pulling a sequel to the Trank travesty over two years ago, there has been relatively little movement since. That being said, a sequel to 2015's film still has the approval of writer/producer Simon Kinberg as well as cast members Miles Teller and Jordan.

It is a tough one to gauge, with most superhero fans caught in between Fox keeping the rights to the FF or giving it to Disney for inclusion in the MCU. We have already seen Sony and Disney broker a lucrative deal for those complicated Spider-Man rights, but Mickey Mouse seems to be on a completely different page than Fox when it comes to peaceful arrangements.

Despite the Fantastic Four gracing our screen in three standalone movies, the team seems like some of the few superhero characters that no one can seem to crack. Despite faring better than Fant4stic, Tim Story's noughties entries with Fantastic Four and Rise of the Silver Surfer weren't exactly up there with the likes of Logan or Wonder Woman in the popularity stakes. However, in this "golden age" of comic book movies, perhaps one final crack of the whip for Fox could be just what's needed. I guess we can all take solace in the reassurance that it couldn't possibly be any worse than what happened in 2015.