Why Tom Holland's Spider-Man Trilogy Director Left Marvel's Fantastic Four Reboot

Captain America might have the brawn, and Iron Man might have the brains, but Spider-Man rules movie theaters. The Marvel superhero has conquered the box office on more than one occasion, including when "Spider-Man: No Way Home" grossed over $1.9 billion at the global box office in 2021. That success of that movie and the previous entries in the Tom Holland-led "Spider-Man" trilogy has also made Jon Watts, who co-wrote and directed all three films, one of Marvel Studios' key creatives at a time where the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is in flux.

The lynchpin of this next era of the MCU is the introduction of the Fantastic Four, and so it was no surprise that Watts was Marvel's first choice to welcome the House of Ideas' First Family into the property. But a few months after the release of "No Way Home," the studio announced that Watts would no longer be directing what is now known as "The Fantastic Four: First Steps." Later, "WandaVision" helmer Matt Shakman took over the project instead, though that couldn't stop fans from speculating about why Watts dropped out of one of the biggest MCU movies yet. Watts, for his part, has avoided speaking directly about the subject in the three years since he dropped out of directing the film, but now he's finally broken his silence.

Watts has holding a storytelling masterclass at Malta's Mediterrane Film Festival when he spoke at length about his "Fantastic Four" departure, admitting that he couldn't find the energy to go right back into production on another star-studded superhero film after delivering "No Way Home." While his other two "Spider-Man" movies, "Homecoming" and "Far From Home," surely weren't easy to make either, the difficulties of working during the COVID-19 pandemic made "No Way Home" particularly difficult. Combined with a tough post-production and visual effects process, Watts felt like he was "out of gas" by the time he completed the film. As he put it (per The Hollywood Reporter):

"The emotional strain of having to go through all of those COVID protocols while also trying to make something creative while also trying to make sure that your cast and crew were all safe — literally, people could've died if you did things wrong — that and the post-production process was very difficult. When you're doing [visual effects work], there's a whole international component to it where you're using vendors from all over the world, and the supply chain had been interrupted because of COVID. It was really hard to get effects done in a traditional way."

Watts went on to say that "everyone at Marvel totally understood" why he had to step back:

"They had been through it with me as well, so they knew how hard and draining that experience has been; in the end, very satisfying, but at some point, if you can't do it at the level that you feel like you need to for it to be great, then it's better to not do it."

With that being said, it's not like Watts has taken it easy since backing away from "The Fantastic Four." Just last year alone, he directed "Wolfs" for Apple, starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, in addition to co-creating the underrated "Goonies" inspired "Star Wars" series "Skeleton Crew" for Disney+.

"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" opens in theaters on July 25, 2025.