Fantastic Four is a franchise that managed to get better despite a pretty rough start. I don’t care much for the first movie, and it’s not just because it was a happier, brighter super-hero flick than X-Men or Spider-Man. I just felt like the dynamic was wrong (and some of the effects were horrific). The second film made up for it, however, with stronger characterization and a story that was more in line with what comic book fans expect from the fantastic family.
Of course, with an exciting second chapter came rumors of both a spin-off for the Silver Surfer, and a third movie for the actual Fantastic Four. One of those, the spin-off, is under development. The other, which was rumored to be about Reed and Sue Richards having their child, apparently is not.
Chris Evans, who plays Johnny Storm (The Human Torch), told MTV Movies Blog that the future is pretty uncertain for the franchise, and it seems unlikely he’ll be playing the character again. “I’m pretty sure we won’t do [another] one. I’m assuming that one is a closed book.”
Evans credits the lack of news as his reasoning for thinking the franchise is dead. Immediately after the first movie opened the cast was given information about possible titles and plots for the sequel. It’s been almost a year since the second film was in theaters and Evans says they haven’t heard anything, leading him to believe the franchise is done.
I certainly hope Evans would be one of the first alerted to work on another sequel. He was a big part of why Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer succeeded, taking on much deeper version of his character who matured over the course of the movie.
While Evans is happy to be free from the time commitment (and he certainly isn’t hurting for other jobs, considering he was in last year’s Sunshine and Nanny Diaries AND did voice work for TMNT), the actor wouldn’t mind popping up in one of Marvel’s other movies as a cross-franchise cameo, much like has been rumored between The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man this summer.
