John Krasinski has long been rumoured to be playing Reed Richards, a.k.a Mister Fantastic, in the MCU's reboot of Fantastic Four.
And to the delight of fans, he appeared as the character in the Doctor Strange sequel - a member of the Illuminati on Earth-838, alongside the likes of Professor X and Captain Marvel (here played by Lashana Lynch).
But the rug was pulled from under our feet just a few minutes later, as Wanda showed up and quickly killed off each of these alternate universe heroes.
In the case of Mister Fantastic, she stretched him out and popped him like a balloon, seemingly leaving no room for him to return.
But of course, this is the multiverse, and in the Marvel timeline (which takes place on Earth-616), the same fate hasn't befallen the leader of the Fantastic Four.
So, with this in mind, is Krasinski going to appear in the upcoming Marvel reboot? Here's everything we know about the project so far.
Who Will Be In Fantastic Four?
Krasinski's appearance as Mister Fantastic is a significant piece of fan service - many have been fan-casting the actor and his wife, Emily Blunt, in Fantastic Four since at least 2016.
On the press tour for A Quiet Place Part II, Blunt seemed exasperated from the amount of journalists bringing it up.
But the signs are all there that this isn't just Marvel trying to appease fans. Just look at who else is on the Illuminati panel: Lashana Lynch and Hayley Atwell are reprising versions of their roles from Earth-616, while Patrick Stewart has been Professor X for over 20 years.
Krasinski stands out as the only actor there not reprising or playing a variation on a role they're already well known for on-screen.
This all points to the star returning in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie set outside of the multiverse. However, you can look at No Way Home to see that different actors can play the same character within the multiverse - he could just be a Tobey Maguire or Andrew Garfield, with the MCU looking for their Tom Holland.
With no official word about Krasinski's future involvement, for now we can only regard this as a fun Easter egg for fans. Whilst for the actor himself, it was the chance to finally appear in the MCU after narrowly missing out on the role of Captain America more than a decade ago.
And it may be a while before we get answers about who will be Reed Richards. Jon Watts, the director of Tom Holland's Spider-Man trilogy, recently departed the project, with no replacement yet announced - this will likely be the priority for the studio before casting.
As for who could play the rest of the superhero team? Well, that brings us back to Blunt's earlier claim.
She famously turned down the role of Black Widow before Scarlett Johannsson got the gig, and in a 2021 interview where she grew frustrated at the Marvel rumours, stated that neither her nor Krasinski had heard from Marvel about Fantastic Four roles.
Considering Multiverse Of Madness filmed in early 2021, prior to that press tour, we now know that was bluffing on her part.
With that in mind, does that mean we could see her stepping into the role of Sue Storm sometime soon, or does her antipathy towards Marvel still stand?
When Is The Release Date?
The project was announced in July 2019 at the San Diego Comic Con, but it wasn't until this year's SDCC that we finally got a release date.
The film will kick off Marvel's Phase Six on 8th November, 2024. That's a two year-plus wait - which makes perfect sense, seeing as a cast is still not locked into place.
At D23 in September 2022, WandaVision's Matt Shakman was confirmed as the film's director. As for anything else, well, we'll update this page when we know more.
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