Fantastic Beasts star wants to play The Thing in MCU’s Fantastic Four

One of the stars of Fantastic Beasts has a “dream” role: playing The Thing in the MCU’s upcoming Fantastic Four movie.

Marvel’s first family has been brought to the screen four times, with the exception of John Krasinski’s cameo as Reed Richards in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. It started with 1994’s unreleased The Fantastic Four, with Alex Hyde-White, Rebecca Staab, Jay Underwood, and Michael Bailey Smith.

The team returned in 2005’s Fantastic Four with Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis as Mr Fantastic, Sue Storm, Human Torch, and The Thing, respectively. They also starred in a sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer.

In 2015, just before Disney’s takeover of 20th Century Fox, a reboot was released starring Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, and Jamie Bell. Soon, the iconic superheroes will debut in the MCU.

Fantastic Beasts star wants to play The Thing in Fantastic Four

No casting has been announced for the MCU’s Fantastic Four movie, but one actor has stepped forward to play Ben Grimm, aka The Thing: Dan Fogler, who stars in the Harry Potter spinoffs as Jacob Kowalski.

It comes after a fan tweeted: “So many Fantastic 4 fan casts get really lazy with The Thing. The perfect Ben Grimm casting would be an actor who you could easily envision as Jack Kirby in a biopic so that’s why I’m currently landing on Dan Fogler.”

The post caught Fogler’s eye, who retweeted it and wrote: “Made my day all the way to Yancy Street [where Ben Grimm grew up]. Thanks for thinking of me folks. Dream role. #fogler4theTHING.”

Fantastic Four will kick off the MCU’s Phase Six. So far, no official casting has been announced, so it’s unclear if Krasinski will reprise his role from Doctor Strange 2 or if Marvel will build a brand-new team.

Fantastic Four is due for release on November 8, 2024.