The Fantastic Four Casting and New Release Date Revealed by Marvel Studios

[Vael]

I kinda agree with one podcaster who said the issue with Pedro is that he's a very warm presence. Even at his most cold or distant, there is a warmth to Pascal, it's how he manages to humanize the Mandalorian ... and warmth is not a word I'd use to describe Reed Richards.

But then my limited exposure to FF in the comics has not made me the biggest fan of Reed, so there's that.

I do like Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm ... he kinda stole the show in the last season of Stranger Things, so I think he'll be good here. Not familiar with Vanessa Kirby, but she looks the part, and I still need to watch The Bear, but I did like Ebon Moss-Bachrach in Andor.

 

[Richards]

Dr Doom would be the hero protecting us all from the excesses of Richards.

Hey, now.

Johnathan

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Anyone know why they didn't stick with John Krasinski as Reed Richards?

There's no formal statement, but given the actor they changed to, it's pretty easy to see that they wanted a Richards who is older-feeling, and more charming. Kraskinski played Richards as fairly smirking and cynical, which is absolutely how Richards has been at times, but not in all portrayals. If they wanted a similar vibe, there are a lot of actors they could have turned to. But they turned to an actor who specializes in warm, charming guys many of whom are ultimately kind of jerks (putting it mildly). He also tends to play older than Krasinski (despite only being four years older).

Also if we're being really real, outside of comedic roles (which he seems to have largely abandoned), Krasinski is a perfectly okay actor, whereas Pedro Pascal is a genuinely good actor. There is quite a gulf in talent there. I don't want to make up numerical ratings or something buy Pascal is better at fading into the character and better at giving emotive performances.

On top of this I'm not sure if Krasinski would even want to be a potential long-term fixture in other people's projects, as it seems like he has quite a lot going on (esp. behind the camera). Plus you'd really feel like an idiot for casting him as Richards if you couldn't get Blunt as Sue Storm!

I kinda agree with one podcaster who said the issue with Pedro is that he's a very warm presence. Even at his most cold or distant, there is a warmth to Pascal, it's how he manages to humanize the Mandalorian ... and warmth is not a word I'd use to describe Reed Richards.

Nor would one use it about Tony Stark though, from the comics. Yet RDJ undeniably brought a lot of warmth and humanity to the role. I think you're going to have Richards as a potentially important and recurring character, especially if he at all is "the team's dad", you probably want him to be a little bit more likeable than the comics - still a jerk I hope but not "this guy totally sucks" which is I think is a common reaction to comics Reed Richards.

Not familiar with Vanessa Kirby, but she looks the part

Every role I've seen her in previously she was kind of creepy or weird, so it's an interesting casting from that perspective. She's more of a Lady Macbeth kind of cast than you'd normally think of for Sue Storm but it definitely gets my attention, but maybe she's just going to show her range.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach just based on The Bear I think will be perfect for The Thing, and I'm not familiar with Joseph Quinn, though the lewks he serves are very messianic so he may be an interesting Johnny Storm.

 

[Ryujin]

There's no formal statement, but given the actor they changed to, it's pretty easy to see that they wanted a Richards who is older-feeling, and more charming. Kraskinski played Richards as fairly smirking and cynical, which is absolutely how Richards has been at times, but not in all portrayals. If they wanted a similar vibe, there are a lot of actors they could have turned to. But they turned to an actor who specializes in warm, charming guys many of whom are ultimately kind of jerks (putting it mildly). He also tends to play older than Krasinski (despite only being four years older).

Also if we're being really real, outside of comedic roles (which he seems to have largely abandoned), Krasinski is a perfectly okay actor, whereas Pedro Pascal is a genuinely good actor. There is quite a gulf in talent there. I don't want to make up numerical ratings or something buy Pascal is better at fading into the character and better at giving emotive performances.

On top of this I'm not sure if Krasinski would even want to be a potential long-term fixture in other people's projects, as it seems like he has quite a lot going on (esp. behind the camera). Plus you'd really feel like an idiot for casting him as Richards if you couldn't get Blunt as Sue Storm!

