Draft:Reed Richards (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). He was one of the four main characters in the title. Lee has stated the stretch powers were inspired by DC's Plastic Man, which had no equivalent in Marvel.^[1]

The Hollywood Reporter highlighted the many previous adaptations of Richards and The Fantastic Four which includes "four different animated series featuring the property — 1967's Fantastic Four, 1978's The New Fantastic Four, 1994's Fantastic Four, and 2006's Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes", the unreleased 1994 film adaptation, 20th Century Fox's film Fantastic Four (2005) and its sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), and Fox's film reboot Fantastic Four (2015).^[2] On December 14, 2017, the Walt Disney Company agreed to a $52.4 billion deal to acquire 21st Century Fox, including its subsidiary 20th Century Fox. Disney's CEO Bob Iger stated that they plan to integrate the Fantastic Four into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).^[3] On March 20, 2019, the now $71.3 billion deal was officially completed.^[4] At the 2019 Marvel Studios San Diego Comic-Con Hall H presentation in July, studio head Kevin Feige announced that a Fantastic Four film, which will be set in the MCU, is in development.^[5][6]. Justin Kroll at Deadline Hollywood reported that Daniel Craig was originally set to film what was likely a day of shooting in the role of Richards in London for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), but stepped down due to an increase in COVID-19 cases.^[7][8] Craig was also reportedly set to portray the character Balder the Brave as an Illuminati member before Krasinski joined.^[7][8]

Prior to the start of the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike in July 2023, Marvel Studios held screen tests for the role of Richards with several actors, including Christopher Abbott and Jamie Dornan, which "did not go very well" according to Jeff Sneider. The studio wanted a high-profile actor and offered the role to Jake Gyllenhaal, who portrayed Mysterio in the MCU film Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), but they did not want to pay the salary he asked for as Feige wanted to contain the studio's talent spending. They were also considering non-white actors for Richards and Pedro Pascal became interested, though he would not engage in conversations during the strike.^[9][10] In July 2024, it was revealed that Pascal will star as Richards in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), a role he will reprise in Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).^[11]

An alternate universe version of Reed Richards appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), portrayed by John Krasinski. This version is a member of the Illuminati from Earth-838.^[12][13] In this universe, he is a founder of the Fantastic Four, and of the Baxter Foundation, where a variant of Christine Palmer works to analyze potential threats from the multiverse. When Scarlet Witch possessed her Earth-838 counterpart and attacked the Illuminati, she asked Reed if his wife was alive, and when he acknowledged that she was, tore him apart while musing that there would still be someone left alive to look after his kids.^[14][15]

On Richards's appearance in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), The Hollywood Reporter stated that "the ecstatic reaction in theaters and online over John Krasinski's appearance in the Sam Raimi movie – wearing a version of Richards' traditional comic book costume  – was a clear sign audiences are ready to accept the iconic superhero group on the big screen, within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It helped that this version of Richards was recognizable beyond simply his outfit. Krasinski's Richards appeared thoughtful, compassionate and well aware of the consequences of his (and others) actions. In other words, very much the Reed Richards from Marvel Comics, compared with other onscreen versions of the character, which have stretched him (no pun intended) in new directions to fit creative visions at odds with the comic's legacy history".^[2] Sam Adams, for Slate, highlighted that the alternate versions of characters that appeared in Multiverse of Madness have no impact on the "Marvel Cinematic Universe's core reality". Instead, this was an opportunity to pull characters out of the toybox. Adams wrote, "the introduction of Multiverse's Illuminati [...] isn't just fan service; it's a fan feast. Here's Krasinski, whom the internet has been trying for months to get cast as Reed Richards in the MCU's planned Fantastic Four movie". Adams commented that the addition of the Illuminati is "tossing bits of validation to fans like raw meat to circus lions. [...] Bummer about Fantastic Four's director dropping out because he's tired of making comic-book movies, but here's a little Mr. Fantastic to tide you over".^[14]

Siddhant Adlakha, for Vulture, wrote that "Krasinski's Richards — who shows up in a sleek outfit and radiates mild concern — seems to be drawn from a version of the character that has, until now, existed only in people's minds. [...] Part of the difficulty in pinning the character down may be that no onscreen version has ever stuck despite the efforts of Ioan Gruffudd in 2005 and Miles Teller in 2015. [...] Even so, Krasinski's appearance doesn't inspire confidence for long-term stewarding of Marvel's 'First Family.' His cameo feels designed only to appease fan theorizers, and while there's nothing wrong with that in the short term, little in the way Krasinski behaves or delivers his dialogue hints at a version of Richards that's anything but a plain, straight-talking action hero rather than an obsessive genius whose real superpower is out-thinking, rather than out-stretching, his foes".^[13]