Poker Face star Natasha Lyonne joins Marvel's Fantastic Four reboot in mystery role
Could Natasha Lyonne's mystery role be directly connected to the Fantastic Four movie's other recent mystery castings?
Marvel Studios is filling out the cast for its upcoming Fantastic Four MCU reboot film, with Russian Doll and Poker Face star Natasha Lyonne as the latest actor to tag in for the currently filming movie in an unnamed role, as reported by Deadline.
Lyonne's casting is the third such mystery addition in recent weeks, following the castings of Paul Walker Hauser, and John Malkovich, whose roles also remain unrevealed. Speculation on their castings has run rampant, with Hauser recently confirming that his character is indeed someone from comics and has a connection to the Fantastic Four.
For my own speculation, the casting of three mystery roles in succession could indicate that Marvel Studios is building out an MCU version of the FF's rival villain team, the Frightful Four, which was originally comprised of mad scientist The Wizard, Spider-Man enemy The Sandman, Medusa of the Inhumans (under the Wizard's brainwashing), and infamously silly Human Torch villain Paste-Pot Pete.
Could Lyonne be playing Medusa? She has the hair for it, and Marvel was brave enough to bring in a comics accurate version of her husband Black Bolt in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness after the crash-and-burn reception of ABC's doomed Inhumans show.
It's not hard to imagine Malkovich as the Wizard. And even the fan-favorite theory that Hauser is playing the Mole Man could hold true, if he's subbed in as a member of the Frightful Four.
Whoever she's playing, Lyonne joins confirmed cast members Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/Human Torch, Eben Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing, Julia Garner as an alt-reality version of the Silver Surfer, and Ralph Ineson as Galactus.
Fantastic Four is due out in theaters in July 2025.
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These are the five comics Marvel says you should read before seeing the Fantastic Four movie.
I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)