After years of speculation, John Krasinski melted Marvel fans’ minds when he finally appeared as Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, there was a pretty significant catch. Krasinski played the Fantastic Four patriarch in an alternate universe where he was gruesomely murdered by Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch. Granted, this doesn’t mean Krasinski’s version of the classic character isn’t still roaming around the Marvel Cinematic Universe (or Earth-616 as its designated in the film). However, it does leave the door open for Mr. Fantastic to be played by an entirely different actor, which might be the direction Marvel is heading.
While promoting the third season of Jack Ryan, Krasinski seemed to heavily suggest that his Reed Richards cameo was a one-time thing. According to the actor, there’ve been no further discussions outside of his quick one-day shoot on the Doctor Strange sequel. Via The Wrap:
“There aren’t any discussions at all, the only discussion I had was actually in the second-to-last week of ‘Jack Ryan,’” Krasinski said. “Kevin Feige called and said would you ever fly to L.A. and play in our sandbox for a day? I was honored to do it. I flew right from Budapest when we wrapped and went right to the ‘Doctor Strange’ set. I’m a big fan of all those characters and that world, so to get to play in that sandbox for one day was a real thrill.”
Obviously, Krasinski could be employing some of that age-old Marvel secrecy as the studio prepares to officially unveil the cast for its upcoming Fantastic Four movie. That said, he could be telling the truth and Marvel was having a bit of fun with fans with the cameo. Fan speculation is already running wild after William Jackson Harper recently joined the cast of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The Good Place star has also been floated by fans as a possible contender for the MCU’s version of Reed Richards.
Not for nothing, Kristen Bell would also make a heck of a Sue Storm. And come to think of it, Manny Jacinto would be a pretty kickass Human Torch. (Is Marvel writing this down?)
(Via The Wrap)