Adam Driver Said No. Emma Stone Said No. Jake Gyllenhaal Said No. Then Pedro Pascal Said Yes — and Made $434 Million.

The complete CASTING STORY of The Fantastic Four: First Steps — every actor who turned down REED RICHARDS before PEDRO PASCAL. And the FULL BOX OFFICE NUMBERS: $118M domestic opening, $218M global opening weekend, $434M total and counting. Now officially his biggest film ever.

Before we get to the $434 million — and we will get to the $434 million — there is a casting story that needs to be told. Because the path from “Marvel wants someone to play Reed Richards” to “Pedro Pascal is playing Reed Richards” is considerably less direct than the official narrative suggests. And the full story of who said no before Pedro said yes is one of the more quietly satisfying pieces of recent Hollywood history.

It begins with Marvel Studios wanting Adam Driver and Emma Stone as Reed and Sue. It ends with the most franchised actor alive, the tenth person in history to complete the Marvel-DC-Star Wars trifecta, standing at the center of the MCU’s most successful non-Deadpool film in years.

The journey between those two points involved several famous people declining the role for the same reason. And one man who, when the call finally came, did not hesitate.

The casting story — everyone who said no

According to industry reporter Jeff Sneider, MARVEL STUDIOS initially wanted ADAM DRIVER and EMMA STONE to play Reed Richards and Sue Storm. Both declined — in part because Marvel did not want to pay the salaries they asked for. Kevin Feige, according to Sneider, was seeking to contain the studio’s talent spending after a period of significant financial outlay.

With Driver and Stone out, Marvel screen-tested multiple actors for Reed, including CHRISTOPHER ABBOTT and JAMIE DORNAN — tests that Sneider described as not going particularly well. The studio then offered the role to JAKE GYLLENHAAL, who had already played Quentin Beck in Spider-Man: Far from Home. Gyllenhaal also asked for a salary Marvel did not want to pay. He declined.

At some point in this process, PEDRO PASCAL became interested. He would not engage in conversations during the SAG-AFTRA strike in July 2023 — consistent with his public support for the strike. After the strike resolved, conversations progressed. And Pedro Pascal became Reed Richards.

One detail from filming that nobody expected

There is one piece of production information from The Fantastic Four: First Steps that, once you know it, changes how you see every Reed Richards scene in the film. According to Screen Rant, PEDRO PASCAL nailed one specific aspect of Reed Richards so completely during production that Marvel asked him to tone it down.

The report did not specify which aspect. The implication was that whatever emotional quality or physical choice Pedro was bringing to Reed in its fullest form was, in Marvel’s judgment, more intense than the film’s tone required. He was asked to pull back from his own natural instinct about the character.

For a performance that critics have called warm, likable, and emotionally grounded — this is a remarkable detail. The version of Reed Richards that audiences see in First Steps is, apparently, the moderated version. The one Pedro Pascal was bringing to set before the note was the more intense one. And it was intense enough that the studio intervened.

What that fuller version looked like is something only the people in that room know. But it suggests that the mild criticism — that the film’s Reed is a little too safe, a little too likable — is less a critique of Pedro Pascal’s instincts than of the production’s choice to soften them.

“Pedro Pascal nailed one part of the MCU’s Reed Richards so much that Marvel asked him to tone it down.” — Screen Rant, June 2025. The performance you saw was already the restrained version.

The box office arc — what the numbers actually mean

The Fantastic Four: First Steps opened July 25, 2025. Opening day: $57 million domestically — the second-biggest opening day of 2025 behind A Minecraft Movie, and the biggest Thursday preview gross of the year at that point. Opening weekend: $118 million domestic, $218 million globally — neck-and-neck with Superman’s $220 million opening two weeks prior.

The second weekend saw a 66 percent drop domestically — steep but within the range of normal for the superhero genre in a competitive summer. Superman, for comparison, dropped 53 percent in its second weekend — but did not face competition from another major superhero film simultaneously. By mid-run, First Steps had reached a global total of $434 million.

That number makes it PEDRO PASCAL’s highest-grossing film ever. Ahead of Gladiator II. Ahead of The Mandalorian and Grogu. Ahead of everything else in his filmography. The man who had less than seven dollars in his bank account during his years of struggle now has a $434 million box office record to his name — and Avengers: Doomsday has not opened yet.

The Hollywood Reporter’s chief film critic described what First Steps achieved as “a fresh willingness to prioritize character over the usual barrage of interchangeable CG action sequences.” That framing — character over spectacle, people over plot — is exactly the reason Pedro Pascal was the right choice for Reed Richards, even if he was not the first, second, third, or fourth choice. He is an actor for whom character is never the second consideration. It is always the first. And in a film where the entire premise depends on the audience caring about four people enough to be afraid for them when a planet-eating god shows up — that priority is the whole ballgame.

What comes next — and why the numbers will only grow

Adam Driver said no. Emma Stone said no. Jake Gyllenhaal said no. The screen tests did not advance. And PEDRO PASCAL — who became interested, who waited out a labor strike rather than cross a picket line, who arrived with an octopus in his subconscious and a performance so intense Marvel asked him to dial it back — said yes.

The result: $434 million globally. His biggest film ever. A Certified Fresh critical reception. A Telegraph verdict of “Marvel’s best film in a decade.” A Deadline MVP designation. And a post-credits scene that sets up Avengers: Doomsday in December — in which Reed Richards will face Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr., who told Vanity Fair that watching Pedro Pascal become a star “reaffirms his faith in the industry.”

The five people who declined this role are, presumably, watching the box office reports and having their own feelings about the situation. Adam Driver is making excellent films. Emma Stone has her Oscar. Jake Gyllenhaal is thriving. The industry is large and everyone lands somewhere.

But only one of them is Reed Richards. Only one of them is standing at the center of Phase Six of the MCU, with Avengers: Doomsday in December and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027 and a $434 million opening chapter already in the record books.

That person said yes when others said no. That is, when you think about it, the most Pedro Pascal sentence imaginable. The man who did not stop when stopping was the only rational option. Who showed up when others calculated the terms were insufficient. Who walked onto a Marvel set, brought an octopus to his subconscious, and made the kind of Reed Richards that had to be toned down.

$434 million. His biggest film ever. And Doomsday has not opened yet.

“Fantastic Four: First Steps is set to become Pedro Pascal’s highest-grossing movie ever.” — Collider, August 2025. It already has. And the year is not over.