Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four Star Endorses John Krasinski as Reed Richards

Alex Hyde-White, the first actor to portray Reed Richard/Mr. Fantastic in a feature film, has nothing but praise for John Krasinski, the internet’s favorite FF fancast. The actor, who played Richards in the Roger Corman-produced The Fantastic Four back in 1994, has actually appeared in a Marvel project pretty recently, having a small role in Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. He praised Krasinski as “a force to be reckoned with” both as a filmmaker and as an actor, and broke down why he thinks Krasinski has the ability to embody Reed, using the character breakdown that the 1994 filmmakers tried to keep in mind during production.

Widely known as the “Corman Fantastic Four,” the movie was actually directed by Oley Sassone and produced by B-movie icon Corman. The film was put into production in 1992, with a stated release on Labor Day 1993…but the movie was never officially released, and supposedly all of the film has since been destroyed. In the years since, fans have learned that the movie only went into production in order to satisfy a contractual agreement. If there was nothing in active development by a certain date, Constantin Films, who held the rights to make Fantastic Four movies, would lose those rights.

It lives on in VHS bootlegs, and low-resolution DVDs sourced from those same tapes. In 2015, a documentary film about the project was released, leading to some footage finally being released legally…although still in VHS resolution.

Spoilers ahead for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Krasinski appeared in the latest Marvel movie, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, in the role of Reed Richards. While he was quickly dispatched by the Scarlet Witch, fans were excited to see their wish come true — and since that was the Earth-838 version, it’s possible that he could still appear in the upcoming Fantastic Four film, which recently lost director Jon Watts.

“Well, that’s not a surprise. [Krasinski has] been rumored for a while,” Hyde-White told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s exciting! He’s proved himself to be a heck of a storyteller and as a lead actor and a producer and director. Krasinski is a force to be reckoned with because he has a joy of storytelling, and he’s a good leader. Those are Reed Richards’ characteristics. If you were to send out a casting spec for Reed Richards, you would say ‘Excellent leader, [control] freak – but nice about it. Collaborator willing to take the blame,’ which I felt was the psychological currency of our Fantastic Four. We dealt with the motivations of the characters.”

You can see the official synopsis for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness below.

Now that Iron Man and Captain America have left after a fierce battle in Avengers: Endgame, former genius surgeon and the strongest magician of them all, Doctor Strange, is expected to play an active role as a central figure in the Avengers. However, using his magic to manipulate time and space at will with a forbidden spell that is considered the most dangerous has opened the door to a mysterious madness called “the Multiverse.”

To restore a world where everything is changing, Strange seeks help from his ally Wong, the Sorcerer Supreme, and the Avengers’ most powerful Scarlet Witch, Wanda. But a terrible threat looms over humanity and the entire universe that no longer can be done by their power alone. Even more surprising, the greatest threat in the universe looks exactly like Doctor Strange.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is in theaters now.