Glenn Howerton should have been cast as Reed Richards

For at least a year now I’ve been saying that Glenn Howerton should have been cast as Reed Richards instead of Pedro Pascal. Pedro’s a great actor, and I don’t think he was a bad choice, but Glenn is *much* more suited for the role. He’s younger (which would likely lead to him staying in the role longer), he looks more like Reed than Pedro does, and he has a long professional relationship with Matt Shakman (the director of *Fantastic Four: First Steps*). It’s not a big deal, but it really bugs me. I’ve been trying to refrain from mentioning it for the last few months because I’ve talked about it so much on here and in real life, but I just saw the YouTube thumbnails shown above and the frustration hit me again, so I had to post about it.

Commentaires

One-Complex-92672025-11-16 02:25

I’ve never watched the show but guy in the picture with Reed on above has an uncanny resemblance. But I don’t know him or his acting so dunno….

GFost2025-11-16 02:31

He’s a really great actor. He went to Juilliard, which is one of the top performing arts universities in the world, and he’s had a very successful career so far in television.

Dr_Robo2025-11-16 02:27

SindacodiLignano2025-11-16 02:29

Never cook again 🙏

RetiredBlackKnight2025-11-16 02:30

Glenn is _actually_ Juliard trained and could totally have pulled off Reed Richards if we didn't already associate him as the ultimate scumbag from Always Sunny.

Typecacasting.

Swing-Full2025-11-16 02:36

Yeah he would have been really good

Chaffro2025-11-16 02:41

Being suited for a role doesn't necessarily get you cast - Pascal has name recognition. Pratt is probably the exception, but I seem to remember Gunn having to fight to get him (interestingly IIRC, Howerton was a top Gunn choice for Star-Lord if Pratt didn't take it).

matty_nice2025-11-16 02:56

It really depends on so many different factors. It's not only about the actor themselves, but the film as well.

Marvel was probably (rightfully) nervous that Fantastic Four didn't have enoug positive brand recognition, so they wanted a bigger name for the role. Pretty much all of the names were heard rumored for Reed were popular names. Pascal, Driver, Gyllenhaal, Gosling, etc.

Single-Pianist-22112025-11-16 03:05

Glenn is an amazing actor but I don’t think I could ever believe him in a serious role (not a comedy, I mean). I look at him and just see Dennis

MarcSpector17012025-11-16 06:33

Watch him in Blackberry. He killed it.

MarcSpector17012025-11-16 06:41

I agree Glenn would have been great and he was my preferred choice, but Marvel had other considerations to deal with--first, Pedro brings the kind of name recognition that increases ticket sales, and Glenn doesn't. Among the cast Pedro is the only one who really has a lot of name recognition. Second, the "sensitive, burdened by his intelligence" version of Reed we got in the movie isn't something I can see Glenn doing as well as Pedro did. Glenn would have given Marvel the opportunity to do a more comic book accurate "impatient, ignores Sue sometimes, kind of dickish" Reed but I'm not sure Marvel wanted to do that. And finally the actors' chemistry was vital for this movie and who knows if Glenn would have had the right chemistry with the rest of the cast.

I would have cast Glenn and made Reed, not dickish or ignoring Sue, (not a believable choice with this version of Sue, she would have told him to fuck off) but a little more "take charge" and sure of himself than Pedro was. The rest of the cast was perfect and I would have just hoped Vanessa Kirby had chemistry with Glenn. Still, for the version of Reed Marvel evidently wanted to do, Pedro did a great job.

marvelstudios-ModTeam2025-11-16 08:53

...your fan casting post doesn't follow [the guidelines explained in the rules.](https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/wiki/rules#wiki_4.5_fan_casting) Once you've adhered to them, you can resubmit your post.

[Please, avoid breaking Rule 4 in the future.](https://www.reddit.com/r/marvelstudios/wiki/rules#wiki_4._no_low_effort_posts)