It's getting increasingly difficult to keep up with all these Fantastic Four casting rumours, though it now appears Vanessa Kirby and Joseph Quinn are a lock for Invisible Woman and the Human Torch respectively.
Antonio Banderas supposedly remains in the mix to star as Galactus, while Ebon Moss-Bachrach may end up playing the Devourer of Worlds' unnamed Herald (while he's not thought to be playing Silver Surfer, it's also not outside the realm of possibility). As for Doctor Doom, he isn't currently expected to appear.
When it comes to the rest of Marvel's First Family, however, casting for The Thing remains a mystery to us, while Adam Driver (Star Wars) and Matt Smith (Morbius) are both in the mix for Mister Fantastic.
Driver reportedly passed on the reboot after reading an earlier version of the screenplay due to the fact he was unable to connect with the character. That's seemingly what led to Smith emerging as the new frontrunner, but Marvel Studios isn't done with the former Kylo Ren just yet.
According to scooper Daniel Richtman, the studio plans to meet with Driver again once the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes end. At this stage, it will probably be early 2024.
The plan, apparently, is to allow Driver to read Josh Friedman's new script and see if he would then be open to playing the MCU's Reed Richards. Unless that knocks his socks off, we're not banking on the actor changing his mind, and wouldn't be shocked if Smith ultimately ends up landing the role.
When Hollywood finally returns to business as usual - that will require studios to do the right thing - then we might finally get some official Fantastic Four casting news, but the rumour mill shows no sign of slowing down in the meantime.
Fantastic Four is set to be released in theaters on May 2, 2025.
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