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Fantastic Four: Director Reveals How Joseph Quinn's Johnny Storm is Different From Chris Evans' Human Torch
Marvel's Fantastic Four: First Steps reboots Sue and Johnny Storm with daring new character arcs. Director Matt Shakman shares how the superheroes are getting an upgrade plot-wise.
Marvel Studios' upcoming movie, Fantastic Four: First Steps, is officially bringing the classic superhero team back in a whole new way. The film takes place in an alternate 1960s universe and not on Earth-616.
Stepping away from the previous renditions of the Fantastic Four characters, director Matt Shakman is delving into bold reworkings of the storylines, adding complexity to the superheroes played by Joseph Quinn and Vanessa Kirby.
Chris Evans turned the 'flame on' as the Human Torch or Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four (2005), where he portrayed a womanizing loudmouth quirky superhero, who does get the job done but not without messing up first, and is incredibly casual about it. Evans reprised his role for a brief cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Matt Shakman told Entertainment Weekly, "I was really interested in imagining the Fantastic Four being astronauts. Instead of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin going to the moon, what if it was Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben who were really the first to go into outer space, the first to push those boundaries?"
Meanwhile, Johnny Storm actor Quinn insists the Human Torch will be more in tune with contemporary values. The loudmouthed, womanizing hothead is a thing of the past. Instead, the viewers will be introduced to a more emotionally intelligent Johnny who is still funny and confident but less apt to brush aside others' emotions.
Quinn said, "[Storm] was branded as this womanizing, devil-may-care guy, but is that sexy these days? I don't think so. This version of Johnny is less callous with other people's feelings, and hopefully there's a self-awareness about what's driving that attention-seeking behavior."
Shakman has also stressed the intelligence of Johnny and not just the fact that he is funny or is a comic relief to the plot. The director said, "He's on that spaceship for a reason, and I think sometimes people forget that in various comic stories, he's been one of the most heroic of them, even if he's undercutting his heroism at every turn through humor. He's Sue's brother, which means they are cut from similar cloth."
In the meantime, Sue Storm receives a dramatic upgrade. Venessa Kirby's take on the Invisible Woman is not only a superhero—she's assisted in creating a more tranquil world and is emotionally brilliant. The film will also delve into Sue's motherhood, something not often explored in superhero movies.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps arrives in theaters on July 25, 2025.
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