Pedro Pascal is Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic

[Spider-Fan]

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I’m not overly familiar with Craig’s work but I actually would be curious to see how Craig does as Reed. I wouldn’t say he would fit the role necessarily, at least as traditionally imagined but I find the idea of playing the role kind of interesting as I do think getting a famous Bond actor like Craig to play a role like Reed to be pretty inspired. Of course, he wouldn’t even be my 50th choice for the role as I don’t see him as a proper fit, and its very likely this rumor of playing the role isn’t even true.

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I love Craig. Reed he is not. I would love to see him in the MCU at some point. Prob at this stage as a villain. But yeah... nothing Reed about him

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

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By the way Willie, how well did you think John Krasinski did as Reed? I thought he was dull personally and lacked presence. Granted, he obviously wasn’t given the best material to work with and he was in it for a very brief amount of time but after seeing him here I don’t have much interest in seeing him play the role again in the main timeline.

Agreed. He wasn’t my first choice before and he didn’t make a strong case for himself (though as you say, he didn’t have much to work with).

They could do better, they could do worse, but after years and years of disappointment, I’m
fine taking him to avoid the “worse” possibility.

 

[Stark Bauer]

Everybody is welcome to their opinion.

In my opinion and in the opinion of many other fans, the filmmakers could have achieved the stated objectives of

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Showing Wanda is very powerful and showing the Illuminati are arrogant

with a better crafted, more entertaining, less gratuitous scene that paid more respect to iconic characters that were the highlight of the film but ended up being used as simple fodder.

Give me a couple days and I could use that situation and those characters to write an epic scene that would be remembered as a highlight in MCU history while doing justice to the characters involved (and I’m not trying to brag - nearly everyone reading this could have written a better scene).

All the ingredients were there, but they squandered them.

Lazy writing.

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THIS. Marvel sacrificed some of their most beloved and iconic characters for the sake of "showing off Scarlet Witch's new powers! WOW! OOOH!" There are numerous ways to do this without pissing off the audience. You can literally have Thanos lift a moon and throw it at Stark not needing to kill him with it. Heck I would argue we already know how powerful Scarlet Witch is from Age of Ultron when she was able to infiltrate all their minds and make them hallucinate/see visions as well as when she went 1 v 1 vs Thanos. Killing off the Illuminati was in bad taste and was a poor decision along the lines of killing off Tony Stark. WHat does that prove? To me: Nothing. It is shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[Detective Conan]

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I love Craig. Reed he is not. I would love to see him in the MCU at some point. Prob at this stage as a villain. But yeah... nothing Reed about him

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Yeah he’s way too debonaire for a role like Reed though I could buy him as genius more than I could Krasinski personally I’m under no illusions he’d ever fit the role unless Marvel was planning to do a radical reimagining of the character. But the idea of an actor his prestige playing the role in a one and done part intrigues me

 

[Stark Bauer]

If you're suggesting a version where

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they don't get obliterated by Wanda then it doesn't work.

The Illuminati scene isn't there to pay respect or do justice to iconic characters in their 838 versions. It's there so Wanda can murder them thus showcasing her power and full transformation into a very formidable supervillain. It was cool seeing the 838's answer to The Avengers. But they had to die.

That's why Waldron wrote it. That's why Raimi shot it. That's why Feige approved it.

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BUT DID THEY REALLY HAVE TO DIE? She could have dispatched them rendered them unconscious or powerless. Murdering them to me serves no greater purpose other than for shock value. SImilar to SW The Last Jedi

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

THIS. Marvel sacrificed some of their most beloved and iconic characters for the sake of "showing off Scarlet Witch's new powers! WOW! OOOH!" There are numerous ways to do this without pissing off the audience. You can literally have Thanos lift a moon and throw it at Stark not needing to kill him with it. Heck I would argue we already know how powerful Scarlet Witch is from Age of Ultron when she was able to infiltrate all their minds and make them hallucinate/see visions as well as when she went 1 v 1 vs Thanos. Killing off the Illuminati was in bad taste and was a poor decision along the lines of killing off Tony Stark. WHat does that prove? To me: Nothing. It is shooting yourself in the foot.

