We recently heard that Adam Driver had passed on playing Reed Richards in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot because he couldn't connect with the role, and it sounds like Marvel Studios may have reached out with an offer to another actor - though we can see fans being a lot more divided on this potential pick!
According to Daniel Richtman (via Patreon), Matt Smith has now been offered the role of the patriarch of Marvel's First Family, Mr. Fantastic.
Apparently, Smith was offered the part prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, but it's not clear if he's accepted or not.
Smith will probably still be best known for playing the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, but more recently, he appeared in HBO's House of the Dragon, and Sony Pictures' much-maligned Morbius.
This isn't the first time we've heard Smith's name mentioned in connection with the role, but, from what we understand, he wasn't viewed as a "serious contender."
Last we heard, Vanessa Kirby had an offer for Sue Storm, but Daveed Diggs is no longer said to be the front-runner to play Ben Grimm/The Thing. No solid word on which actor the studio has in mind for Johnny Storm/Human Torch.
Matt Shakman will direct from a script by Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. Plot details are still a mystery, but 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 2022 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.”
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.