For years, fans demanded that the MCU cast John Krasinski as the MCU’s Reed Richards. They finally got their wish in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with the actor turning up as member of Earth-838’s Illuminati.
But, despite possessing one of the finest minds in the multiverse and a full complement of stretchy powers, 838’s Mr. Fantastic was soon turned into spaghetti by a very angry Scarlet Witch.
Now, it would appear that fans are having second thoughts. Sam Raimi recently confirmed that Krasinski was cast at the behest of Kevin Feige because “fans had a dream of who the perfect Reed Richards would be”. But The Office alum may not be in it for the long haul, as further comments by Raimi indicate that the actual 616 Richards could be played by another actor.
Is it possible that Feige knew Krasinski would be a terrible Richards, and decided to show us how bad he’d be so we’d stop pestering him?
Many replies agree. Some are just sick of The Office:
Others point out that Krasinski’s take on the character may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer:
Then there’s the theory that fans wanted Krasinski and his wife Emily Blunt as Richards and Sue Storm because it’d be cute:
Apparently Krasinski’s performance was so bad it caused this poster to audibly groan in the theater:
And, digging a little deeper, it’s possible this Krasinski backlash is down to his comments on the CIA:
With the internet now over Krasinski, we should start looking forward to who’ll be the ‘real’ MCU Reed Richards. We suspect Marvel will cast a lesser-known actor to tie them into a multi-movie contract, though Richards should be played by someone with gravitas, humor, and a slightly scary side. Did I hear someone say Rahul Kohli…?
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is now streaming on Disney Plus.