Rumour: Penn Badgley Eyed For Reed Richards Role in Fantastic Four

The Marvel fandom is never without casting rumours being thrown from one end to the other, however, the announcement on everyone’s mind is that of the Fantastic Four reboot and Penn Badgley is rumoured to be playing Reed Richards.

This isn’t the first time the You and Gossip Girl star has been associated with the character of Mister Fantastic, but new statements seem to be adding more weight to the rumour.

The Fantastic Four is often referred to as Marvel’s first family, consisting of lead Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic), his wife Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), her brother Johnny Storm (Human Torch) and Ben Grimm (The Thing).

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Penn Badgley Eyed For Reed Richards Role

The recent rumour of Badgley’s involvement comes from an interview with Brith. Movies. Death EIC Devin Faraci, who appeared on the Marvelvision Podcast to talk about the superhero team, reported by The Direct:

“The guys that [Marvel Studios] been talking to about it are all white guys. That guy [Penn Badgley] from the show You, who probably has the role already, frankly, he’s a white guy. They’re going with the standard – and he’s terrific, by the way, that’s a good choice – but, they’re going very classical.”

However, ComicBookMovie recently reported that Faraci has since turned on his statement, claiming he was only going by something he saw on Reddit and referred to his comment as a “gut instinct”.

Since Badgley has been mentioned before in regards to Reed Richards, it is entirely possible that the actor has made the shortlist, but fans will likely have to wait until D23 to find out anything concrete.

Fans React to the Rumoured Casting

Badgley’s rumoured casting has been welcomed by the Marvel community, even though some fans are still hopeful that John Krasinski will return to the role after his Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness debut.

A number of fan art images of Badgley donning the iconic blue suit belonging to the Fantastic Four team have been drawn up, including the pairing of Badgley with You co-star Victoria Pedretti as Sue Storm.

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D23 Air Date

This year’s D23 Expo will be taking place at the Anaheim Convention Center, which has already become a sold-out event.

The event will take place between Friday, September 9, 2022, and Sunday, September 11, 2022, where many shows will be shown online for fans around the world.

Unfortunately, Marvel’s panel will not be shown on the internet, remaining an exclusive show for attendees, however, the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase will be taking place at 1 pm PT within the Sunday schedule.

By Jo Craig – [email protected]