John Krasinski Was Cast In Marvel Because Of The Fans
John Krasinski popped up as Reed RIchards in Doctor Strange 2 to the delight of fans and it turns out it was all for them.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the 28th and most recent movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is also closing in on a billion dollars at the box office, putting it only slightly behind the improbably huge Top Gun: Maverick. But whereas that particular movie did not hold a lot of surprises (Tom Cruise is good at flying jets, and also teaches other people to be good at it too), Doctor Strange 2 held quite a few. One of the biggest and most unexpected was the mid-film appearance of John Krasinski as Reed Richards and now it turns out, his appearance was solely to do with fan casting.
Per Comic Book, the audio commentary of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which can be found in the Disney+ special features section) features director Sam Raimi revealing the presence of John Krasinski in the film was not exactly his choice. According to Raimi, John Krasinski was directly cast by Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, who is known for his attention to detail and forethought when it comes to the direction of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Here is what Sam Raimi said:
Sam Raimi is referencing the frequent online fan-casting of John Krasinski as Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, based on a perceived resemblance between the guy who made faces on The Office and the smartest man in the Marvel universe. Fans have also noted that since John Krasinski is married to fellow film star Emily Blunt in real life, that could lead to Emily Blunt being cast as Reed Richards’ wife Sue Storm. By this logic, of course, the Fantastic Four’s Thing should be played by real-life Krasinski buddy Ryan Reynolds and the Human Torch aka Johnny Storm should be played by Emily Blunt’s brother Sebastian.
But we digress. It actually is kind of nice of Kevin Feige to toss fans a bone by casting John Krasinski as Reed Richards in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. As Sam Raimi noted, the fact that this particular version of Mister Fantastic is from an alternate universe (Universe-838, if you’re nasty) keeps the door open for someone else to be cast as the leader of Marvel’s First Family. The upcoming Fantastic Four movie is still relatively shrouded in mystery; Spider-Man director Jon Watts has already accepted and left the project, and there have been no casting announcements as of yet. That does not necessarily mean that John Krasinski won’t show up as Reed Richards again, but Sam Raimi sure seemed to be hinting that is not the MCU plan.
At least for the moment, John Krasinski is staying busy even without a Marvel Cinematic Universe gig. His Amazon Prime Video show Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan is currently filming its fourth and final season, and he will be portraying Superman in the animated film DC League of Super-Pets. There is no doubt we will be getting another Reed Richards sometime in the future, but unless fans really do a lot more work, it probably will not be John Krasinski.
