Jon Watts has stepped down as director of Fantastic Four, Marvel Studios and Disney’s reimagining of the iconic Marvel Comics franchise. Watts recently helmed Spider-Man: No Way Home, a picture co-produced by Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios that grossed $1.89 billion, making it the sixth highest-grossing film of all time.

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Watts simply requires a break from the superhero world after finishing the Spider-Man trilogy starring Tom Holland and Zendaya. He had planned to create Fantastic Four, the third feature picture in the franchise and the first after Disney purchased Fox, which owned the brand, as his next project. Watts has spent the greater part of the last decade directing and marketing Spider-Man films, having been hired off the back of Cop Car, a low-budget indie thriller that premiered at Sundance in 2015. He needs to take a break.

Watts and Marvel both acknowledged his departure and stated that it was amicable.

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“Collaborating with Jon on the Spider-Man films has been a true pleasure. We were looking forward to continuing our work with him to bring the Fantastic Four into the MCU but understand and are supportive of his reasons for stepping away. We are optimistic that we will have the opportunity to work together again at some point down the road,” said Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, and Louis D’Esposito, co-president of Marvel Studios.

“Making three Spider-Man films was an incredible and life-changing experience for me. I’m eternally grateful to have been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for seven years. I’m hopeful we’ll work together again and I can’t wait to see the amazing vision for Fantastic Four brought to life,” Watts stated.

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Sony and the Spider-Man producers have stated that they intend to re-team Watts with Holland and Zendaya to finish the series. Watts hasn’t officially left the franchise, but if he does, it seems like it will be shortly.

Watts has another promising idea in the works that might be his next film as a filmmaker. Last September, Apple Studios won a quick auction for an untitled picture Watts would write and direct, starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt as rival “fixers” engaged for the same assignment at the same time. According to the terms of the arrangement, Apple will give the picture a wide theatrical premiere before it debuts on Apple TV+. Watts is collaborating with Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures and Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment to produce the project.