When John Krasinski appeared as Reed Richards in Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Marvel made fan-casting dreams come true on an epic scale. The noise fans made about Krasinski playing the self-absorbed genius and patriarch of the Fantastic Four was deafening. Then, because people can never get enough of a good thing, fans wanted to know if Krasinski would continue playing the character in future MCU projects. Thankfully, The Wrap‘s Adam Chitwood got the scoop when he spoke with Krasinski about his smart and stretchy alter-ego.
Speaking with Krasinski about the upcoming third season of Jack Ryan, Chitwood touched on the actor’s Marvel role and asked if there have been any talks about him coming back to play Reed Richards. Sadly, Krasinski says there are no plans for him to play the super-genius spouse of Susan Storm-Richards in another project. However, he did give a glowing review about filming his part in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, saying it was an honor for fans to demand he take on the role.
“There aren’t any discussions at all. The only discussion I had was actually in the second-to-last week of Jack Ryan,” Krasinski told Chitwood. “Kevin Feige called and said, would you ever fly to L.A. and play in our sandbox for a day? I was honored to do it. I flew right from Budapest when we wrapped and went right to the Doctor Strange set. I’m a big fan of all those characters and that world, so to get to play in that sandbox for one day was a real thrill.”
For context, Krasinski played an alternate version of Reed Richards from another dimension in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Marvel has spent most of Phase 4 introducing the Multiverse to the masses, priming everyone for what’s to come when the Secret Wars begin. It stands to reason that Krasinski will not return for Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie, seeing as he died at the hands of Wanda Maximoff in Doctor Strange’s latest big-screen adventure. Chitwood and Krasinski spoke about Richards’ untimely demise, with Krasinski calling it an “insane” turn of events.
“It’s totally insane. To be in a room with all those people, and again to be a part of that narrative is crazy,” Krasinski explained. “But yeah, being turned into spaghetti wasn’t my end goal in life as far as how it goes in the Marvel Universe, but you know what it was fun nonetheless.”
The Marvel Universe is unpredictable, and I would not count Krasinski’s Reed Richards out of the mix. Time does funny things in the MCU, so there’s always a chance Krasinski can make a surprise appearance down the road.
Do you think Krasinski will ever play Reed Richards again for an MCU project? Feel free to weigh in using the comments section below.