If we were to rank the canon of superhero movies Hollywood has pumped out over the last two decades, 2005’s Fantastic Four would certainly rank somewhere near the bottom. But as bad as Fantastic Four is, it was made somewhat watchable by none other than “best Chris” frontrunner Chris Evans, who injected so much life into the film as the jerkass Johnny Storm/Human Torch years before he became Marvel’s model boy scout.
Speaking of Chris Evans and ‘Fantastic Four’, the GOAT team talk about the Marvel Cinematic Universe on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
You really can’t make a strong case as to why Fantastic Four is a good movie. The storyline is pretty average, the CGI is piss-poor, the villain was one note, and the acting is meh at best (especially from Jessica Alba). Yet this whole trainwreck of a movie was still kind of fun to watch because, well, Chris Evans’ take on Johnny Storm/Human Torch was just so damn enjoyable.
Fantastic Four‘s version of Johnny Storm/Human Torch did the whole “rich playboy superhero” schtick years before Tony Stark made it a thing, and Chris Evans absolutely nails the role by injecting some believable intelligence into the womanising jerkass persona he showed off in Not Another Teen Movie.
Combine that with his superhero rig, and what you get is a superhero who lightens up the screen (sometimes literally) and is just fun to watch. It’s almost like Evans knew Fantastic Four was going to suck so he might as well have as much fun as possible while making it.
If anything, Fantastic Four complements Captain America in showing just how good of an actor Chris Evans is. Not many actors can breathe life into a jerkass like Johnny Storm and a goody-goody like Steve Rogers, yet Chris managed to do both and make both roles his own.
You simply can’t envision anyone else other than Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/Human Torch (sorry Michael B. Jordan) in the same way you can’t see anyone else as Steve Rogers. It’s a testament to the guy’s skill.
Chris has said that he’s done with the Marvel Cinematic Universe but with Marvel now in possession of the Fantastic Four film rights, maybe – just maybe – he’ll reconsider because seeing him again as Johnny Storm/Human Torch would be a far more welcome sight than seeing Steve Rogers.
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