How Chris Evans’ $333 Million Marvel Disaster Helped Him Prepare For The MCU’s Captain America Movies

Chris Evans opens up about how working on the Fantastic Four movies before he got cast as Captain America was a helpful experience when he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Out of all the MCU actors, Evans is one of the handful to have gotten to play at least two major Marvel superheroes, with Captain America being the bigger one as he portrayed the comic book icon for more than half a dozen movies. It was ultimately his MCU gig that made him the major star he is today, even though his Johnny Storm performance was one of the more beloved aspects in the Fantastic Four movies, neither of which were particularly well received, nor as financially successful as the MCU films.

In an interview with GQ (conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike), Evans reflected on his time working on the original Fantastic Four movies before he took on the role of Captain America in the MCU. The Avengers star shared how making the films before the comic book movie genre got as big as it is today was helpful for him as an actor, especially when it came to working with huge budgets, as well as doing stunt work and shooting action pieces. Evans also admitted that playing Johnny Storm made sense for him as the iconic Marvel hero is essentially how the actor would have reacted in real life if he ever got superpowers, sharing the following:

I wasn’t a big comic book reader – I mean, I’ve read a lot now [laughs] but at the time, and aside from like the 80s and early 90s, Batman, Superman, that new wave of superhero films, the Spider-Man, the X-Men [movies,] they had just begun. So it was really exciting; Marvel hadn’t even taken back their name yet, so that film was at Fox. It was one of the bigger movies I had done up until that point. I was ecstatic, and it was a fun role to play, it was full of life and he reacted the way I probably would’ve reacted if I was given superpowers. 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 screen, and it’s the stuff you see in the making on other films, and it’s kind of like ‘Wow, I make movies, this is great.’ And just having a good time with the cast; 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. It was my early 20s, it was a good time.

How Chris Evans Can Return To The MCU As Captain America And Johnny Storm

Even though Marvel Studios’ Fantastic Four reboot is still on its way while Sam Wilson has taken over as Captain America, there are still ways for the MCU to bring back Evans as Steve Rogers and Johnny Storm. In the case of his Fantastic Four character, since The Multiverse Saga is not holding back on bringing in variants from other universes, Deadpool 3 would be the ideal movie for Evans to come back as the Human Torch. Considering Deadpool 3 is breaking the fourth wall and involving 20th Century Fox, as well as supposedly other Marvel movies not tied to the MCU, this could be a way for them to reveal that the Fantastic Four movies were always tied to the X-Men universe.

For both Human Torch and Captain America, having Evans return in Avengers: Secret Wars is a no-brainer as that would be a way for him to play two characters in the same movie. In Steve’s case, the MCU could either have Captain America come back as a past version through time travel or have a variant show up from a world where he didn’t retire, or turned evil. It would also be genuinely comedic to see Johnny and any version of Steve meet each other and wonder why their respective doppelganger is a different superhero in their world.

It wouldn’t be shocking if Deadpool 3 ended up being the MCU movie that Evans shows up in first, as he could easily be a secret cameo they are keeping under wraps. In the scenario where Evans doesn’t come back at all, it doesn’t erase his enormous legacy as Captain America. Time will tell if Evans will ever come back as Captain America or even Human Torch, but hopefully, the MCU will find one way or another to make that happen before The Multiverse Saga is over.