At least with Stark they made his life matter.

These lives were made to feel completely worthless.

Though I do hope:

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Sue comes for revenge at some point.

 

[Stark Bauer]

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But that wasn't the point of the scene. Again, they want Wanda to be a Terminator threat. Reed and co are ultimately jobbers to that end. They are no different than the Marines in Aliens who die early to establish the threat. That is their role. This is not a movie about the Illuminati or developing them. They don't matter to the grand scheme. If developing the Illuminati mattered to the plot or some grand end, I may agree with you. But as it stands, I don't. Your characters serve the narrative of the story. Not the other way around.

And as for this Reed saying Black Bolt's power thing, again...Reed is just supposed to know she can do the Matrix thing to him randomly? Reed is trying to ultimately reason with her in that moment and de-escalate the situation..it backfired, but I find the assumption he should just know her powers to be based on the scene's results and not its actual logic. What Reed was doing made sense

thats the problem with the MCU.

They are trying to be like this genre and like that genre. Some genres and styles dont mesh with Marvel Comics. "Hey lets make a SAW like MCU movie? Because we want to - screw the fans" It was poor taste and poor judgment - variant universe or not - it was disrespectful to the characters and fans who love and have treasured what these characters represent for most of their lives.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

You know, in an odd way, it reminds me of Rise of The Silver Surfer.

When I was watching that movie I thought: “This is the end of the world. It should feel intense. It should matter.” But the film was so poorly done, there was little emotional impact.

And it was similar with this film. Those deaths should have felt meaningful, but they didn’t.

They were just props. They didn’t matter.

 

[Stark Bauer]

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Reed Richards isn’t a disposable red-shirt. If that’s all they wanted, they should have used someone else.

That’s the point. As an FF fan, it’s insulting.

For people who aren’t particular fans, I get that it’s no big deal.

But for me, I’ve suffered insult on top of insult with the mistreatment of these characters over the years and this is one more slap in the face.

Am I over-reacting? Am I allowing my emotions to get the better of me? Probably.

But I’m not happy, and I’m going to use this forum to vent.

If you don’t like it, you may want to put me on ignore, because I’m not going to promise this will be the end of it.

You can expect to read a lot of whining from me until I finally see the FF done justice on the big screen. And it seems that may be a long time from now.

I whined when Fox did the FF wrong and I’m going to whine when Marvel does the FF wrong. I’n not going to give them a free pass just because they’re Marvel.

Some of the comments in here are starting to remind me of comments from people defending Fox. “If Josh Trank makes a good film, who cares if the FF are different than the comics?” I care.

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God forbid that when so and so writers decide to disrespect the face of a franchise like a Mickey Mouse, SUperman or SPider-Man, that there would be a backlash. Willie Lumpkin is one of the most dedicated, die hard Fantastic FOur fans I have ever known. He gets the characters. He understands what makes them special and the spirit which makes each character of the First Family part of the greatest comic book magazine. I do not question his judgement when it comes to them. I listen and confess I am very ignorant of the history of this franchise the Fantastic FOur. They did Reed and the Illuminati dirty - treated them worse than henchmen. Personally, I do not believe that Marvel did audience screenings beforehand. If they did they might have changed their movie and not have killed off the Illuminati in such a brutal disrespectful way - becuase it did not play well with general audiences and with me personally. If you enjoyed watching them get murdered by Wanda/SW, you dont love the characters of Reed Richards and Charles Xavier. You are a fan of gratuitous violence.

 

[Stark Bauer]

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I love Craig. Reed he is not. I would love to see him in the MCU at some point. Prob at this stage as a villain. But yeah... nothing Reed about him

Daniel Craig would be an inspired choice for MCU Mr. Sinister

 

[Spider-Fan]

thats the problem with the MCU.

They are trying to be like this genre and like that genre. Some genres and styles dont mesh with Marvel Comics. "Hey lets make a SAW like MCU movie? Because we want to - screw the fans" It was poor taste and poor judgment - variant universe or not - it was disrespectful to the characters and fans who love and have treasured what these characters represent for most of their lives.

