‘Fantastic Four’ casting is the final straw in the acting crisis that could be endgame for the MCU

The Fantastic Four has been at the center of one of the longest casting sagas in recent memory, as the studio scrambled to find a line-up of A-listers to make up Marvel’s First Family and hopefully bring Avengers-level enthusiasm and significance back to its cinematic universe. Adam Driver, Margot Robbie, and Paul Mescal were all once rumored to be very close to reaching a deal with Kevin Feige and Co. to enlist in the project. A group that seems wildly out of place and ambitious within the current context and image of the superhero genre, but which would have made perfect sense not five short years ago.

The updated roster will still include man of the hour Pedro Pascal, Emmy winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Oscar nominee Vanessa Kirby, and Stranger Things break-out star Joseph Quinn, but could the reason for the delayed confirmation be down to Marvel’s increased difficulty in getting names like these to say “Yes”?

Has Marvel lost its appeal to Hollywood’s acting pool?

Paul Mescal, Timothée Chalamet, Jacob Elordi, Jeremy Allen White, Zendaya. What do all these actors have in common? Besides being five of the most in-demand young talents of this generation, they’ve also pretty much dismissed the idea of playing a superhero.

A genre that could once pull the likes of Edward Norton, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lawrence, and Mark Ruffalo is slowly but surely losing the appeal for younger stars who no longer see the comic book movie world as a chance to bring a popular culture icon to life, but rather as a ball and chain. The necessity to turn every superhero property into a sprawling franchise that would tie them down for years, the CGI-heavy production that places actors in a sea of green screens performing against tennis balls, and the generally bad reputation the genre has gained within more prestigious circles have contributed to the flameout of an industry that was once synonymous with turning a relatively known actor into a globally famous screen legend.

“No hard drugs and no superhero movies” was the career advice Leonardo DiCaprio reportedly gave Chalamet, which has apparently become a widespread motto among his contemporaries. Zendaya, who is, famously, Tom Holland’s other half in Marvel’s Spider-Man series, is happy to sit on the sidelines and watch from afar. “If there’s anything I’ve learned from [being a part of the MCU], it’s I don’t think I want that. Being a superhero is not all that it’s cracked up to be,” she told Variety in 2021.

Mescal said he wouldn’t “have the patience required,” despite being the lead in another massive-scale production like Gladiator 2, and Allen White has copped to flubbing a Marvel audition because he assumed the studio wanted him more than he wanted them. Elordi, meanwhile, said a quick no to the new Superman. “That was immediately, ‘No, thank you.’ That’s too much. That’s too dark for me,” he confessed to GQ, adding “I like to make what I would watch.”

Just recently, Marvel lost two high-profile, highly qualified actors, Ayo Edebiri and Steven Yeun, both of whom exited Thunderbolts due to scheduling issues, because they would rather pass on the juggernaut than give up their chance to join smaller, more meaningful projects. Despite not having box office success or mainstream exposure as guarantees, these actors prefer the opportunities to flex their acting muscles and gain recognition from respected peers.

The good news is that while Marvel has always leaned on star power to drive people to theater seats, it has also balanced that out with the promise of new, untapped talent like Tom Holland, Iman Vellani, or even Chris Hemsworth. The tide is definitely changing as regards superhero movies’ ranking on the cultural “cool meter,” but these entertainment giants could use that to their advantage by hiring fresh faces. Newer would-be movie stars might still want to please DiCaprio, Scorsese, and Tarantino, ideally, but could they really say “No” to debuting on a stage like that?