Some viewers spotted the name Jeff Kaplan as one of the writers of Fantastic Four: First Steps. If you’re a video game fan, you’re likely wondering if it’s that Jeff Kaplan, especially since he’s been quiet since leaving Blizzard in 2021. Unfortunately, Overwatch players will be disappointed with the answer.
Did the Overwatch Jeff Kaplan write Fantastic Four: First Steps?
The former Blizzard vice president, Jeff Kaplan, did not write Fantastic Four: First Steps. As far as we can tell, the Jeff Kaplan known for Overwatch and the one who co-wrote the MCU film have absolutely no connection aside from their shared name.
One aspect the MCU Kaplan does share with the Overwatch creator is that he seems to value his privacy. There’s little info available about his personal life. He made his professional writing debut in the indie film circuit. He and partner Ian Springer co-wrote the comedy Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship, which was released in 2013. The film also marked Kaplan’s first stint as a feature director.
Kaplan’s path to Marvel started much earlier. Raised in Pittsburgh and Albany, he studied film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he met Springer. The two bonded over 1980s comedies and spent years polishing double-handed scripts while juggling survival jobs in New York. Their early shorts, including Kaplan’s award-winning Love and Adventure in New York, earned festival praise but no Hollywood paychecks, so they pivoted to bigger, high-concept ideas. That change led to a flurry of spec sales, such as Disaster Wedding (currently set up at Warner Bros.) and the road-trip comedy K-Pop: Lost in America, which is currently in production.
Marvel took notice in 2022, hiring Kaplan and Springer to draft a new Fantastic Four treatment before director Matt Shakman signed on. Although later rewrites brought in additional writers like Josh Friedman, Kaplan and Springer retained shared screenwriting and story credit, meaning key beats of the final film still originate from their outline. Their sudden jump from indie comedies to the MCU made them overnight “writers to watch,” and CAA now represents the pair, who have several projects in active development.
So, while Overwatch’s Jeff Kaplan remains on hiatus, a completely different Jeff Kaplan is quietly carving out a place among Hollywood’s most in-demand screenwriters.
