David Tennant hoped to play Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps

David Tennant was hoping to play Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, but the role went to Pedro Pascal The post David Tennant hoped to play Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps appeared first on JoBlo.

May 27, 2025 - 15:15

David Tennant hoped to play Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps

The latest addition in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thunderbolts*, just reached theatres at the start of this month – but the next entry in the franchise isn’t far off, as The Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to reach theatres on July 25th. The film stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic; Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, a.k.a. the Invisible Woman; Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, a.k.a. the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm, a.k.a. the Thing, the characters that make up the titular team – but former Doctor Who star David Tennant has revealed that he had been hoping to play Reed Richards before Pascal won the role.

During a Q&A at MCM Comic Con in London, Tennant was asked which supervillain or superhero role he would like to play. On the supervillain side, Tennant said he already “got the best one” when he was cast as Kilgrave in the Marvel TV series Jessica Jones. “That worked out quite nicely. In terms of superheroes, I did slightly have my eye on Reed Richards. Unfortunately, it looks like they’ve gone in a different direction.” Still, “If it has to be someone, I’m very happy for it to be Pedro Pascal, frankly. I would’ve quite liked to be Reed Richards. I’d quite like to be able to do all that… Even though it’s going to be a while before there’s another go at that, unfortunately.” When asked if he’s familiar with Pascal being referred to as “the internet’s daddy” and which of them exudes more of the “daddy” essence, Tennant gave the title over to the actor who got the Reed Richards job. “I mean, it would definitely be him. He’s Mister Fantastic, in every sense of the word! I think Pedro Pascal is great. I’m very, very pleased that he exists.“

There have been several attempts to bring the Fantastic Four to the screen over the years, to varying levels of success. Roger Corman produced a low budget adaptation of the comic book back in 1994, but it was never officially released. (You can find it if you really want to see it, though.) Tim Story directed two big budget Fantastic Four movies that were released by 20th Century Fox, Fantastic Four (2005) and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007). In 2015, Fox gave the property to Josh Trank so he could bring a reboot to the screen… and that just turned out to be a collection of bad ideas. The Fantastic Four movies have never fully lived up to the potential of the concept and characters. Now, with The Fantastic Four: First Steps, the characters have come home to Marvel Studios and are officially joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here’s hoping this will turn out to be the Fantastic Four movie we’ve been waiting for all along.

Pascal, Kirby, Quinn, and Moss-Bacharach are joined in the cast by Julia Garner as the Shalla-Bal version of the Silver Surfer, with the great Ralph Ineson as Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds. Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, and Natasha Lyonne also have roles in the retro-future movie, and Matthew Wood provides the voice of the robot H.E.R.B.I.E.

The official synopsis for The Fantastic Four: First Steps: Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and Ben Grimm/The Thing as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

The Fantastic Four: First Steps will launch Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is being directed by Matt Shakman (WandaVision) from a script by Eric Pearson, Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer. Shakman has teased that the movie will be unlike anything we’ve seen from Marvel so far. “It’s different in so many ways,” Shakman said. “I wish I could be specific. I wish I could say more. But we are doing things very differently from a story standpoint, from an approach to the filmmaking standpoint, that really fits the material. I wish I could say more. I would love to, but I can’t. But I think it’s going to be unlike anything you’ve seen before, and certainly unlike anything at Marvel that you’ve seen before.”

What do you think of the idea of David Tennant playing Reed Richards? Would you have liked to see him get the job in The Fantastic Four: First Steps? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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