It’s no secret that, despite the many new heroes Marvel has filled its MCU toybox with over the Multiverse Saga so far, the cinematic universe is seriously missing the OG Avengers.
With the likes of Robert Downey Jr. and Scarlett Johansson leaving the franchise in their rearview mirror, though, Marvel has been attempting to keep their memories — and valuable IPs — alive by introducing legacy characters to pick up their mantles. The Ironheart TV show springs to mind and, of course, Anthony Mackie stars in next February’s Captain America: Brave New World, the first entry in that series not to feature Chris Evans.
You might think the pressure would be on Mackie to measure up to the original Sentinel of Liberty, then, but in actual fact there’s a star of another 2025 Marvel movie who’s really living in the shadow of Evans — and he knows it.
The Fantastic Four star knows he’s got “big boots” to fill as Johnny Storm
While speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the MCU’s new Johnny Storm himself, Joseph Quinn, admitted that he knows Chris Evans’, well, hot performance as the Human Torch still lives long in people’s memories. Not to mention his own. In fact, he credits Evans’ turn as the hero in 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Rise of Silver Surfer as a major reason he was interested in pursuing the role.
“I remember really enjoying Chris Evans’s performance as Johnny in the previous films, and it felt like this would be a really exciting opportunity; I was absolutely signed up,” Quinn came clean to EW. When pressed on if he looked to model his portrayal of the character on Evans’ version, however, he stressed: “No. I mean, you’re going to make it your own… It’s big boots [to fill].”
Anthony Mackie doesn’t have to step out of Chris Evans’ shadow, but Joseph Quinn does
Qunn’s comments are revelatory in a lot of ways, as they make it plain that the pressure that we might’ve been expecting to be on Mackie as he heads up Captain America 4 isn’t actually a thing. With a full decade of MCU appearances already under his belt as the Falcon, the long-standing star doesn’t really have anything to prove. We know he’s got total command of his role and that Sam Wilson isn’t Steve Rogers so, whether Brave New World succeeds in matching the box office of the first three Cap films or not, it’s got nothing to do with Mackie failing to live up to Evans.
Quinn, on the other hand, knows that he is 100% overshadowed by Evans at this point as he is directly occupying a role that the beloved actor played before him. Although not critical darlings or even particular financial smashes at the time, Fox’s mid-aughts FF movies now have a lot of nostalgic affection behind them, particularly regarding the main cast and especially for Evans as Torch. Heck, even literal Adonis (Creed) Michael B. Jordan couldn’t best his forebear in 2015’s Fant4stic.
Like Quinn says, though, the only thing he can do is take the character in his own direction, and hopefully he can wow the fans as much as Evans did back in the day — so that, in 20 years time, whoever takes over as Johnny Storm for Fantastic Four 14: Rise of Paste-Pot Pete will have to measure up to him.