Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman revealed that Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards will lead the Avengers.
While speaking to Variety to promote the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Shakman revealed, “[Reed Richards] goes from being the nerdy scientist who’s locked away in the lab, to the husband and the father who’d do anything to protect his family, to the guy who’s leading the Avengers.”
“I realized that the version we were building had to have all of those elements,” he added.
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While Shakman claims Richards will seemingly lead the Avengers it’s unclear if he will even be the leader of the Fantastic Four in Shakman’s movie. One of the film’s producers, Grant Curtis, previously told Collider that Sue Storm was the leader of the team.
He said, “If you do go back through the comics, you realize that Sue Storm is arguably the leader of the Fantastic Four, because without Sue Storm, everything falls apart.”
Additionally, it was implied that Sue is the main protagonist of the film. Collider’s Emma Kiely wrote, “While not naming the past films directly, Curtis does recognize the need for better characterization for women in these films.” She then quoted Curtis who stated, “We had the desire to date aesthetically, but in terms of character and treatment, who should be front and center, it's like, hey, let's tell the best story possible.”
Shakman had also described Sue to Empire as “essentially the Secretary-General of the UN” and an “inspiring idealistic, leader of what the Fantastic Four represents, as she is in some of the later comic runs.”
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Additionally, Shakman revealed that he cast all four of the Fantastic Four without any auditions or even a camera test.
Shakman shared, “I’ve never done that in casting plays either. I believe in finding the people who I have an instinct are right for the part.”
Ebon Moss-Bachrach also revealed, “I had a really nice connection with Matt and then forgot about the whole thing. Then a few months later, I was walking down Fifth Avenue, and I got a call from my agents. I was honestly quite surprised.”
Joseph Quinn shared a similar experience, “We spoke about the character, about his ideas for the aesthetic of the film and the themes of family and sacrifice. And then heard nothing — I say ‘heard nothing’ like I had any expectations. And then had a flabbergasting call from my reps saying that he wanted me to do it.”
What do you make of Shakman’s comments?
Probably pre-emptive damage control for him being a cuck in his own movie, but in case it's true, that's an admonishment for the upcoming Avengers movie.
Mr. Fantastic leads the Fantastic Four. He is not an Avenger, much less the leader of the group. How stupid is this director?