Ant-Man 3 Kang Casting Has Fans Questioning the MCU’s Fantastic Four Introduction

Following the recent news that Lovecraft County star Jonathan Majors has joined the cast of upcoming Marvel sequel, Ant-Man 3, potentially as supervillain Kang the Conqueror, fans have taken to social medai to discuss whether or not this means that The Fantastic Four will soon make their MCU debut.

Kang the Conqueror is a time traveling villain who, through a somewhat convoluted manner, is a future descendant of The Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic. While there have been several different versions of Kang in the comics over years, the most well-known version is named Nathaniel Richards. Born in the 30th century of Earth-6311, a 16-year old Nathaniel is visited by his future self, who goes by Kang the Conqueror, which results in Nathaniel trying everything he can to prevent his eventual transformation into Kang.

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The potential casting of Kang has fans wondering whether this means Ant Man 3 will lead to the introduction of The Fantastic Four, with many casting the characters based on Majors joining the project.

Many are calling for Tenet star John David Washington to take the role of Mr. Fantastic. While the actor did recently state that he had not been approached by any studio to join a comic book based project, he sounded like he is more than open to doing so saying, “Yeah, bring it on, man.”

An inspired casting choice suggested by several fans is that of The Good Place star, William Jackson Harper, who would absolutely be abe to bring the intelligent, jittery energy that is so synonymous with Mr. Fantastic.

Of course, there are still those who long to see A Quiet Place star John Krasinski take the role of Reed Richards.

Rumors have circulated for years regarding Krasinski’s involvement in a Fantastic Four project, with the actor himself responding to them in the past saying, “I would love to be in the Marvel universe. I love those movies because they’re fun, but I also think they’re really well done. And certainly a lot of my friends are in those movies. I have no idea what [Marvel] are thinking. But if they are considering me for Mr. Fantastic, continue to consider me because I would love it.”

Over the years, studios have struggled to bring The Fantastic Four to life successfully on the big screen. While the two Fantastic Four films released in 2005 and 2007 were moderate successes, they were far from being critically-acclaimed. The 2015 reboot directed by Josh Trank, oddly titled Fant4stic, bombed at the box office, and was met with derision from fans and critics alike, ultimately becoming an example of how not to make a comic book movie. Disney’s acquisition of Fox Studios has given fans new hope that maybe now they will see Marvel’s first family stand alongside the likes of Ant-Man, Spider-Man and Doctor Strange in the MCU, and be given the adaptation that they deserve.

Ant-Man 3 is currently in development, with Ant-Man director Peyton Reed returning to helm, along with Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, and Michael Douglas Douglas who are all expected to reprise their roles. The movie is expected to be released sometime in 2022.

Topics: Fantastic Four, Ant-Man 3