Nor would one use it about Tony Stark though, from the comics. Yet RDJ undeniably brought a lot of warmth and humanity to the role. I think you're going to have Richards as a potentially important and recurring character, especially if he at all is "the team's dad", you probably want him to be a little bit more likeable than the comics - still a jerk I hope but not "this guy totally sucks" which is I think is a common reaction to comics Reed Richards.

Every role I've seen her in previously she was kind of creepy or weird, so it's an interesting casting from that perspective. She's more of a Lady Macbeth kind of cast than you'd normally think of for Sue Storm but it definitely gets my attention, but maybe she's just going to show her range.

Ebon Moss-Bachrach just based on The Bear I think will be perfect for The Thing, and I'm not familiar with Joseph Quinn, though the lewks he serves are very messianic so he may be an interesting Johnny Storm.

Here's a little over 5 minutes of Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munsen, in "Stranger Things." It might be a good intro to the actor.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Here's a little over 5 minutes of Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munsen, in "Stranger Things." It might be a good intro to the actor.

Ohhhh he's that guy! I didn't watch that season, as I am very much "done" with Stranger Things (shark jump in S3 imho - hell actually that's about the third shark jump, the first was at the start of S2), but everything I've seen about that character seemed fun and yeah that seems Johnny Storm-ish.

 

[Staffan]

I think you're going to have Richards as a potentially important and recurring character, especially if he at all is "the team's dad", you probably want him to be a little bit more likeable than the comics - still a jerk I hope but not "this guy totally sucks" which is I think is a common reaction to comics Reed Richards.

I haven't followed FF historically as much as I have the X-Men, so my grasp on things may be limited. But while Reed has historically been a bit cold and absorbed in his science stuff, I think the jerk factor is more recent, probably traceable to Civil War and/or the influence of Ultimate Reed, and definitely expanded on by the Illuminati nonsense leading up to 2015 Secret Wars.

 

[The Soloist]

I wonder if Namor, which we saw in Wakanda Forever, could be the antagonist in FF. In the comics, he is enamoured of Sue Storm.

 

[Umbran]

Isn’t he the same size as the villians in eternals?

His size varies. He is a cosmic entity, and unless he's starved for energy, can be pretty much whatever size he wants. He tends to hang out in the 30' to skyscraper range.

 

[GamerforHire]

Yeah. I know Pedro Pascal is popular right now, but the role might be a bit of a stretch for him.

I haven't seen in his past work that he could believably portray the smartest man in the world. Also, Reed Richards is generally portrayed as... tidy, neat, well-kempt - it is part of his (ironically) fairly stiff demeanor. And Pascal has a seemingly permanent air of disheveledness about him.

I would expect they're going to use Doctor Doom as the villain, if only because he's a reasonable replacement for Kang as an overarching villain going forward.

Doctor Doom has been rumored as a leading choice to replace Kang, and this would indeed be a perfect opportunity—new villain introduced with a new/reboot set of hereoes.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I haven't followed FF historically as much as I have the X-Men, so my grasp on things may be limited. But while Reed has historically been a bit cold and absorbed in his science stuff, I think the jerk factor is more recent, probably traceable to Civil War and/or the influence of Ultimate Reed, and definitely expanded on by the Illuminati nonsense leading up to 2015 Secret Wars.

I would personally disagree.

My main knowledge of Marvel, like the only period I've read tons of comics and tpbs from is the mid-1980s through to about 2000, so just before Ultimate stuff. This because I didn't buy Marvel stuff really but had a friend who bought ALL OF IT basically lol. He had a huuuuuuuuge bedroom (like, I thought mine was big - his was probably 4x the size - you could rent it as a studio flat nowadays and it wouldn't even be a small one) and there were just neat and orderly piles of Marvel comics and tpbs everywhere.

And if you asked me in that period, how do you feel about Reed Richards, I'd have told you "The man is a smug jerk".

Can I remember exactly why? No. But that emotional impression of him is very solid and I definitely read a lot of FF comics or crossovers involving the FF. So my strong belief is that he's been a jerk since sometime in the 1980s or 1990s. I know this was also the feeling of other friends who'd read the same comics.