Marvel Studios is working its way up to multiple major releases throughout the course of the MCU's Phase 4, in which the last currently confirmed project is Jon Watts' Fantastic Four. With Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox now officially complete, fans are already building hype to see Marvel's First Family integrate themselves into the story alongside Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
More so than any future MCU project, theories have been especially prevalent concerning who Marvel Studios will decide to cast as Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, and the Storm siblings. At the top of the list has been the Hollywood power couple of John Krasinski and Emily Blunt as Reed and Sue, although Blunt has made it clear that she's not much of a fan of superhero films.
However, this shouldn't be taken for granted on the other side of the relationship.
JOHN KRASINSKI TALKS FANTASTIC FOUR
In a March 2020 interview with Uproxx, John Krasinski spoke about the stir that he caused from previous comments he made which expressed his heavy interest in playing Reed Richards in the MCU's Fantastic Four movie. The press interview was conducted for Krasinski's involvement in A Quiet Place: Part II and is only now being published.
Krasinski was asked if he strategically brought up his interest in the Marvel role in an attempt to make headlines and get fans talking. Krasinski said that he wasn't thinking that far ahead:
"Oh, I didn’t even think of that. But now you make me sound really smart."
Krasinski then admitted feeling "stupid" and not wanting to put pressure on Marvel CCO Kevin Feige:
"I actually felt stupid. I wanted to email Kevin Feige and be like, “Sorry, man. I wasn’t trying to like put pressure on you. You’re the man.”
The star of The Office spoke about simply being honest about wanting to play the role. Not knowing "it would be headlines," he stated that he's more than happy to just speak his mind about subjects like this:
"I think I felt, it’s like I was trying to sometimes over calculate how much I’ve talked about certain things. And then you get older and you just go, 'I don’t know, I’m going to be honest.' And my honest answer was like, “Hell yeah. I’d play Mr. Fantastic.” And then people were like, “Oh my God.” And I didn’t know it would be headlines. I thought it would just be the eighth question in that interview. But it’s true."
NOT COUNTING OUT THE MCU
Almost no name in Hollywood has been attached to the MCU's future Reed Richards other than John Krasinski, particularly taking into account his openness to speaking about it himself. After being in the running for Captain America more than a decade ago, it seems to be only a matter of time before the fan-favorite star takes on his first superhero role.
That being said, actual casting for this movie is still a long ways out with Jon Watts currently standing as the only name attached to Fantastic Four. However, this won't stop fans from voicing their passionate opinions on the matter, especially as production for the film goes further into development over the coming months.
Fantastic Four is in the early stages of development and will likely release sometime in 2023 or later.
