Let's go over why Pedro Pascal played such a damn good Reed Richards and all the Reed mannerisms that went into it.
I meant to post this a long time ago but I forgor
Hims got those big brown puppy dog peepers/silly, but seriously I don't understand why people have the take that Reed should be played by someone super tall, lanky, and have a pointed jawline when if you look at many of the comics Reed's build is kinda average to thick and his face is more along the lines of rectangular and square with brown eyes and wavy hair, things Pedro Pascal has. They dunno I've made comic panel edits where the most I do is soften Reed's cheek bones give him facial hair and make his skin tone a shade or two darker and he ends up looking quite a bit like Pedro.
Timelines and Vanessa Kirby (2025 Sue's actor) herself had a hand in Pedro's casting. She was given a say in who she would want to play her character's husband and child's father and Pedro was one of her top picks (This was said in one of her interviews). Which I dunno about you but I think that's a pretty neat choice to have and should happen all the time.
The Reed Pedro played was so nuero-divergent, oh my god I cannot stress how important this is to play Reed. In the first few minutes of this movie this man walked past Sue's discarded hero suit then walked back to set it neatly on the corner of the bed where you notice that his was also neatly set on his side of the bed (which was the side closest to the door btw). Then he starts looking for the aloe iodine, he cannot find the aloe iodine and he is told that isn't where the aloe iodine is but he keeps looking there and points out that 12 seconds is an awfully specific number to mention and then gets distracted by expiration dates. This is like less than 5 minutes in and we can already tell this is someone whose brain goes a mile a minute and is so observant to the point of distraction and it's done so effortlessly natural and convincingly that if you don't pay attention you'll miss it.
Man is so neurotic and doesn't stop thinking, he's kissing his wife and the neurons in his brain are firing 'Babe, oh my god we're genetically altered freaks now, we gotta check what is up with this baby we're gonna have'
Reed Richards is a chronic yapper if it involves something that he is interested in but has the social capacity of a dog processing their own reflection and in the movie it is shown through every confused, or distressed and even annoyed expressions or responses being so literal. He has his own show talking about science but when it's anything else in public or unprepared he's visibly nervous and awkward.
Este mens forgot his own 2:15 appointment with his brother in law and he's been avoiding even the thought of going back to space like the plague and Johnny will. not. leave. it. alone.
He doubted the silver surfer was naked because it was likely a stellar polymer and he was right
He built a crib and didn't know why there were two extra screws and again it was so honest and straightforward. Which is so real of him cuz I was there once upon a time but I now know it's in case a screw or two gets lost... At least that is what I choose to believe.
Reed Richards is a silly character who says he is unimaginative while pulling the most out of pocket things and ideas out of his ass, and in the movie they respect this and have him say he doesn't dream and doesn't wonder, only for the audience to see this is a world where he made a flying car he cannot legally or should drive. Created fabric made from unstable molecules for his loved ones needs. Made 'fantasti-kitchen' appliances and furniture, THIS IS A MAN WHO CANNOT COOK A MEAL TO SAVE HIS LIFE. Said 'Bruh parallel Earth's and alternate universes are real and I got the math to prove it'. Crib for the baby? Nah. Whole ass baby scanner? That's where it's at. Heard the term "For you, I would move heaven and earth" took it personally and said fuck it, lets move the earth AND MOON BTW, I moved a fucking egg across the room, AND THE MAD MANS PLAN WOULD'VE WORKED IF NOT FOR SHALLA-BALL SAYING NO
The way Reed locks in when he needs to is *chefs kiss*, people point out the scene where they're in the space ship and the neutron star but I think a lot about the scene where Galactus is on earth and makes Sue in the fantasticar crash and this man starts scaling the buildings and stabs the big purple man with a metal pole to actually hurt him because he and Johnny noticed that from when they first met him. It gives "What does it take to make a giant bleed?"
Pedro has perfectly played a character who in his world wears his heart on his sleeve and is so honest to a fault that you see that aspect in not only his words but his expressions and actions and he will still be misunderstood and accidentally hurt those he does not mean to and is so consumed with the guilt of it.
Reed Richards, like the whole phrase is the cat that was brought back after it was killed by curiosity. He persists and succeeds not because of his intelligence (though it does help), but because the man is genuinely a little unhinged and it's combined with the love he has for his family
To play a convincing Fantastic Four, They have to feel like scientists and explorers first before anything else because that is what they are and this affects the way they act as heroes and yes this includes Johnny and yes they pulled it off.
To end this, Reed Richards is like if guilt, anxiety, card counting, and "fuck it, we ball" were a single person. He is, no matter the diagnosis, every one is pretty sure he's not nuero-typical. The man is a walking contradiction and so nuero-spicy he bagged one of the baddest baddies in Marvel comics (Your amazing Sue Storm) and Pedro Pascal understood the assignment.