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If we were talking 616 versions, sure. But they were not those versions. Is What If a disrespectful show cause they killed Tony like 6 times? When these characters come in the proper 616 universe, they will get the respect they deserve. But I am not getting bent out of shape over alternate versions that don't matter

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

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If we were talking 616 versions, sure. But they were not those versions. Is What If a disrespectful show cause they killed Tony like 6 times? When these characters come in the proper 616 universe, they will get the respect they deserve. But I am not getting bent out of shape over alternate versions that don't matter

I think I could take more comfort in this if they differentiated them, but other than us being told they were variants, they felt like the real tbing.

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Reed was Reed, uniform, family “smartest man alive” etc. Black Bolt was Black Bolt with his powers, uniform etc. and a more faithful version than we got in the TV show.

If they had shown them to be evil or something, okay, but they didn’t. Those were the characters we’ve been waiting to see.

 

[Stark Bauer]

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If we were talking 616 versions, sure. But they were not those versions. Is What If a disrespectful show cause they killed Tony like 6 times? When these characters come in the proper 616 universe, they will get the respect they deserve. But I am not getting bent out of shape over alternate versions that don't matter

What If isnt canon though at least not MCU canon. They may not matter to you, but those characters matter to me. To each their own. If you tell a Spider-Man fan it doesn't matter that Venom decapitated Peter Parker 838 version and crushed his body to a bloody pulp - I think this is not seeing things from their point of view (or at least from the passionate fandom's point of view). Yes I am emotionally invested in fictional characters. It is good for us normal blokes to have heroes to look up to.

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You unceremoniously kill them like dogs - naturally, there will be some angry fans.

 

[Stark Bauer]

I think I could take more comfort in this if they differentiated them, but other than us being told they were variants, they felt like the real tbing.

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Reed was Reed, uniform, family “smartest man alive” etc. Black Bolt was Black Bolt with his powers, uniform etc. and a more faithful version than we got in the TV show.

If they had shown them to be evil or something, okay, but they didn’t. Those were the characters we’ve been waiting to see.

One consolation i have is

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All the Stephen Stranges from alternate universes turned out to be evil. Only the 616 version has a heart of gold and is selfless. Hopefully, HOPEFULLY all the alternate Reed Richards are dumbasses and the 616 version is the REAL DEAL,the actual SMARTEST MAN ALIVE

 

[Fluedd]

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If you enjoyed watching them get murdered by Wanda/SW, you dont love the characters of Reed Richards and Charles Xavier. You are a fan of gratuitous violence.

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I'm glad I was spoiled to that scene before I saw the actual movie, or it might have irritated me more. As it was, I was ready for it. And I still enjoyed the movie, even if I think they could have treated our heroes better. Let's face it, when you are dealing with variants from other multiverses, they basically become red shirts - their probability of dying increase exponentially.

It wasn't just the way Wanda destroyed them though, Dr. Strange was openly mocking them, with the "No ****, genius" and "Why? Does he have bad breath?". Really, I think I got a kick out of seeing Black Bolt most after Mr. Fantastic, because I figured that character would be permanently buried.

 

[Spider-Fan]

What If isnt canon though at least not MCU canon. They may not matter to you, but those characters matter to me. To each their own. If you tell a Spider-Man fan it doesn't matter that Venom decapitated Peter Parker 838 version and crushed his body to a bloody pulp - I think this is not seeing things from their point of view (or at least from the passionate fandom's point of view). Yes I am emotionally invested in fictional characters. It is good for us normal blokes to have heroes to look up to.

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You unceremoniously kill them like dogs - naturally, there will be some angry fans.

What If is absolutely canon. Marvel Studios made it directly themselves.

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I love the FF and plenty of Marvel characters, and if this was the versions we were supposed to follow, then that would matter to me. But these are not important variants. Which is exactly why the Illuminati here were from another universe. Rick and Morty have killed how many variants of themselves on that show? Not all of them are treated with the same respect the main Rick and Morty we follow are. If the 838 versions of them were going to be important down the line, then this would matter. I get some fans are upset cause of the name on the Jersey and all that, but there is a forest beyond the trees.

