Following The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ successful opening weekend, some of you who checked out the latest MCU movie might’ve decided to break out your Disney+ subscription to stream one or both of the Fantastic Four movies from the 2000s. Back in those days, it was Ioan Gruffud, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans bringing Marvel’s First Family to life, and Evans actually reprised Johnny Storm/The Human Torch last year for Deadpool & Wolverine. Gruffud, who played Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, shared how he reacted when he saw his old co-star flame on again.
This topic came up while Gruffud was reflecting on his time working on 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer with Vulture, naturally timed with First Steps’ release on the 2025 movies schedule. When asked if he got “joy and satisfaction” out of seeing Chris Evans play Johnny Storm again, the actor said this:
I did have a warm feeling come across me because you reminisce about the fun that we had. I absolutely loved working with him. I just remember laughing with Chris every single day on set, almost like giddy teenagers. It was a true delight to see Chris reprising Johnny, and that’s such an iconic sequence in that film. I was laughing out loud and just overjoyed by it, and it’s a beautiful homage to what Chris did as Johnny. Yes, he is beloved as Captain America, but he’s also beloved as Johnny Storm.
Deadpool & Wolverine came out five years after Chris Evans made his last appearance as Steve Rogers/Captain America in Avengers: Endgame. Though Evans has insisted that he’s not playing Steve again despite rumors claiming the contrary for next year’s Avengers: Doomsday, he was persuaded to revisit Johnny Storm nearly two decades after his last appearance as the character. Sadly, his time with the character was short-lived, as his skin was ripped off by Cassandra Nova after Wade Wilson threw him under the bus for his foul-mouthed tirade against the bald baddie.
But hey, at least Evans got to make a brief, expletive-filled return to the MCU and entertained so many people with it, including Ioan Gruffud. While the 2000s-era Fantastic Four movies weren’t exactly critical darlings, Gruffud nonetheless had a good time working with Evans on them, and feels that his depiction of Human Torch is just as important to the superhero movie landscape as his tenure as Captain America. Gruffud’s thoughts come shortly after Michael Chiklis, who played Ben Grimm/The Thing, shared a sweet message to the outpouring of love from Fantastic Four fans in the lead-up to First Steps arriving in theaters.
Although none of the 2000s Fantastic Four lineup, nor their counterparts from the 2015 reboot, will be present in Avengers: Doomsday, the latest incarnation of the team will appear in the upcoming Marvel movie. There will also still be some Fox superhero movie era love since Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn, Alan Cumming, Kelsey Grammer and James Marsden are reprising their respective roles from the X-Men film series, as well as Channing Tatum returning as Gambit following his surprise appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine.
