The Big Picture
- Matt Smith's portrayal of the villain Milo in Morbius showcases his talent and ability to bring depth to a poorly written script.
- Smith's performance as Milo shares similarities with the character of Reed Richards, making him a strong candidate for the role in Fantastic Four.
- With his extensive experience in science fiction and fantasy, including Doctor Who and House of the Dragon, Smith would bring character and heart to the role of Reed Richards in MCU's The Fantastic Four.
The Fantastic Four is one of the most anticipated movies slated for the future of the MCU. Marvel’s first family has a long and integral history in Marvel Comics, but past attempts to bring the characters to the silver screen have been lackluster, at best. Marvel fans often like to speculate online about which actors they would like to see play the major roles in the franchise, and the role of Reed Richards has had many rumored candidates. Adam Driver was in talks for the role, though it's still unclear if he will play the character given his expressed disinterest in the role according to Jeff Sneider during an episode of The Hot Mic podcast. A new prospect has been floating around the Marvel fandom, though, and it makes more sense than the rest. Matt Smith has been added to the roster of potential actors to play Reed Richards, and with his extensive history acting in science fiction and fantasy projects, he’s proven to have the acting chops necessary to take on such a major role. His recent performance as Milo in Morbius makes a particularly strong case for this casting, as the similarities between the two roles show how Smith has many talents to bring to the franchise.
Matt Smith is a Diamond Within a Lump of Coal
The script for Morbius might as well have been written by artificial intelligence, and almost all of the performances could have been replaced with cardboard cutouts. All of them except Smith’s portrayal of the villain Milo. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) meets Milo when they’re both children with the same illness being taken care of at a hospital. While Michael is sent off to school, Milo stays with their wealthy benefactor Dr. Nicholas (Jared Harris). The jealousy that Smith portrays about Michael being sent to school while he was stuck living with the doctor starts off very subtly but boils over when Michael finds the cure and won’t share it with him. Milo proves himself to be extremely intelligent as well since there are card sharks accusing him of cheating even though he simply outwitted them with every hand.
Smith’s overconfidence and thrill-seeking attitude show how his jealousy of Michael has made him reckless with his own life while he and Dr. Nicholas fund Michael’s search for a cure. While Leto’s Method acting focused mostly on portraying Michael’s illness, Smith was laser-focused on the development of his character throughout the film. The desperation Smith exhibits when Michael tells Milo that he won’t give him his bat-gene-splicing cure makes him a far more sympathetic villain because it shows audiences how he would give anything to be cured like Michael has seemingly been.
After Milo steals the cure, Smith shows the darker side of the character. Right after he’s taken the serum, he visits Michael in prison pretending to still be sick. As he’s leaving the prison, though, Smith performs a transition from feigning his former illness into a strutting strongman as he’s exiting. The smirk on his face as he’s leaving shows how his revenge on Michael for keeping the cure from him is just beginning. Milo tries to convince Michael to join him and be happy being more than human, preying on those who used to prey on their weaknesses, and Smith shows just how desperate he is for them to be brothers in this new life. When Michael rejects Milo’s plea, Milo truly becomes the villain, using his cold, calculated, cunning manipulation of Michael to give him no other choice but to join him. Besides showing off his intelligence, Smith proves he can play a menacing adversary who knows exactly what to say to manipulate his enemies. Milo’s story arc was one of the few bright spots in this film, and Smith’s ability to take an awful script and give it deeper meaning is a brilliant showcase of his talent.
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Milo and Mr. Fantastic Are More Alike Than You Think
Reed Richards is best known for being the smartest man alive in the Marvel Universe. The majority of his life was spent racking up academic achievements, and his ultimate goal had always been to explore space. After The Fantastic Four gain their powers, his stretchiness proves to be extremely useful, but he always relies more on his intellect than his powers. He’s a master at inventing devices to stop almost any villain they encounter. He’s obsessively determined to protect his family at all costs while continuing his quest to gain more knowledge. While protecting his family is the top priority, he also believes they were given these powers to fight against evil and prevent harm whenever they can. If there’s one thing that’s true about Reed Richards, it’s that he’s always strategizing to solve a problem with logic and reason. No matter how many foes they face as a team, Reed always keeps these personality traits and values close to his heart.
Despite playing the villain, Smith portrayed many of these characteristics as Milo. Even though he’d accomplished more than other people with his illness, he always desired to achieve more in life and would do anything to solve the problem of a cure. Much like Reed, Milo is obsessively determined to further Michael’s research to find them both a cure. After Michael finds the cure and reveals that he’s murdered people, Milo proclaims that there’s nothing they can’t deal with if they have the cure. This willingness to protect his surrogate brother under any circumstances and protect the integrity of their scientific discovery are both major character traits of Reed. When he’s interrogating Martine (Adria Arjona) about Michael’s whereabouts, Milo never raises his voice or lets it slip that he’s taken the serum, and this moment is a great example of Smith using the same type of cold, logical calculation to achieve his goal much like Mr. Fantastic would do. Smith playing the role of Milo is the reason why these character traits shine through, and with all the similarities this role has to the head of Marvel’s first family, Smith should be an easy first choice for Reed Richards.
Smith Has So Much Sci-Fi Experience
Besides playing the villain in Morbius, Smith has racked up quite a resume in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. He’s probably best known for his stint as The Doctor in Doctor Who. From 2010 to 2014, Smith was the youngest actor to ever play the role and is the favorite Doctor of many longstanding fans of the show. More recently, he joined the world of Westeros in House of the Dragon, portraying the intelligent but impulsive warrior Prince Daemon Targaryen. Smith shines as a dragon rider hellbent on securing his right to the throne. With such an extensive history of successfully portraying fantastical characters, there should be no doubt that Smith would bring an amazing amount of depth, sincerity, and heartwarming laughter to Marvel’s Fantastic Four as the patriarch of their family.
