The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman recently revealed the real celebrities who inspired the MCU's version of Reed Richards, and they are exactly who fans would expect them to be. First Steps took inspiration from a lot of Marvel comics that featured the Fantastic Four throughout history, which resulted in a faithful adaptation from Shakman. However, even though certain characters were modeled after their comic counterparts, Reed particularly showcased character traits of some real geniuses.
Past versions of Reed Richards (such as Ioan Gruffudd's character from 2005's Fantastic Four and Miles Teller's version of the same character in the 2015 film) have felt like their own character. Some Reed Richards and Mister Fantastic elements and qualities were brought over from the comics, but many fans have pointed out that Pascal's Reed in First Steps felt different.
While talking about The Fantastic Four: First Steps in a recent interview, director Matt Shakman simply revealed that three real-life celebrity-level geniuses from world history were used to help bring the film's version of Reed Richards to life.
The Three Real People Fantastic Four: First Steps' Reed Richards is Based On
Steve Jobs
One person Matt Shakman revealed was an inspiration for his Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps was Apple founder, entrepreneur, and inventor Steve Jobs. It was made clear early on in First Steps that, aside from being a superhero, Reed Richards was also a prominent inventor in that world.
For starters, the Fantasticar was something that not everyone was just driving around on the streets. Instead, it was something Reed invented for the team. Reed's inventions also drove the plot of the entire movie. For example, he created the teleportation bridge to get Galactus away from their planet.
While appearing on the Stuff Dreams Are Made Of podcast (shared via YouTube), Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman specifically talked about how HERBIE (another Reed Richards invention) was similar to the iPhone, which was a direct connection he made between Reed and Steve Jobs.
According to Shakman, while the Four had their own HERBIE robot, other people in that world "had consumer versions of HERBIE robots:"
"So we had to invent everything that was bespoke to them, whether it was the Fantasticar, or HERBIE robot. And then we had consumer versions of HERBIE robots, and retrofuture cars that were very charming."
When Shakman asked if it was like a HERBIE version of Amazon's Alexa, the director confirmed that it was, saying that he "thought of it as like the iPhone:"
"Yes, like consumer HERBIEs that look a little different. They're zooming around, doing deliveries, or whatever. I thought of it as like the iPhone."
So, Shakman looked at Steve Jobs as a direct influence on his version of Reed Richards, especially in terms of how Reed pushed the technology of that world forward.
Albert Einstein
In the same interview, Shakman also revealed that Albert Einstein was an inspiration for the MCU version of Reed Richards. As many know, Einstein was considered a genius due to developing the theory of relativity, his contributions to quantum theory, and his work in the field of physics.
Reed Richards was quite a notable scientist himself who often worked with physics and equations, and introduced his own theories to his world, specifically in terms of teleportation and space travel.
Shakman stated that he believed Reed Richards was a "child prodigy" in the MCU, and that he likely developed technology "20 [or] 30 years" before it was introduced in the Earth-616 universe. This also aligns with Einstein, who was considered a child prodigy himself. Most notably, he taught himself geometry at the age of 12 and received a PhD by the time he was 26:
"Before he became Mister Fantastic, because he was a child prodigy, he was introducing new technology 20, 30 years before, which is why by the time we get to the '60s, it's completely different from our '60s."
Robert Moses
Robert Moses was the third and final inspiration for The Fantastic Four's Reed Richards. Moses was an architect and urban planner who oversaw the construction of the New York metropolitan network.
In particular, Moses had a hand in making New York City what it is today, and he influenced a lot of the architecture, engineering, and urban planning that was used throughout the United States in the 1900s.
Some of the most iconic images of Moses feature him standing over small models of New York that he put together, not unlike some shots that feature Reed Richards with his own models.
It was established in the Fantastic Four film that Reed's inventions, intelligence, and other character traits helped influence the future of the world, just like how Robert Moses influenced the future of America.
In short, during the interview, Shakman simply revealed that Moses was another real-life person Reed was based on:
"Steve Jobs meets Einstein meets Robert Moses. He is exactly that, yeah!"
