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Pedro Pascal knew stepping into Marvel’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps would be huge, but what he didn’t expect was how loud, messy, and personal the internet could get. As backlash swirled around his casting as Reed Richards, the pressure started to weigh heavy. That’s when an unexpected call came through, from the godfather of the MCU himself, Robert Downey Jr.
In a new interview, Pascal opened up about how RDJ reached out generously as he dealt with all the backlash. Talking about this sweet exchange, the Materialists actor told Vanity Fair:
"I’m more aware of disgruntlement around my casting than anything I’ve ever done. 'He’s too old. He’s not right. He needs to shave.’ He [Robert Downey Jr.] is just so immediately generous and inviting that you feel like you can be afraid, you can be hungry, you can be ambivalent.”
Downey has also been all praise for Pascal as he told the outlet:
“Pascal’s slow trajectory to becoming a household name who is on a wildly hot streak kind of reaffirms my faith in our industry.”
The two actors have grown tight while working on the Doomsday set, with Robert Downey Jr. even hosting what he calls “homework days” at his home, casual gatherings where the cast presumably dives into scene work and character prep. When asked what actually happens during these mysterious sessions, Pascal simply smiled and replied, “Very good question,” leaving the rest to our imaginations.
Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Pedro Pascal’s leap into the role of Reed Richards in The Fantastic Four: First Steps isn’t just another addition to his stacked résumé, it’s one that surprised even him. “Really intimidating,” he confessed, describing the pressure of stepping into Marvel’s most famously brainy superhero, especially with the ghost of failed Fantastic Four films past lingering in the background. But Pascal didn’t try to outrun the expectations, he met them with vulnerability, curiosity, and a need to make Reed feel real.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps is all set to kick off Marvel's sixth phase of superheroes and brings a fresh, retro and all the more awesome take on Marvel's First Family consisting of Pascal, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm aka Invisible Woman, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, and Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm aka Human Torch. Early reactions and reviews for the cast have seen mixed temperatures but as we get closer to release, the film is receiving much excitement.
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The team will then be reuniting for Avengers: Doomsday, which is bringing together some of the biggest MCU teams together and is all set to be a grand cinematic event. But before that, we will get to witness the Fantastic Four save the world, led by Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards who might as well just become our new favorite hero.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps will be in theaters on July 25, 2025.
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