Chris Evans Would Rather Return As Johnny Storm Than Steve Rogers

When it comes to early 2000s superhero movies, there are some hits, and then there are some misses. The genre was still trying to figure out whether or not they needed to be ashamed of the source material because there was still this stigma attached to comic books and superheroes. It’s a stupid stigma, but it was still very much there in the early 2000s. It took some time for studios to fully embrace that people would get on board with something like the space Viking or a dude punching a Nazi in the face with a shield with the American flag on it and have it sell in international markets. In the early 2000s, we got two Fantastic Four movies, and they really aren’t great. The first one isn’t as bad as you remember it is, it’s about what you expect from the time, and the second one is just as bad as you remember. The casting in those movies, aside from Jessica Alba as Susan Storm, which didn’t really work, was not one of the things that failed, at least not in the core cast. Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Chiklis are pretty much perfect as Reed and Ben, respectively [don’t @ me], and a much younger Chris Evas was excellent as Johnny Storm. Evans is currently making the rounds for Lightyear, and with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness opening up the door for pretty much anything being on the table, MTV [via Variety] asked if he could ever consider reprising the role of Johnny.

“God, wouldn’t that be great?” Evans said when asked about reprising Johnny Storm/Human Torch. “Wouldn’t that be great? No, no one’s ever come to me about that. I mean, I don’t exactly look the same anymore. That was 15, almost 20 years ago. Oh my God, I’m old. But I really love that character, but I think… aren’t they doing something now with Fantastic Four?”

The most shocking part of that statement isn’t that Evans would be down to play Johnny again; an actor wants a job and to get paid, what a shocker, but the surprising thing is that no one has talked to him about it. One would think that it would have come up at least once before now, even more so now that Variants and the like are things. Evans went on to say that it would be an easier sell for him to come back as Johnny than it would be to come back as Steve.

“Look, I would love it,” Evans added about playing Human Torch again. “I would love it. That would actually be an easier sell to me than coming back as Cap. You know what I mean? Cap is so precious to me. And you know, I almost don’t wanna 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?”

Evans coming back as Johnny would be fun for many reasons, but it would also give the Sam Wilson version of the character to shine without Steve’s shadow looming over him. That was already going to be a problem for that character going forward, and just removing Evans and Steve from the equation. This way, Marvel can have their cake and eat it by giving Sam the chance to shine on his own and bringing Evans’s star power back to the MCU. Seems like a no-brainer for at least a cameo to me.

A sci-fi action-adventure and the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear, the hero who inspired the toy, Lightyear follows the legendary Space Ranger after he’s marooned on a hostile planet 4.2 million light-years from Earth alongside his commander and their crew. As Buzz tries to find a way back home through space and time, he’s joined by a group of ambitious recruits and his charming robot companion cat, Sox. Complicating matters and threatening the mission is the arrival of Zurg, an imposing presence with an army of ruthless robots and a mysterious agenda.

The film features the voices of Chris Evans as accomplished Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear, Uzo Aduba as his commander and best friend Alisha Hawthorne, and Peter Sohn as Sox. Keke Palmer, Taika Waititi, and Dale Soules lend their voices to the Junior Zap Patrol’s Izzy Hawthorne, Mo Morrison, and Darby Steel, respectively, and James Brolin can be heard as the enigmatic Zurg. The voice cast also includes Mary McDonald-Lewis as onboard computer I.V.A.N., Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Commander Burnside, Efren Ramirez as Airman Diaz, and Keira Hairston as Young Izzy. Directed by Angus MacLane (co-director Finding Dory), produced by Galyn Susman (Toy Story That Time Forgot), and featuring a score by award-winning composer Michael Giacchino (The Batman, Up), Lightyear opens only in theaters on June 17, 2022.