Superman Fans Want Brandon Routh as Reed Richards in the MCU’s Fantastic Four Reboot

Superman Returns actor Brandon Routh has emerged as a popular candidate with fans to play Reed Richards in the next Fantastic Four movie. As it is now, another Fantastic Four reboot is said to be in the works with a new incarnation of the crimefighting team making their debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No casting information has yet been revealed, and until that happens, Marvel fans will continue to do their own fantasy casting on social media.

Recently, Fantastic Four was trending on Twitter as fans participated in their own fantasy casting of the main characters. One particularly interesting name that has been suggested by many fans is Routh, who’s best known for playing Clark Kent in the 2006 movie Superman Returns. The suggestion has even intrigued many fans who hadn’t considered Routh as a possibility before seeing the actor’s name trending with Fantastic Four on social media.

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“Oh my god, I never thought of Brandon Routh as Reed. That is perfect!” tweeted one fan.

“Amazing picks all the way down, especially Brandon Routh as Reed Richards,” another fan says in response to the fantasy casting. “Marvel needs to make this happen now that they [have the] rights again.”

Another fan tweeted: “I would absolutely be down with Brandon Routh as Reed Richards.”

Many, many other tweets from fans list their picks for Fantastic Four casting choices, and while the names for the other actors might be different, Routh has been getting name dropped frequently for Reed Richards. Still, the heavy favorite appears to be John Krasinski, who has often been named alongside real-life wife Emily Blunt to play Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Krasinski has publicly said he’d be open to the role and has been the subject of fan art on many occasions.

Some fans are also keen on seeing Tenet star John David Washington playing the next Reed Richards. This stems from an interview last year with Nerd Reactor where Washington said he’d be on board to play Mister Fantastic if Kevin Feige just happened to give him the call and ask.

“Wow, I’d say, ‘Well, thank you for having me, thank you for taking this meeting, where do I sign?” Washington said of the possibility.

We’re also seeing all kinds of other names suggested for the rest of the members of the team. Different popular picks for Sue Storm, aka Invisible Woman, include Emily Blunt, Natalie Dormer, and Samara Weaving. Names suggested for Johnny Storm, aka Human Torch, include Zac Efron, Dacre Montgomery, and Dylan Sprouse. Meanwhile, Ben Grimm, aka The Thing, has had fantasy casting choices that include John Cena, Terry Crews, and Seth Rogen.

In any case, we will more than likely continue to see different names listed until official casting announcements are made as fans root for their particular favorites to land certain roles. It’s unclear when exactly Fantastic Four will be released, or if the characters will first make their MCU debut by appearing in other Marvel movies. As for Routh, the actor has more recently seen playing The Atom in the Arrowverse and even got to reprise his role as Superman for the Crisis on Infinite Earths TV crossover event. Time will tell if he makes his way to the MCU. jscomicart on Instagram has been invisioning Brandon Routh as Reed Richards since early 2020 as you can see in fanart below.

Topics: Fantastic Four, Superman