No, Reed Richards Isn't Leading The Avengers In Doomsday, Matt Shakman Clarifies
"Where he goes in Avengers: Doomsday is for Avengers: Doomsday to do."
Fantastic Four: First Steps is the first film in Marvel’s Phase 6, and as such, seems like it would be an important building block as the MCU hurtles towards its next big crossover event in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday. But refreshingly, Fantastic Four manages to stand on its own, offering a terrific (some might even say fantastic) one-off adventure with Marvel’s First Family.
But that doesn’t make Fantastic Four any less important to the MCU: Eventually, we know they will make their way to Earth-616 and team up to fight Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. But since Doctor Doom is known for his rivalry with the Fantastic Four, and particularly Reed Richards, might they take a more prominent spot at the head of the Avengers? A few weeks ago, a quote from Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman seemed to suggest so: “He 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,” Shakman told Variety.
Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards in Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Naturally, the internet being the internet, these quotes were spun out into a whole media cycle declaring Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards to be the next leader of the Avengers, apparently bypassing Anthony Mackie’s Captain America. But Shakman has clarified to Inverse's sister brand, Elite Daily, that this is not the case.
“I didn't actually say that. I saw the internet said I said that,” Shakman tells Bustle. “What I said, and just to clarify, was that he's a really complex character in the comics. That he ranges from being this amazing scientist to being this leader who goes out and saves the day to being this family member, and I needed an actor who could encompass all three things. So unfortunately, a lot of that was taken out of context.”
Matt Shakman directing Pascal on the set of Fantastic Four: First Steps.
Shakman only had praise for Pascal’s performance as Reed Richards, gushing about how he manages to “encompass all of those elements of Reed Richards from the intelligence, the specificity of him as a scientist to the parental anxiety, the loving partner, the emotionality that was so important to the movie.”
“He encompasses all the things that I needed Reed to do and to be able to do,” Shakman adds. “So he was the perfect person for it.”
“Where he goes in Avengers: Doomsday is for Avengers: Doomsday to do.”
But as for what part Reed Richards, and the rest of the Fantastic Four, do in Avengers Doomsday, that’s up to the Russo Brothers, Shakman says. “Where he goes in Avengers: Doomsday is for Avengers: Doomsday to do.”
So we don’t know yet how prominent of a part Reed will be playing in the events of Avengers: Doomsday, though we do know he may be fighting Alan Cummings’ Nightcrawler, or any number of X-Men. Maybe he won’t even see eye-to-eye with the Avengers! Whatever the case, we’ll have to find out when Doomsday comes out next year.
