'Avatar: The Way of Water' screenwriter joins Marvel's new 'Fantastic Four' film

Marvel's version of Fantastic Four has a new screenwriter. Josh Friedman, who previously wrote Avatar: The Way of Water and will be working on TNT's Snowpiercer series, has been tapped to write the screenplay for Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four.

Matt Shakman, director of the Marvel series WandaVision, will direct the film, which is set to be released on February 14, 2025 and will kick off Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Previously, Jeff Kaplan (not the former Overwatch director) and Ian Springer were responsible for the script of the project, so Josh Friedman's joining may mean a big change in the style of the film. Kaplan and Springer's previous works were mainly drama scripts.

Friedman, on the other hand, is a big name in science fiction. He co-wrote Spielberg and Tom Cruise's "War of the Worlds" and later served as the writer and head of the "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" TV series based on Cameron's famous film series. Cameron has repeatedly asked him by name to help with the script.

Although he had previously been involved in the TV adaptation of Snowpiercer, he later left the team due to creative differences.