Oppenheimer actor David Krumholtz has been eyeing a Marvel role for some time now. He was a big fan of the comics from a young age and revealed that he recently campaigned for the role of Ben Grimm / The Thing in the upcoming MCU film, The Fantastic Four. While that role went to The Bear star Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Krumholtz revealed that he is still interested in playing a Fantastic Four villain.
Many movie viewers might remember Krumholtz as Bernard from The Santa Claus franchise. In his most recent appearance, he played Isidor Isaac Rabi in Oppenheimer and the titular character in the independent film, Lousy Carter.
After ‘The Thing’, David Krumholtz Eyes The Role Of A Fantastic Four Villain
David Krumholtz badly wanted to play The Thing in the MCU and shared a now-deleted post on social media where he mentioned his desire. The Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman spoke with him after seeing the post, but unfortunately, Ebon Moss-Bachrach landed the role in the film. While Krumholtz might be a bit disappointed, he is not ready to give up on his Marvel dream as evident from his interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Krumholtz revealed that his love for Marvel started at a young age as he grew up reading Marvel Comics. He preferred them over DC Comics and even worked at a comic book store, where he was paid with comic books. As he read the books, Krumholtz revealed that he could see the cinematic vision in them even though there was no technology to make those films on a big scale at that time. He shared that when the comic book movies were made, he loved the attention to detail. He shared with EW:
“I grew up reading Marvel comics. It was all I read. I wasn’t a big DC guy. I just read Marvel and it became an obsession. I even worked at a comic book store before I became an actor, and I got paid in comics. I was 11. So when Marvel started making films, it was mind-blowing. I remember thinking when I was a kid reading these comics that these would be amazing films, but they couldn’t do them. There wasn’t the technology to do them properly. And suddenly there was, and suddenly they were getting it all right. And they were true to the costumes and true to every little detail.”
After getting unlucky with Ben Grimm in The Fantastic Four, Krumholtz has now eyed a fitting villain character for him to play in the film. In a recent social media post, The Judge actor began his next campaign to get cast in the role of one of the first Fantastic Four villains, the Mole Man. He even jokingly commented that he was willing to play a superhero’s therapist if it is what it takes to be part of the MCU. Krumholtz told EW:
“It’s not a joke at all. I mean, it’s a shoe-in for Mole Man, isn’t it? But I don’t know. I’ll do anything Marvel tells me to. I’ll probably end up playing like a superhero’s therapist. Let’s face it. There’s slim pickings for guys like me in that world, unfortunately. I’m old and I’m not in any kind of acceptable shape. So we’ll see how that works out, if it works out at all.”
While Krumholtz wanted the role of Ben Grimm badly, he believed that Ebon Moss-Bachrach was a great choice for the role. He shared that somehow The Bear actor’s casting made way more sense in the role of Reed Richards’ best friend from college.
David Krumholtz Wants To Play The Mole Man — Who Is The Fantastic Four Villain?
David Krumholtz’s next pick for a potential role in The Fantastic Four movie is the villain character, the Mole Man. Harvey Rupert Elder has a genius intellect in the comics, but he was shunned because of his appearance. He sought acceptance and solitude in the underground kingdom, where he discovered and mastered the Deviant technology. He slowed down his aging and eventually won the leadership of the Moloid race, who were servants abandoned by the Deviants.
The Mole Man was the first villain the Fantastic Four faced. His first known attack on the surface world was successfully thwarted by Reed Richards and his team. He was also one of the villains that Doctor Doom used to attack the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm. He subsequently fought the Avengers in the comics. He made his first appearance in The Fantastic Four #1.
While Krumholtz continues to campaign for the villain’s role, it remains unclear whether the Mole Man even appears in the film. The Fantastic Four will hit theaters on July 25, 2025.
