Captain America wasn’t Chris Evans’ first superhero movie rodeo. When he was a young man without chest tattoos, the future Steve Rogers played Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch in the mid-aughts Fantastic Four diptych. It was a simpler time, when comic book movies hadn’t yet taken over the industry. And it was a different, goofier, more fratty Evans, who played perhaps the least introspective/tortured superhero in the genre.
Well, Evans wouldn’t mind going back. In an interview with MTV News, the character came up, in part because John Krasinski filed one of Doctor Strange 2’s many cameos, playing Fantastic Four’s Reed Richards. And so Evans was asked if he could see himself doing one of those superhero callbacks that have enlisted the likes of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Michael Keaton.
“God, wouldn’t that be great?” Evans replied. Alas, no one’s yet asked him to dust off the Human Torch. “I mean, I don’t exactly look the same anymore. That was 15, almost 20 years ago. Oh my God, I’m old. I really love that character, but I think… aren’t they doing something now with Fantastic Four?”
They are, but it’s in development hell. But Evans remains optimistic.
“Look, I would love it,” he said. “That would actually be an easier sell to me than coming back as Cap. Cap is so precious to me, and I almost don’t want to disrupt what a beautiful experience that was. But Johnny Storm, I feel like he didn’t really get his day. That was before Marvel really found its footing. So, I loved that role and, you know, who knows?”
Of course, going back to Johnny Storm would entail going back to the gym as well. And, well, maybe he’s not so into that right now.
(Via MTV News)