Dan Trachtenberg’s Marvel Movie Talks Feel Like a Long Time Coming

Few directors have built a reputation as quickly as Dan Trachtenberg has by reviving something people assumed was running on fumes. He made his feature debut with ’10 Cloverfield Lane’, then went on to direct ‘Prey’, the 1719-set entry that dropped the Predator into the Northern Great Plains. The film sent the creature hunting in the Northern Great Plains in 1719.

That success snowballed. Trachtenberg is now credited with breathing new life into the franchise with ‘Prey,’ ‘Killer of Killers’ and ‘Predator: Badlands.’ ‘Badlands’ stars Elle Fanning, and 20th Century Studios’ president Steve Asbell has said Trachtenberg chose not to make a ‘Prey’ sequel.

Now another major studio appears to want a piece of him. According to a report from Alex Perez at The Cosmic Circus, the director is in talks to write and direct a Marvel Studios movie. The scoop is an exclusive from The Cosmic Circus, and ComicBook.com picked it up on Nov. 13.

What the report doesn’t do, at least in the portions available, is say which Marvel project he would be tackling. There is no title, no character and no timeline attached, and talks are, of course, not a deal. For now, the news amounts to a very interesting name entering the conversation.

It is not the first time the two sides have crossed paths. Trachtenberg has said on the ‘Happy Sad Confused’ podcast that Marvel approached him before the studio went with James Gunn for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ That makes this potential reunion feel less like a surprise and more like unfinished business.

Perez has also floated the director’s name before. In a 2024 reply to a fan asking who might direct the ‘Midnight Sons’ movie, he listed Fede Álvarez, Dan Trachtenberg, James Wan and Sam Raimi as his picks. That was a fan answer rather than a report, and nothing in the current story ties Trachtenberg to that project.

Trachtenberg’s plate is already crowded, which makes the timing intriguing. He is set to direct the animated horror comedy ‘Freddy the 13th’ for Paramount, based on a graphic novel by his co-director Yehudi Mercado. He is also producing that film with Ben Rosenblatt.

Disney has put him to work as well. He is developing and set to direct a Disney movie inspired by ‘Sleeping Beauty,’ with a story by Trachtenberg and Rayna McClendon. Add a Marvel feature on top, and it is easy to see why one outlet joked that he seems to be trying to make as many different films as he possibly can.

His track record also includes some near misses. He was once attached to the long-developing ‘Uncharted’ adaptation at Sony before leaving the project. He was also in talks to direct ‘The Secret Life of Houdini’ at one point. Landing a Marvel film would give him a franchise sandbox of a very different size.

For fans, the appeal is straightforward. Trachtenberg has shown he can take a familiar property, strip it to its sharpest elements and hand it back with fresh energy. Marvel has spent years looking for exactly that kind of creative jolt.

Whether the talks turn into an official announcement remains to be seen. Marvel has not publicly confirmed anything, and the studio’s slate is already packed. Until a project is named, expect the speculation to run wild across fan communities.