Warning! Spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The debut of Mr. Fantastic has been one of the MCU's most anticipated moments, but his arrival in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness was a disappointment, offering the worst version of Reed Richards yet. Audiences have long called for John Krasinki to play the stretchy superhero and they finally had their wish granted in Sam Raimi's multiverse exploring movie. Mr. Fantastic's appearance is one of several surprise cameos in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and his introduction is one of the biggest crowd-pleasing moments of the movie thanks to his casting.
Reed Richards, better known as Mr. Fantastic, is introduced in the MCU as part of The Illuminati of Earth-838, an alternate version of Earth that Doctor Strange transports to with the help of America Chavez. Krasinki expertly portrays the leader of the Fantastic Four, exuding the calm disposition he is known for in the Marvel comics. But although his first few seconds of screen time in Doctor Strange 2 were promising, there really wasn't much else to like about Mr. Fantastic's first outing in the MCU.
The biggest problem with Krasinki's Mr. Fantastic in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is that he is introduced as "the smartest man alive" but almost immediately proves that he is not. Despite being aware of the threats of the multiverse, Reed does not listen to Earth-616's Doctor Strange warning that the extremely dangerous, Darkhold-wielding Scarlet Witch is on her way. He and the other Illuminati members only take action when it's too late and she has arrived. When the team confronts Wanda, Mr. Fantastic's loose lips cause the death of Black Bolt. Mr. Fantastic reveals that one whisper from Black Bolt would kill her, a power that she wouldn't have known about given she had not met Bolt before. Wanda quickly warps reality to seal Black Bolt's mouth shut, to which he panics and kills himself by internally screaming. That brief lack of awareness by Mr. Fantastic makes him appear much more foolish than intelligent, and what's more, arrogant.
The second issue with the MCU's Mr. Fantastic is how little of his powers are shown. Part of the appeal of bringing him into the MCU is that his stretching abilities could be the highlight of exciting and creative action spots, in a similar way to how Evan Peters' scene-stealing Quicksilver innovated the way that super-fast heroes are portrayed on screen. There are already plenty of examples of how his powers could have been used, with the older Fantastic Four films and The Incredibles movies previously utilizing elastic abilities. Instead, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness' Mr. Fantastic only stretches a couple of times before being shredded by Wanda, which doesn't scratch the surface in terms of how imaginative the MCU could have been.
Of course, Mr. Fantastic has appeared in live-action movies before. So far Ioan Gruffudd's Mr. Fantastic from 2005 and 2007 has been the best take on the character because he was able to pair Reed's scientific mind with some fun stretching moments. Miles Teller's portrayal of the character was one of the few things praised about the critically panned 2015 adaptation and he at least got to show off Reed's powers. Despite his debut in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness being underwhelming, Krasinki is perfectly cast as Mr. Fantastic and he still has time to become the best version of the hero in the MCU's upcoming Fantastic Four reboot.
