Pedro Pascal Seems Like A Risky Choice For Fantastic Four – And That's A Great Thing

Perhaps the biggest movie news of the week dropped a few days ago, which is that Pedro Pascal has been cast as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in Marvel Studios' upcoming "Fantastic Four" film. After breaking out as Oberyn Martell on "Game of Thrones," Pascal has been a part of other major projects like "Narcos," "Wonder Woman 1984," "The Mandalorian," and "The Last of Us." By joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is Pascal at risk of becoming overexposed?

Perhaps not. As /Film's Ryan Scott points out on today's episode of the /Film Daily podcast, Pascal is a terrific performer, but his past few years have not exactly been overflowing with hits. "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," in which he co-starred opposite Nicolas Cage, made less than $30 million worldwide. "The Bubble," "We Can Be Heroes," and "Triple Frontier" quickly disappeared into the Netflix netherworld. "The Last of Us" seemed like a big deal, but its finale, the most-watched episode of the season, only pulled in 8.2 million viewers. Even "The Mandalorian," Pascal's standout streaming show, doesn't require him to physically show his face very often, which helps mitigate the idea of overexposure.

Marvel Studios has historically taken some fun risks in terms of casting, and hiring Pascal, a person of color, to play the traditionally white Reed Richards signals that Marvel is willing to avoid the typical (and, frankly, much more boring) square-jawed hero type. Instead, they seem to be willing to let its new iteration of the Fantastic Four get a little idiosyncratic, which is exactly what this specific project needs, and what the larger Marvel projects needs, as well. Considering how slow Marvel Studios has been to make decisions about the Fantastic Four and X-Men, the two big superhero properties that came back to Marvel after Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, we're hopeful that Marvel head Kevin Feige and his team are looking at this as a launchpad to take us into a new era of the MCU. And with Pascal leading that charge, we seem to be in good (stretchy) hands.

For more on this, check out today's podcast episode:

We also touch on how Marvel's "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty" has lost its director, react to the "Madame Web" trailer, and present an interview with Eli Roth, the director of the new slasher film "Thanksgiving."

You can subscribe to /Film Daily on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Overcast, and Spotify, and send your feedback, questions, comments, concerns, and mailbag topics to us at bpearson@slashfilm.com. Please leave your name and general geographic location in case we mention your e-mail on the air.