Before Chris Evans built a global fanbase with his Captain America role, he donned the mantle of another superhero role. Evans played Johnny Storm/Human Torch in the 2005 adaptation of Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel. The superhero team comprised Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards / Mister Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm / Invisible Woman, and Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm / The Thing, alongside Evans.
While the film series received mixed to negative reviews, it managed to gross a combined $635 million at the box office. The films were criticized for their subpar screenplay, but the individual characterizations of the superheroes garnered a warm response. However, Evans enjoyed his time filming the movie.
Chris Evans Had A Good Time With The Cast On The Sets Of Fantastic Four
Chris Evans was just 24 years old when Fantastic Four was released in theaters, and the Ghosted actor cherished every moment of being part of the movie. In a recent interview with GQ, the Knives Out actor opened up about his most iconic roles. Evans discussed his role as the Human Torch and revealed that the character was full of life, and he loved playing the guy who was genuinely excited about his superpowers.
The Avengers: Endgame actor also enjoyed a good time on set with his co-stars. They engaged in personal conversations between takes and hung out together after filming. The Captain America: Winter Soldier actor attributed this enjoyment to the absence of smartphones or social media during that time. Evans told GQ:
“We had a lot of fun. This was in the early 2000s, this is before social media. I think everyone probably had a Nokia flip phone so it still was a time where in between takes, everyone’s not buried in their phone, you’re conversing and at night you’re socializing. And yeah, it was my early twenties, it was a good time.”
The Fantastic Four character was a lot different from his other superhero role, Captain America, who was far more mature than Johnny Storm. As Evans pointed out, the movie came at a time when Marvel wasn’t a household name yet and comic book fans had only a handful of celebrated characters like Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, and the X-Men.
Chris Evans Loved The Grand Production Setup Of Fantastic Four
As Chris Evans disclosed, Fantastic Four was one of his first bigger movies at the time. The Gray Man actor later went on to act in big-budget productions, eventually leading one of the highest-grossing films of all time. The Scott Pilgrim vs. the World actor shared his excitement about filming green screen scenes for the first time. Evans shared with GQ:
“Well, it was the first time doing those big action-y stunts. You show up on a set that’s two blocks long and these giant cables and explosions and green screens and it’s the stuff you see in the making of’s on other films and it’s kind of like, ‘Wow, I make movies, this is great.’”
Despite the negative reviews, Fantastic Four spawned a sequel in 2007 titled, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Evans reprised his role in the film. The sequel also got mixed reviews, but several issues put further installments in development hell. The franchise was rebooted in 2015 and failed miserably, however, Marvel is having another go at the film, scheduled for release in 2025.
The Fantastic Four series is now available for streaming on Disney+.
Source: GQ – YouTube
