New Art Lets Us See Pedro Pascal as Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards (And Doctor Doom?!)

Graphic artist Kode Abdo, otherwise known as BossLogic, has built an immense following on social media with his evocative and realistic renderings of pop culture characters. Now he’s given the Internet what we really want: a stunningly true-to-life look at Pedro Pascal as the leader of Marvel’s superhero team The Fantastic Four, Reed Richards.

With millions of followers on Twitter/X and Instagram, BossLogic’s eye-catching creations take off and reach a huge audience; he’s become, as Inverse put it, “the most famous fan artist on the planet.” He’s further made the leap from fan artist to official, having created movie posters for the studios in recent years. So it’s no surprise Abdo was quick to respond to the widely-reported casting rumor that The Last of Us actor Pedro Pascal may be playing the lead role of stretchy superhero Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic in Marvel’s planned reboot of Fantastic Four (third time’s the charm).

Mere hours after the rumor news broke on November 15th, 2023, Abdo posted his version of Pascal as Richards. From his pen to Marvel’s production department, please. He cheekily captioned the artwork “Daddy Reed,” riffing on Pascal’s status as a beloved fixation of Internet denizens’ admiration and desire, and gifting us with a bearded Pascal-Richards.

He followed that up with a knowing wink at Pascal in his titular role in Disney+’s The Mandalorian crossed with Marvel:

This should be enough to get you excited at the prospect of Pascal playing Richards, if you weren’t already. But Abdo took it a step forward and proposed an exciting twist: what if the Marvel buzz around Pascal is true, but he’s actually being drafted to play the iconic villain Doctor Doom? This speculation led Abdo to show us what Pascal could look like as Doom. I’m sitting up and paying attention.

Yes please?! Is it wrong that I’d actually prefer to see Pascal play Doom? Marvel’s MCU is sorely in need of a compelling lead villain going forward, and it appears that they could be moving away from Jonathan Majors as Kang. Pascal is an excellent actor who especially excels at playing characters in moral shades of grey, and he’s also been a memorable bad guy (see the otherwise lackluster Kingsman: The Golden Circle). An actor of Pascal’s caliber could bring the nuance, danger, and scene-stealing chops we want to see from Doom. And if he played Doom, Pascal could show up in a number of Marvel movies and properties and not remain tethered to Fantastic Four, which does not, it must be said, have the most illustrious track record onscreen.

What do you think? Are you rooting for the rumors to be confirmed about Pascal as Richards, or do you want to see him tackle another role in the Marvel Universe?

(images: Kode Abdo/BossLogic on X, screenshot/pedropascalunofficial on tumblr)

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Kaila Hale-Stern

Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.

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