Following its plans to launch another Fantastic Four reboot in 2025, Marvel Studios has begun working to find the right cast for the film. In its search, the studio has earmarked a few actors for the role of the superhero team's intellectual leader, Reed Richards, also known as Mister Fantastic. One of these actors is Dev Patel, who is supposedly the top contender.
The Cosmic Circus editor-in-chief Lizzie Hill made this revelation via a post on her Twitter page. In her tweet, she attributed the report to an unnamed source. Interestingly, this report corroborates an update by Reddit leaker MSSmod that stated Marvel's interest in Patel.
Marvel studio has also reportedly considered other top stars like You's Penn Badgley, the Star Wars sequel trilogy's Adam Driver, Lucifer's Tom Ellis, and The Gray Man's Ryan Gosling for the role. However, unlike other choices who were chosen for their reputations, Patel was more a fan choice as he was inspired by a fan art by @Clements.Ink, an Instagram artist, where he was styled as Richard.
If Marvel casts Patel in the role, he will be one in a long list of actors to have played the character including Ioan Gruffurd, Miles Teller, and John Krasinski. However, he will only be the second to star as the character in the MCU following Krasinski, whose depiction of the character was cameo-like in the 2022 film Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While many fans have clamored for Krasinski to return, the A Quiet Place actor has shut the door on the possibility, saying that his deal with Marvel involved playing it only once.