On the surface, The Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards has everything going for him. The guy is literally known as ‘Mr. Fantastic’, with a reputation for being, well, the smartest person ever. Within Marvel’s First Family, there are all kinds of hats that Richards wears (not literally; he doesn’t have a Captain America-style helmet). He’s the nominal leader of the group, using his considerable brains to lead the way; their tech genius, who has populated their Baxter Building home with gadgets and gizmos galore; he’s a loving husband to Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman; and, in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, he’s about to become a father too. It’s a lot for even Mr. Fantastic to manage.
So when Pedro Pascal agreed to take on the role in Matt Shakman’s retro-futurist comic book adventure, there was plenty for him to dig into. “I see a limitless amount of layers to this character,” he tells Empire. As well as facing impending parenthood, alongside Vanessa Kirby’s pregnant Sue Storm, Reed’s alternate-Earth is in the path of planet-eating cosmic behemoth Galactus – plenty for the character’s super-sized mind to mull over. “He does the ultimate version of catastrophising,” teases Pascal. “A brain that has an overview of threats on a mathematical level, but also being emotionally available. It was a fascinating contradiction.”
Fittingly, for a character with elastic powers, it’s a role that needed someone who could stretch themselves. For Shakman, Pascal was the perfect choice. “I was looking for an actor who could contain multitudes,” the director explains. “There’s the very cerebral Reed Richards, and then there’s the action hero, the leader, the husband, the father, the friend. I knew Pedro could do all of that.” Talk about fantastic casting.