The FF when we see them in the 616 universe I have little doubt will be handled with care.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I think I could take more comfort in this if they differentiated them, but other than us being told they were variants, they felt like the real tbing.

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Reed was Reed, uniform, family “smartest man alive” etc. Black Bolt was Black Bolt with his powers, uniform etc. and a more faithful version than we got in the TV show.

If they had shown them to be evil or something, okay, but they didn’t. Those were the characters we’ve been waiting to see.

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Variants in Marvel often are similar to the 616 counterparts, but not exactly the same. See Loki. Several Loki variants look like 616 Loki. So when we get our 616 versions maybe they do resemble what we saw here. We won't know until we meet 616 Reed or Black Bolt or whoever. But I have little doubt Marvel will handle the proper versions with care.

 

[Johnny Richards]

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If we were talking 616 versions, sure. But they were not those versions. Is What If a disrespectful show cause they killed Tony like 6 times? When these characters come in the proper 616 universe, they will get the respect they deserve. But I am not getting bent out of shape over alternate versions that don't matter

Exactly.

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The whole point of using the 838 Illuminati was so Wanda could kill them. I guess some people just don't get it and don't want to.

What I find hilarious is that had it been Apocalypse or Kang or Galactus that wiped them out swiftly and virtually in the same fashion, nobody would be complaining.

People don't like Wanda being so powerful. They're stuck on her Avengers persona that lasted 4 years and reject her supervillain status now.

 

[Crimz]

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Also, we don't know if Krasinski will be the main Reed. If they use another actor for the main Reed then it further separates them.
I still don't think Krasinski is 100% going to be Reed, the entire Illuminati felt like one-offs who won't return.

Maria and Peggy are dead in 616 MCU so they aren't returning
They are not going to use 81 year old Patrick Stewart as their main Charles Xavier
Black Bolt is from the worst project the MCU ever made. They are not going to wrap that take into the main universe

Which leaves Krasinski. He could easily be just a nod to the popular fancast. Not to be actually used as "616 Reed". It's not set in stone

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

If, prior to release, there was a rumor Miles Teller would star, I would have been like “NOOOOO”,

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But then with what they did, the scene would have been satisfying.

Another missed opportunity.

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

 

[Stark Bauer]

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I'm glad I was spoiled to that scene before I saw the actual movie, or it might have irritated me more. As it was, I was ready for it. And I still enjoyed the movie, even if I think they could have treated our heroes better. Let's face it, when you are dealing with variants from other multiverses, they basically become red shirts - their probability of dying increase exponentially.

It wasn't just the way Wanda destroyed them though, Dr. Strange was openly mocking them, with the "No ****, genius" and "Why? Does he have bad breath?". Really, I think I got a kick out of seeing Black Bolt most after Mr. Fantastic, because I figured that character would be permanently buried.

the Loki variants being killed off in Loki series does put things into perspective.

 

[Stark Bauer]

If, prior to release, there was a rumor Miles Teller would star, I would have been like “NOOOOO”,

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But then with what they did, the scene would have been satisfying.

Another missed opportunity.

If it was Miles Teller, I would have applauded his demise lol

 

[Fluedd]

That Whiplash movie is great, and is very rewatchable. Every time someone slams Miles Teller (which is often), I think "Yeah, but he was good in Whiplash".

If I was JK Simmons slapping Teller, I would have thought "This is for that Fan4stic movie!".
(Never mind that the Whiplash movie was made first, minor details).

 

[Willie Lumpkin]

That Whiplash movie is great, and is very rewatchable. Every time someone slams Miles Teller (which is often), I think "Yeah, but he was good in Whiplash".

If I was JK Simmons slapping Teller, I would have thought "This is for that Fan4stic movie!".
(Never mind that the Whiplash movie was made first, minor details).

He’s a good actor but a terrible Reed Richards.

I haven’t seen many people slam his acting abilities, and I think most of us were with him when he was talking s*** to Josh Trank.

If I recall, Trank Tweeted something like “At one point, I had a great film” and Teller responded with something like: “No you didn’t”