Another day, another Fantastic Four casting rumor - but this one comes from a very reliable source.
During the latest episode of The Hot Mic podcast, Jeff Sneider said that he'd heard some rumblings about Ryan Gosling being "in the mix" for one of the main roles in Marvel Studios' FF reboot, but wasn't sure which one.
Reed Richards seems like the most likely bet, but Johnny Storm, Doctor Doom, or even Ben Grimm are all possibilities (we're going to go ahead and assume Marvel isn't planning to gender-switch Invisible Woman).
Sneider also mentioned Adam Driver's name in connection with both Mr. Fantastic and Doctor Doom late last year, but we haven't had any solid updates since. We do know that Kevin Feige and co. are casting a wide net in an attempt to nab the best ensemble cast possible, so even if Gosling is in contention, he might well be competing with numerous other actors we haven't even heard about yet.
We've also heard that Gosling might be up for the role of Sentry in Thunderbolts, so perhaps he's speaking to the studio about more than one part?
Casting has been underway for a while, though, so the trades may begin weighing in with official details fairly soon.
Matt Shakman recently boarded the project as director, with Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer currently working on the script. Plot details are still a mystery, but Kevin Feige has confirmed that this will not be another origin story for the super-team.
“A lot of people know this origin story. A lot of people know the basics. How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before?” he said in a recent interview, comparing this new take on the heroes to Marvel Studios' pact with Sony to bring Spider-Man into the MCU. “We’ve set a very high bar for ourselves with bringing that to the screen.”
Fantastic Four is currently set to hit theaters in 2025.