For years, one of the more frequent fancasts for Mr. Fantastic in Marvel’s upcoming Fantastic Four movie was actor Rahul Kohli. Best known for iZombie and his frequent work with creator Mike Flanagan, the nerd-friendly Kohli seemed like the perfect choice for the role and even often supported the “casting” on social media. He didn’t get it, of course, the role went to Pedro Pascal instead. But on a recent podcast, Kohli discussed not getting the role, and more importantly, its impact on his mental health.
The interview was from the Salaam Nerds podcast, which streamed a month ago but only caught steam when they clipped out the relevant bit two days ago. In it, the hosts ask whether Kohli sees the fancastings to which Kohli says, “I do see the fancastings. Look, on good days, they’re wonderful, when you’re mental health is good and you see people fancasting, and they’re like ‘oh, my god, you should be… whoever.'”
At that point, Kohli continues, bringing up the recent announcement of the cast of Fantastic Four. “You know until Pedro Pascal was announced–” At which point he’s interrupted by the hosts, who say he would have been perfect playing Mr. Fantastic. Kohli pauses, then says, “Yeah, I don’t know if I’m allowed to talk about it, but you know — I nearly said something I shouldn’t there… I didn’t get it, is the point.”
There’s no more discussion of the role than that… Despite the internet spinning it as “Rahul Kohli was almost Mr. Fantastic,” that doesn’t pan out with the actual quote. It’s clear there were some sort of discussions. But whether that was Kohli’s reps using the fancasting to make a pitch to Marvel, if Kohli was doing screentests alongside Pedro Pascal, or somewhere in between is unclear. Point is, as Kohli says, he ultimately did not get the job.
And beyond that, the bigger point is how these sorts of internet campaigns impact a real person’s mental health. That’s something Kohli talks about at further length than whatever happened with the Fantastic Four casting process.
“But on good days, I see the Constantine ones flare up again,” Kohli added, referencing a similar fancasting campaign for DC’s John Constantine. “I love all of them, and like I said, on good days, you’re like ‘man, you’re wanted’ … How cool is that, that you’re the guy that people will shout out for anything? And on bad days it’s a reminder that you’re just not the guy, and you’re not there, and these are the roles that you will never get… Again, it’s all perspective, it’s how you feel about yourself.”
You can watch the clip below, and interpret how far Kohli was in the process for yourself.
