The Fantastic Four from Chris Evans’ first Marvel movies could be tied to Avengers: Secret Wars due to a key moment from the team’s first entry, which can now be explained by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel’s First Family is coming home this year, with 2025’s MCU movies including The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn will be in charge of playing Johnny Storm in the new entry in the Fantastic Four film franchise. The actor takes on a role previously played by two popular MCU stars.

Before playing Captain America in the MCU, Chris Evans was the Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm. In the 2015 Fantastic Four reboot, Killmonger actor Michael B. Jordan played the Human Torch. As the first of the three big cinematic versions of the team, Evans’ Fantastic Four franchise cemented the team’s classic origin story for a generation of fans. The MCU’s movie slate could put a new spin on that story from the 2000s Fantastic Four film in Avengers: Secret Wars, with a new Marvel theory finally explaining one of the franchise’s biggest questions.

Chris Evans’ Deadpool & Wolverine Cameo Opened The Door To The 2000s Fantastic Four

While Chris Evans’ version of Johnny Storm was incredibly popular, the actor became even more well-known worldwide for his time as Captain America in the MCU. Due to that, the chances of seeing him return as the Human Torch seemed to dwindle over time. However, Marvel Studios’ decision to go all in on the multiverse for the MCU’s current saga reawakened hopes of Evans reprising his first Marvel role, and Deadpool & Wolverine did not miss that opportunity. Evans’ return as Johnny Storm was one of the most thrilling and shocking parts of the 2024 MCU movie.

Evans’ new appearance as Johnny Storm saw him alone in the Void, with no other member of his team by the Human Torch’s side. However, Johnny did talk about Ioan Gruffudd’s Reed Richards. Speaking with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, Johnny Storm revealed that Reed had an understanding of the Void. According to him, Mr. Fantastic called the location a metaphysical junkyard, “Where anything useless goes before it gets annihilated forever.” Since Johnny had been in the Void for years fighting against Cassandra Nova, many things could have happened to the rest of the Fantastic Four.

Fantastic Four Theory: The Marvel Team Faced An Incursion

One of the most intriguing moments in the 2005 Fantastic Four movie is related to how the characters got their powers. Reed Richards had calculated that the team had hours in space to do research, while in reality, they had only minutes, with the Fantastic Four being hit by the cosmic rays and getting their powers. Reed even runs the numbers repeatedly after the event, but the results are always the same. A new Fantastic Four theory shared on Reddit by Downtown_Summer5733 explains how the world’s smartest man could have been wrong, and it all comes down to the multiverse.

The theory uses how cosmic rays are caused by a large amount of energy, and an event like an incursion, which consists of two universes colliding and one or both being destroyed, could explain the massive energy release that gave the Marvel team powers. After being wrong, Ioan Gruffudd’s Mr. Fantastic could have become obsessed with finding out the truth — in true Reed Richards fashion — which is how he learns so much about the void and the multiverse, as revealed by Chris Evans’ Johnny Storm in Deadpool & Wolverine. The Fantastic Four would have faced the shockwave of an incursion.

How The MCU’s Avengers Movies Could Prove The Theory Accurate

The Multiverse Saga Is Coming To A Head

As some of the final entries in the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, the next two Avengers movies will be all about the multiverse. Adding to that, the Fantastic Four should be front and center. Marvel has already confirmed that the MCU’s version of the team, led by Pedro Pascal’s Reed Richards, will appear in both Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom will also be the main villain of the films, further showing the Fantastic Four’s importance. That opens the door for multiverse versions of the team to appear in the Avengers movies.

One of the best ways to prove the Marvel theory right is to have Ioan Gruffudd’s Mr. Fantastic return as part of the Council of Reeds. In The Fantastic Four: First Steps trailer, Pedro Pascal’s Reed appeared to be doing multiverse research of his own, and the council of multiverse variants of Reed Richards could help him find a solution to the Doctor Doom problem. Gruffudd’s Reed could then reveal he had experienced an incursion, helping Pascal’s Reed and making the theory accurate. The 2000s Fantastic Four could also appear in Avengers: Secret Wars to help the Avengers fight Doom.