Another ‘Fantastic Four’ Casting Rumor Cites The Same Potential Actor For Reed Richards

Disney has just announced the director of Fantastic Four, WandaVision’s Matt Shakman. Now all that’s left is to reveal the cast, which will be the central quartet and likely Doctor Doom.

But one actor keeps being brought up more than most, and the more he is, the less it seems like the fan-cast John Krasinski will end up being more than just that Multiverse of Madness Illuminati cameo.

Once again, a familiar name has surfaced. Past rumors about cast lists have said that Disney is pursuing You actor Penn Badgley to play Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic. And industry journalist Devin Faraci just talked about how Badgley is apparently the frontrunner, as opposed to a more diverse concept like casting a black Reed Richards instead.

“I’ve long been stumping for a Black Reed Richards. I think John David Washington would be an incredible Reed Richards, I mean I’ve been stumping for this forever, and I’m not going to get it. I’m not going to get a Black Reed either. [Reed Richards] is going to be very traditional, is my guess.”

“The guys that [Marvel Studios] been talking to about it are all white guys. That guy [Penn Badgley] from the show You, who probably has the role already, frankly, he’s a white guy. They’re going with the standard… And he’s terrific, by the way, that’s a good choice. But, they’re going very classical.”

Marvel has very, very rarely ever changed the race or gender of established superheroes, although a recent rumor did say they could be pursuing Better Call Saul’s Giancarlo Espositio to play Professor X, which would be a high profile example. But that…has not happened yet, and essentially all major characters in the MCU have reflected the race of their counterparts in the comics to this point, with only rare exceptions (Sam Jackson’s Nick Fury, Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, Zendaya’s MJ). Marvel has started having more diverse actors in lead roles, but those again, are just matching comic characters like Shang-Chi or Ms. Marvel.

I would be a little surprised if all four members of the Fantastic Four were white actors, however. It may not be Reed Richards who isn’t, but we’ll see about the others. Previously, we had a black Johnny Storm played by Michael B. Jordan in the very bad Fantastic Four reboot a few years back. But we’ll see what happens this time.

As for Penn Badgley himself, he graduated from Gossip girl to You, the Lifetime serial killer series that Netflix bought and it became a megahit. He certainly does have the Reed Richards “look,” and it’s easy to see why Disney may be wanting him for the part if they are attempting to go for a full-on comic version that is not just using Krasinski again. As soon as Kevin Feige admitted that was him bowing to fan casting for a bit of fun, I figured Krasinski would not land the actual part.

Again, all just rumors for now and we’ll have to see what actually happens. Expect some answers in the next few weeks here, I imagine.

Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls.

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.