Marvel’s Fantastic Four Movie: John David Washington Rumored For Reed
With the Fantastic Four back home at Marvel, Marvel Studios wants to include them in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
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When Disney acquired 20th Century Fox studios, they also acquired the rights to the Fantastic Four. That puts the superhero team under the same banner as the rest of Marvel’s characters for the first time. With the Fantastic Four back home at Marvel, Marvel Studios wants to include them in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and they’re currently exploring the best way to bring them in. Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie is coming, it’s just a question of how and when.
Casting Marvel’s Fantastic Four Team
Word is that there are two very different actors are being considered to play the leader of the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards. One is John Krasinski, the other is John David Washington.
John David Washington is the star of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and one of the fastest rising stars in Hollywood. He’s also the son of Denzel Washington. According to this rumor the 35-year-old is now one of the top contenders for the role of Reed.
We’ve heard rumors for awhile now that former Office star turned horror movie (A Quiet Place) director John Krasinski could be up for the part of Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, in Marvel’s new version of the Fantastic Four. Until now those have just been wild rumors, but we’ve just gotten something a little more concrete.
Roger Wardell tweeted this oddly overlooked message a few days ago…
If you don’t know who Wardell is, he’s a Marvel Insider with a proven track record of getting scoops like these right. So it’s pretty likely that if he says Krasinski is up for a part at Marvel, then he’s up for the part. That said, he doesn’t specify WHICH part Krasinski is up for. But where there’s smoke there’s fire. We’ve been hearing Krasinski for Mr. Fantastic for months now and it’s really hard to imagine Marvel wanting to cast him as the lead in any other superhero movie. He’s uniquely qualified to be Reed Richards in Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie.
Various sources are now reporting that Marvel is in talks with Emily Blunt to have the actress play a Marvel character. Whether those are just wishful thinking because her real life husband John Krasinski is in talks, or whether this is actually a real thing remains to be seen. She would be a great fit as Sue Richards, the Invisible Woman. And it would be fun to have a real life couple playing fictional married Sue and Reed Richards.
If this pans out it sounds like talks are still in early stages and there’s been no corroboration yet on whether Krasinski really is involved. But as long as they’re going after Emily Blunt, they’d be crazy not to go after Krasinski too. Individually they’d both be a great fit for the Marvel universe, together they are the absolute perfect fit for the Fantastic Four.
When Will We See Marvel’s Fantastic Four?
The actual Fantastic Four movie is still very far off. The film isn’t even in pre-production yet. So why would Marvel be casting their team already? Because odds are the new Fantastic Four’s first appearance won’t be in their own movie.
In 2021 Marvel will release Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. That movie will pull in superhero characters from all manner of different alternate dimensions. Among those characters are likely to be the Fantastic Four. It’s the perfect way to explain why the Four were totally absent during Earth’s desperate struggle against Thanos. They weren’t there because they don’t exist in our dimension. They live in a different one.
So the first place you’ll likely see the Fantastic Four is in Doctor Strange 2. After that, don’t be surprised if the cameo in other Marvel movies too, as part of the lead up to their own Fantastic Four movie adventure. Remember, Marvel thinks big and they plan long.
Will Galactus Appear?
Sources at Marvel tell WGTC that the iconic Fantastic Four villain Galactus is a heavy topic of conversation at the studio and they’re working on ways to bring him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They may not even wait to have the character show up in a new Fantastic Four movie, we could see Galactus sooner. What their scoopers are most sure about though, is that when we do see Galactus Marvel could end up gender swapping him.
In the comics Galactus is male, sort of. Actually he’s a giant planet eating alien who looks like a male. And while their scooper claims they’re considering actors like Liam Neeson for the part, they’re also considering actresses like Emma Thompson.
Here’s a piece of amazing fan art which visualizes what Galactus could look like, when he joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe…
The only other time Galactus has appeared on film it was as a cloud in the 2007 movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Nearly everyone hated that so having him appear as an actual character, whatever his or her gender, is definitely an upgrade which should make fans happy.
Silver Surfer Getting His Own Movie?
Fan reaction to 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was mixed, but one thing almost everyone agreed on was that they loved Silver Surfer. Part of that was Doug Jones’ fantastic performance, but part of it was also simply that Silver Surfer is a fantastic character. So it makes sense that there would be interest from Hollywood in bringing that superhero character back. And they are.
Proven superhero scooper Mike Sutton says that not only is Marvel working on a Silver Surfer solo movie, they have someone picked out to star. Word is that Mr. Robot and Bohemian Rhapsody star Rami Malek is in the running to play Silver Surfer, who’s real name in the comics is Norrin Radd.
Marvel is also still working on a reboot of the Fantastic Four, but this Silver Surfer movie will predate whatever they’re doing with those characters. We may even see Silver Surfer in theaters first.
This won’t be the first time Hollywood has tried to make a Silver Surfer solo movie. Back in 1997 a Silver Surfer movie was in development with none other than Ewan McGregor wanted to star as Silver Surfer with Steven Berkoff as Galactus. The project fell apart by the work they did on it remains. Here’s what it would have looked like, as revealed in storyboards made for the movie by artist Gabriel Hardman…
