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Whatever you want to say about the 2000s Fantastic Four movies, the cast were not the issue. In the MCU's multiverse era, stars of failures past can be redeemed, and Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Chiklis are both ready for a return to the superhero spotlight.
Portraying Mister Fantastic and The Thing, respectively, in 2005’s Fantastic Four and 2007’s Rise of the Silver Surfer, Gruffudd and Chiklis’s time in the Marvel wheelhouse was short but eventful. Those parts have been recast twice now (three times if you include John Krasinski in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness), and everyone has largely moved on.
But the numerous reprisals in Deadpool and Wolverine, Chris Evans' Johnny Storm among them, has left the door wide open for basically anyone to come back for another swing. Speaking at New York Comic Con, Chiklis and Gruffudd made it clear they'd be happy to take the call from Kevin Feige for something in Avengers: Secret Wars.
#FantasticFour stars Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Chiklis address whether they'd return for "Avengers: Secret Wars" at New York Comic-Con. pic.twitter.com/oypuhUdRW4October 9, 2025
"It's clobberin' time," Chiklis exclaimed to an adoring crowd, per Variety, just to make his sentiments clear. The Secret Wars prequel, Avengers: Doomsday, is currently in production, and typical of MCU tentpoles, it's under a shroud of secrecy, but we do know there'll be some timeline tomfoolery. Patrick Stewart, Alan Cumming and more from the original X-Men trilogy are confirmed to be involved.
Although these Fantastic Four films didn't get a particularly strong reception on first release, rose-tinted nostalgia has set in since. The aforementioned Deadpool threequel ended with an emotive look back on making-of footage of those movies and the first three X-Men features. Gruffudd spoke on the whole experience of being a Marvel cinematic icon before Robert Downey Jnr. would totally redefine what that meant.
"The blood, sweat and tears that went into making the movies, then you get to see it all up on the big screen, and all the work that was done after the movie was shot, and then to promote it. It was just a wild ride," he said. Maybe the ride isn't quite over.
In the meantime, make sure to keep our upcoming Marvel movies guide handy, and if you want more from Marvel's First Family, check out our rundown of all The Fantastic Four: First Steps Easter eggs.
