The 2005 version of Fantastic Four from Fox has received mixed reviews over its 20-plus years of existence, but, understandably and unsurprisingly, there was nothing but love and adoration for the film during Michael Chiklis and Ioan Gruffudd’s panel at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo over the weekend.
During the event, the actors reminisced about filming their two Fantastic Four movies, the films’ lasting impression on the fans, and whether Marvel is in their futures.
The MCU has its own Fantastic Four in Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. But the multiverse has made non-Marvel Studios versions of characters relevant now. It’s how Deadpool & Wolverine was possible and allowed Chris Evans to reprise his role as Johnny Storm/Human Torch.
Whether Gruffudd and Chiklis will get the same chance as their co-star remains to be seen. But both actors expressed their willingness to reprise their roles.
"I would love to be part of it if I was asked to," Gruffudd said during the panel at C2E2.
Meanwhile, Chiklis shared a similar sentiment but said he hasn’t been told anything about a return. So, though Evans’s Human Torch got a new life (until he didn’t), Chiklis’s Thing and Gruffudd’s Mr. Fantastic will seemingly remain solely in the past. But it doesn’t bother either of them that the Fantastic Four have had incarnations since theirs.
During the panel, a fan asked whether they had admiration or envy for the F4 iterations that came after theirs, noting how the 2005 film set the standard movie-wise for Marvel’s first family. Neither actor had only praise to give.
Gruffudd spoke of how, as an actor, you get used to having your moment with a character and then someone else getting their chance. He compared it to how people will watch the play Hamlet time and time again to see different versions. Gruffudd even called Fantastic Four: The First Steps “a beautiful touch” and recalled his time at the film’s premiere, which he was invited to.
"There's something honorable in passing the mantle forward," Gruffudd said.
Remembering Julian McMahon’s Victor Von Doom
With just Chiklis and Gruffudd at the panel, the Fantastic Four was incomplete, missing Evans’s Johnny and Jessica Alba’s Susan Storm/Invisible Woman. But what's the Fantastic Four without their Victor von Doom? Last July, the foursome lost their iconic villain, Doctor Doom, when Julian McMahon passed away.
During the C2E2 panel, Chiklis and Gruffudd shared love for their deceased co-star. Chiklis shared anecdotes about promotional events in McMahon’s home country of Australia, recalling his surprise at how much fanfare McMahon received upon the cast’s arrival.
"He's so fun to be around," Chiklis said.
When a fan asked Gruffudd about Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom’s dynamic, he reminisced about working with McMahon, saying it was "a dream.”
"I just remember laughing the whole time,” Gruffudd said. “He had a likeness to his personality that he could just switch off when he became Doctor Doom."
Neither Gruffudd nor Chiklis is oblivious to the lesser critical acclaim the Fantastic Four franchise they led received. During the panel at C2E2, Chiklis explained how criticism can be tough as a film actor because they receive it well after their performance was done. With TV, there’s more time to win the audience over, but that isn’t the case for movies. But he also emphasized that such critiques don’t mean as much as the positive impact projects have on the fans.
“When the fans come up to us — one of you said it earlier: ‘You were my childhood,’” Chiklis said. “We’ve heard that over and over again. That’s more gratifying than anything.”