Golden Globe nominee Pedro Pascal has addressed the pressures that come with getting cast as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The fan-favorite hero was previously played by Alex Hyde-White in the 1994 movie, Ioan Gruffudd in Fox’s first Fantastic Four movies, Miles Teller in Fox’s 2015 reboot, and John Krasinski in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
During a recent interview with EW, Pascal opened up about the “intimidating” feeling of delivering a performance that would live up to fans’ expectations of Reeds Richards/Mister Fantastic. In addition, he also reflected on his previous experience starring in several high-profile franchises, such as The Mandalorian and The Last of Us. «It was really intimidating,» he said. «I relied on the people that I was around to hold me to the experience and help get me through it. Stepping into something like Game of Thrones and then going into the early days of Netflix with Narcos and then Star Wars and the world of video games with The Last of Us, each time I’ve felt like I couldn’t top how intimidating the last one was.”
Pascal continued, “They’re all scary because you really want to make people happy, especially if it’s something that’s widely known with particular expectations around it because you want those expectations to be met. You also want to be authentic to yourself so that it can be the best that it can be for anybody who wants to be entertained by a story and travel with us into this world.» Aside from First Steps, Pascal will also be playing Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in the Russo brothers’ highly-anticipated Avengers: Doomsday, which will bring together the Avengers, The Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts, and Fox’s original X-Men.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is directed by Matt Shakman from a screenplay by Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer. This marks Shakman’s second collaboration with Marvel Studios, following the critical success of the Disney+ series WandaVision. For his work on the Elizabeth Olsen-led show, he received two Emmy nominations for Best Limited Series and Best Limited Series for Direction. Also leading the ensemble cast are Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) as Sue Storm/ Invisible Girl, Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear) as Ben Grimm/ The Thing and Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things) as Johnny Storm/ Human Torch. Joining them are Julia Garner as the Silver Surfer, Ralph Ineson as Galactus, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Paul Walter Hauser.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps Honors Stanley Kubrick
According to Shakman, First Steps will be paying tribute to 1960s space movies, noting Stanley Kubrick’s classic sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey as one of the main inspirations for the upcoming MCU movie. “I really wanted it to feel like it was made in 1965, the way Stanley Kubrick would have made it,» Shakman revealed. “[We] used old lenses, and taken an approach to filmmaking that feels more of the time. Of course, we still have a lot of CG.» In addition, he also advised fans not to expect any cameos from other superheroes since First Steps will solely maintain its focus on the titular team. «We are our own universe,» he noted. «Which is wonderful and liberating. There’s really no [other] superheroes. There’s no Easter eggs. There’s no running into Iron Man or whatever.”
The Fantastic Four: First Steps debuts in theaters on July 25, 2025.
