Pedro Pascal is shaping up to be Hollywood’s wonder child. Coming hot off of winning the SAG Award for Best Male Actor in A Drama Series, Pascal has been announced to take up the role of Reed Richards in the upcoming “Fantastic Four” film.
But will fans fall in love with his portrayal of the fantastically elastic man touted as the smartest character in the Marvel Universe? This wouldn’t be the first time that Pascal has made waves in the world of geek culture, as his previous credentials in the worlds of “Game of Thrones” and “Star Wars” can attest. Still, will it be a bit too much for him to chew?
Despite not having tackled a role analogous to Reed Richards’ scientist persona, Pascal may very well be a fitting cast once the heart of the character is taken into account and not just the surface-level depiction that the other portrayals of him have gone for.
Pascal has one heck of a hurdle to climb in order to win Marvel fans over, given the disappointment in previous films. In a world where every superhero that one can think of seems to get at least a moderately decent Rotten Tomatoes score, “Fantastic Four” is still in the pits in the eyes of critics and fans alike.
Most people don’t know that there was a “Fantastic Four” movie in the nineties. The reason being that director Roger Corman’s low-budget go at the property never saw the light of day. This was entirely by design too, and it’s especially telling that the first go at the film was made just to hold onto the film rights.
The second take on the famous quartet came out during the early-2000s boom of superhero movies, back when superheros movies weren’t exactly the blockbusters of today, but they were still raking in box-office money. Starring Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards, the movie embraced the campy nature of the comic books in a similar vein to Sam Raimi’s stint directing “Spider-Man.” “Fantastic Four” (2005) and its sequel “Rise of The Silver Surfer” weren’t the worst offenses to the superhero genre by far, but they took a great many liberties that fans found to be eye roll-inducing…like the infamous “cloud Galactus.”
Yes folks, something can top what “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” did to “Deadpool” when it comes to dumb character adaptations.
Still, Gruffudd’s Richards was overall a pretty respectable (if a bit straight-laced) take on the character. It was perfectly fitting for the tone of the movie, but other than exploring his relationship with Jessica Alba’s Invisible Woman, there wasn’t a great deal of time spent trying to warp the mold and try something new with the character.
Though fans look on the duology that came out during the mid-2000s with a sense of respectable nostalgia, the same could not be said of the 2015 reboot that sits on a dismal 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And for good reason. It’s about as bleak and grim as the average “Game of Thrones” episode with all the writing quality of that show’s later seasons.
Not even Miles Teller can make a movie like that have any staying power, because even he was stuck trying to play it grim in a movie about a group that gets superpowers after taking detour to another dimension and then fight a walking crash-test dummy.
One could argue that this casting is ill-fit. After all, Pascal is known for portraying characters such as the passionate Oberyn Martell in “Game of Thrones,” a far cry from the notably aloof and hyper-intelligent Reed Richards that comic fans have known since the 60s. However, one could also argue that what he lacks in experience playing the scientist-type, he more than makes up for with his range as an actor, taking on projects in hit shows such as “Narcos” and “The Last of Us” with as much gusto as he does roles in “Wonder Woman: 1984” and “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.”
He’s also the quintessential “dad actor” in Hollywood now, which definitely is a point in his favor for a character like Mr. Fantastic, who has been a father for almost as long as the comic series has been in syndication.
One aspect of Reed Richards’ characterization that has often gone unnoticed is that, despite his zealous pursuit of science and understanding, he is a family man with a deep love for his children. Sure he’s gotten a bit of a bad track record among fans as a distant father, but this is a gross oversimplification of the man with the smartest mind in Marvel.
As much as he is seen developing profound technologies in his stories, he is not so devoted to science that he wouldn’t take the time to read his kids a bedtime story.
Reed Richards is a busy father, but not an unloving one, and this is a dynamic that Pascal’s resume is tailor-made to capture in his performance. He’s had ample practice with fatherly roles over the years, such as the driven survivor Joel Miller from “The Last of Us” and the titular armor-clad mercenary in “The Mandalorian.”
So, is Pascal’s effortless charisma and proven track-record enough to deliver fans a quality “Fantastic Four” movie? Well fans aren’t out in droves chanting that Marvel is dead since the reveal and the release of the “Deadpool & Wolverine” trailer, so perhaps the fanbase knows they have something to look forward to with this latest reboot of the Fantastic Four.,
Perhaps he may very well add ‘Savior of The Marvel Universe’ onto his resume as well.
