The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman comments on the Jonathan Hickman influences that inspired him for the film. Hickman was an influential writer of the comic books and his run was definitely my favourite as a kid. It seems the same was true for First Steps director Matt Shakman. Shakman wrote a foreword for the new Marvel Premiere Collection release, Fantastic Four: Solve Everything. That collects issues #570 – #588, written by Hickman with art from Dale Eaglesham, Neil Edwards and Steve Epting.
That foreword has been shared online by Variety. If you want to read the full thing, the trade’s link is right there. However, for those of you pressed for time… I’ve added the parts where Shakman references how Hickman’s work influenced him when creating the movie only.
Shakman on Hickman
‘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.’
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‘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.’
‘Made it into our film’
I guess this is the most relevant part. What of Hickman’s influences made it into Fantastic Four: First Steps?
‘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. 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.’
Folks, that’s how Jonathan Hickman influenced The Fantastic Four First Steps. As a Hickman fan, I am looking forward to this one. The scene description we covered yesterday, (related link above) sounds very cool. What do you think of Matt Shakman’s foreword on Hickman? Thoughts below.
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