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Remember when Fantastic Four fancasting was America's national sport? When the Marvel fandom was certain John Krasinski would be Mr. Fantastic, then was proven kind of right, then was immediately proven kind of wrong? It was a wild and dramatic era, and one of the most memorable fancasts that came out of it was Midnight Mass's Rahul Kohli as Reed Richards. Now, of course, we know that was not to be, but don't we still wonder just a tad how close it came happening? Well, at New York Comic Con 2024, we found out.

Rahul Kohli was speaking at NYCC '24's Fall of the House of Usher panel, also attended by Mike Flanagan, Carla Gugino, and Kate Siegel. The panel was moderated by Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz, and at about the halfway mark, he asked Kohli for the truth behind his Fantastic Four experience. And much to the disappointment of plenty of fanfastic Marvelites, there wasn't much to tell.

"I did a tape," Kohli explained, "That's it. It was blown out of proportion. I've read that, like, 'Him and Pedro Pascal are down to the last two!' No. I did a tape and never heard back."

"I'm still holding out hope though!" Kohli quipped, to audience laughter.

It's true what Kohli says, fans speculated over Kohli as Reed Richards enough that they could have actually convinced themselves it was true. And as delightful as that may have been, what you read on the internet isn't always true.

Even if it is terribly, terribly dreamy.

Relive New York Comic Con 2024 with Popverse's all-star crew of writers, editors, and video producers right here.