"The Fantastic Four: First Steps" has Pedro Pascal's Reed Richards showing off his superpowers, making him the fifth actor to portray Marvel's favorite contortionist scientist in live-action. Unfortunately, the "Mandalorian" star's casting as Mr. Fantastic means that we won't get to see John Krasinski sink his teeth into the character some more following his quick cameo in Sam Raimi's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" -- and there are a couple of reasons for his omission.

First of all, he's dead. Krasinski's Reed Richards is a quick victim of Wanda Maximoff's (Elisabeth Olsen) reign of terror in Raimi's flick, as she uses her magic to shred him into the ether during an exchange with the Illuminati. The scene in question highlights just how powerful the Scarlet Witch has become, and she makes Mr. Fantastic look more disposable than yesterday's newspaper.

However, that version of Richards is...