In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Quinn—who's playing the Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot—had this to say about the character:
"Myself and [Marvel Studios boss] Kevin [Feige] were speaking about previous iterations of him and where we are culturally. He was branded as this womanizing, devil-may-care guy, but is that sexy these days? I don’t think so."
That already got me annoyed. Of course Johnny Storm is a "womanizing, devil-may-care guy" – that is literally his entire personality. And it's not because we're supposed to idolize him for it. The whole point of Johnny Storm is that he's kind of an arrogant jerk. He thinks he's better than everyone else: better looking, a better fighter, the star of the team. He's a showboat, a hothead (literally), and he's often completely insufferable.
And you know what? That's good. That makes for great storytelling.
Because Johnny Storm, for all his bluster and bravado, cares. Deep down, he wants to do the right thing. And when the chips are down, he steps up. He's loyal, he's brave, and he eventually grows. That’s what makes it satisfying to watch him get humbled, to watch him become better. You can’t have growth if you start with perfection. Johnny Storm doesn’t work if he’s already a sensitive, humble guy who treats everyone with respect and just happens to have fire powers. That’s not a character—that’s a plank of wood.
This is what worries me about the new Fantastic Four movie. Because if they’re already trying to "fix" Johnny Storm before we've even met him, what are they going to do to the rest of the team?
Reed Richards is one of the most fascinatingly awful heroes in comics. The guy is a genius, yes, but also a control freak, emotionally distant, and kind of a monster to the people who love him. But that’s why his arc works. Because when Reed realizes how much he hurts people by pushing them away, when he finally learns to listen and connect, it means something. If you turn him into a cuddly, supportive science dad from the get-go, you lose everything that made Reed interesting.
Ben Grimm—The Thing—should be ashamed of how he looks. He should feel like a monster. Because that’s what makes his eventual self-acceptance so powerful. You can't skip to the feel-good ending without trudging through the emotional muck.
And Sue Storm? Her character has always struggled with being overlooked, underestimated, even by her own team. Her powers literally let her disappear. And the best moments for her come when she finally stops fading into the background and shows everyone just how powerful she is. That’s not a bug, that’s a feature.
There is a reason Stan Lee wrote his characters to be kind of terrible people. Tony Stark doesn’t work if he isn’t a selfish, egotistical mess. Peter Parker doesn’t work if he’s got his life perfectly under control. And Johnny Storm definitely doesn’t work if you take away the womanizing, devil-may-care attitude. You need those flaws to have an arc.
Marvel built its brand on flawed, human heroes who screw up, learn lessons, and grow. Characters who reflect our worst impulses but also our best intentions. If you start sanding down those edges to make everyone inoffensive and perfect right out of the gate, you’re left with blandness. And audiences feel that.
There’s a reason why characters like Loki resonate so deeply. He’s a horrible, manipulative villain—but when he does the right thing, it hits hard. Because we know it wasn’t easy. Because we’ve seen the chaos he came from. That tension is what makes it satisfying.
I’m not saying I want every Marvel movie to be grim and edgy. I’m saying that character development matters. If you rob these heroes of their flaws, you rob us of the joy of watching them become something more.
So yeah, I'm worried. I hope I'm wrong. I hope this movie remembers that Johnny Storm isn't supposed to be sexy. He's supposed to be a cocky jerk who thinks he's sexy, and that's the joke. I hope Reed is as unlikable as he needs to be. I hope Ben is miserable and Sue feels invisible. And I hope, by the end of the movie, they've all changed just a little bit.
Because that is the Marvel I grew up with. Messy, flawed, deeply human. And so, so worth rooting for.
