What If? Lucifer Star Tom Ellis Shares His ‘Could’ve Been’ Marvel Moment
DC's Lucifer was close to landing a major Marvel role at one point.
Tom Ellis, the devilishly charming star of Lucifer, came close to joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic, in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. While Pedro Pascal ultimately snagged the role, Ellis has revealed he was one of a select few actors asked to submit audition tapes for the legendary superhero.
“I had been waiting for the right thing, timing-wise and character-wise, to come along,” Ellis told Square Mile. “And I remember looking at the photo of Richards in the comics and going, ‘this could be the one.’ We look quite similar.”
Despite losing the role, Ellis has nothing but praise for Pascal, but slid in a joke about his busy year, saying, “I mean to be fair, he’s not in much.”
Ellis himself has stayed busy. He recently appeared in Netflix’s The Thursday Murder Club alongside Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan and has also popped up in the Hulu series Washington Black and Tell Me Lies. But, of course, fans know him best as Lucifer Morningstar, the devil-turned-LAPD consultant from the hit series Lucifer.
Ellis’s near-casting as Reed is pretty fascinating because so many rumors about the actors circling the Marvel role focused on Star Wars’ Adam Driver as the frontrunner for quite some time.
“We live for the what if-ness of it,” Ellis said, pondering the acting roles that got away. “We’re all in this industry because we all dreamt about doing it one day. I think we’re still all dreamers, and the people who say they’re not are either too cynical or they shouldn’t be doing it anymore.”
Of course, Ellis is not the first actor with a ‘could’ve been’ Marvel moment. We’ve previously learned that Daniel Craig was once considered for Thor, while Emily Blunt has recalled her “heartbreak” after turning down the role of Black Widow. Joaquin Phoenix and Ethan Hawke both mulled taking on Doctor Strange. Somewhere in the multiverse, Timothée Chalamet is our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, not Tom Holland.
Do you think Ellis would have made a good Reed?
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Kirsten Howard has paid their dues. Yes sir, the check is in the mail.