Opinion: Marvel’s Casting Of Pedro Pascal In ‘Fantastic Four’ Is As Lazy As It Is Desperate
Spencer Baculi
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From tapping actor Wilson Bethel to reprise his role as Bullseye for Daredevil: Born Again, to apparently reversing course on their Thunderbolts race-swapping of the Sentry, to dropping an admittedly fun trailer for Deadpool & Wolverine, recent months have seen Marvel Studios making a number of positive strides in regards to the failing direction of their eponymous cinematic universe.
But despite these improvements, the recent confirmation that Pedro Pascal will, in fact, be portraying the second of the MCU’s incarnations of Reed Richards reveals that the studio is still currently in the grips of lazy decision makers hoping desperately to do the least amount they can to recreate the magic of the franchise’s original era.
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On February 14th, following months of rumor and speculation to their identities, Marvel Studios dropped their fans a Valentine’s Git by confirming that, upon their arrival
Following months of rumors and speculation to the fact, February 14th saw Marvel Studios drop their fans a Valentine’s Day gift by way of confirmation that, upon their arrival to the MCU, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Sue Storm, and Reed Richards will be portrayed by Ebon Moss-Bacrach (Micro in Marvel’s The Punisher), Joseph Quinn (Eddie Munson in Stranger Things), Vanessa Kirby (White Widow in the Mission Impossible franchise) and Pascal (Din Djarin in The Mandalorin), respectively.
(Thankfully, it seems previous rumors that the film will feature a gender-swapped Thing will remain just that.)
In announcing the news, Marvel Studios also shared a piece of promotional artwork, as illustrated by concept artist Wes Burt, depicting the above actors as their characters with a 1960’s aesthetic – an apparent confirmation that the film will, as previously rumored, be a period piece.
For the most part, the casting of Marvel’s First family is a solid effort.
Not only are all four actors very capable in their craft – yes, even Pascal – but Kirby, Moss-Bacrach, and Quinn also share at least a close similar physical appearance to their comic book counterparts. No race-swaps, no gender swaps, and surprisingly no hair color swaps. Moss-Bacrach even shares a Jewish heritage with the Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Thing.
But then there’s Pascal, who outside of his greying hair shares looks absolutely nothing like Kirby’s original vision of the stretchy superhero.
Given their seeming adherence to the source material in regards to Ben, Johnny, and Sue, the decision to deviate so hard when it came to Reed raises one simple question: ‘Why?’
The answer, as posited in this article’s headline, is a combination of laziness and outright desperation.
Thanks to his role in The Mandalorian, Pascal has become Hollywood’s new ‘it’ star.
As such, the actor has become somewhat of a default choice for studios when they need to add a bit of star power – and, of course, ham-fisted ‘representation’ – into their projects.
It doesn’t matter that he looks nothing like the original incarnations of such characters as Wonder Woman 1984‘s Maxwell Lord or The Last of Us‘ Joel Miller – in Hollywood’s eyes, the fact that he is both a somewhat recognizable name and an easy, low-effort way for them to add more ‘diversity’ to their casts is all it takes for enough for them to begin throwing their biggest roles at his feet.
To this end, it’s almost painstakingly obvious what Disney’s game plan is: With the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s reputation currently at an ever-falling all time low, the House of Mouse is very likely hoping that Pascal’s presence will be enough to spark a renewed interest in – and hopefully a resulting box office renaissance for – the franchise.
(It probably doesn’t hurt by casting one of Hollywood’s ‘socially approved actors’ in the role of the family’s leader and matriarch will likely buy them some shielding to the inevitable think pieces accusing the Fantastic Four’s dynamic of being inherently misogynistic).
Will it work? If it does, it won’t be to the extent Marvel Studios is likely hoping for – as best put by director Quentin Tarantino, it’s not the actors who are the franchise’s star, but its characters.
Rather, the success of Fantastic Four will instead come down to its script – Is its adventure compelling? Are its characters well-defined? Does it respect the source material? Is it filled with eye-rolling, self-therapy diatribes?
Sadly, Pascal’s casting, with its very obvious roots in his ‘star power’, suggests this realization is one the MCU still has yet to come to.
Ultimately, whether or not Marvel Studios and Pascal are capable of delivering a Mr. Fantastic performance for the ages will be determined when Fantastic Four lands in theaters on its new date of July 25th, 2025.
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