There have been two appearances by members of the Fantastic Four who died in very similar ways. In Deadpool & Wolverine, Chris Evans played the Human Torch, and in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, John Krasinski played Reed Richards. Everyone loved seeing Chris Evans again, but they hated how Krasinski was treated because he was a part of the Illuminati. But why?
Both characters didn’t do much, and the movie’s female bad guy killed them brutally without giving them a chance to protect themselves or use their powers in a cool way. People thought Johnny’s death was funny and funny, but they didn’t like Reed Richards’ death. They thought it was rude and a waste of the character. Some people are still mad that John Krasinski’s character died. This difference in standards is caused by four things.
Fan Expectations for Krasinski
It wasn’t a coincidence that John Krasinski was cast as Reed Richards. For years, Krasinski’s fans said that he would make a great Mr. Fantastic because he looks so much like the character from the books. Several comic book artists got ideas for newer versions of the character from Krasinski. The actor himself has said that he would love to play Reed because he is a Marvel fan. Michael Waldron, who wrote Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, says that they chose Krasinski for this role because they heard what fans wanted and wanted to give it to us. That didn’t work out so well. This is bad fan service because you can’t just kill off the character that everyone wants to see after giving them a two-second scene.
Many people thought this would be the start of the MCU’s Fantastic Four, with John Krasinski’s Reed Richards going to world 616 at the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness to join the main story. However, it was only a two-minute appearance, which was the worst way possible to let down fans. No one would have said anything bad if they had chosen a different star. But fans wished that this actor would play Reed Richards in the future.
Chris Evans’ appearance was not the same. In universe 616, no one even thought that Chris Evans might play the Human Torch because he had already played that role in a different universe. He’s also too old to play Johnny, and by the time we saw this cameo, Marvel had already named the new Fantastic Four. It wasn’t the same as Krasinski’s death because Johnny’s death has nothing to do with the rest of the MCU. In universe 616, no one thought this version of the Human Torch would play such an important part. No one wanted him to be in Secret Wars as part of an Avengers team from different universes because this character isn’t as well-known as Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man or Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine.
If Chris Evans had come back as Captain America and been killed off in this way, making fun of the character, things would have been different. No matter if this Steve was a different version from another world or just Chris Evans’ face, everyone would have screamed at the top of their lungs. The perfect ending for Steve Rogers made him one of the most important figures in the Infinity Saga. If he comes back, they need to honor him so no one gets mad. But if we see a version of him from the Fox world, they can do whatever they want with him since those movies weren’t that great and Johnny wasn’t even the main character. Want to know who the main character was in those movies? Reed Richards.
Krasinski vs. Evans: Anticipation
People were most excited about John Krasinski’s appearance in Doctor Strange 2. Some might say that Patrick Stewart’s appearance as Professor X was the most important because we already knew him and the music from the animated show played in the background. That appearance was shown in the trailers, though, to get people to buy tickets, just like Laura was in the trailers for Deadpool and Wolverine. Fans didn’t go crazy in the theater because they knew these cameos were going to happen. It wasn’t a surprise.
Why did they kill John Krasinski before he could do anything important? He was the real surprise. It was clear that people would have a bad taste in their mouths because the figure they were most looking forward to seeing died two minutes after coming on screen. Plus, the other cameos weren’t that important. The only Illuminati member who didn’t die as fast as Krasinski was Mordo. But it looks like no one cares about Mordo. A lot of people were mad because they thought Marvel took away their chance to see Krasinski play Reed Richards in the future, and they were right. From now on, Pedro Pascal, not John Krasinski, will play Reed Richards.
The rules were different for Chris Evans’s cameo. He did show up, which was also a surprise. For months, there were rumors, but sources aren’t always right. In the trailers, Marvel only made one reference to the Fantastic Four: the Fantasticar. It could have stayed there and not been used for anything else. We saw the truck Moon Knight drove in his show, but Oscar Isaac didn’t show up. Chris Evans did an appearance, but it wasn’t the most important one. People liked Henry Cavill’s appearance as Wolverine, Wesley Snipes’s return as Blade, and Channing Tatum’s as Gambit the most. People remember those appearances more than Johnny’s death at Cassandra’s hands.
People might have had a different opinion of Johnny’s cameo if the Resistance members hadn’t shown up and fought Cassandra’s mutants in an epic fight. That would have been the only important cameo in the whole movie. If the Resistance hadn’t shown up, I’m sure everyone would have tweeted, “Marvel… ruined the Human Torch.” What really happened in Doctor Strange after Reed died. Remember that?
Tone Differences Matter
The tone of the two movies is very different, even though they are both superhero pictures with the multiverse as a major plot point. The movie Doctor Strange 2 meant business. Because it’s a famous Sam Raimi movie, it has a campy feel to it and some scary parts. Bruce Campbell hitting himself as a reference to Evil Dead is one of the few jokes that break up the tension. Another is Wong saying that he doesn’t want to know what’s going on when he sees Strange as a zombie. But it’s not a comedy or a spoof. That means we take the death seriously, and we can’t say that the slow parts are okay because it’s a comedy. The smartest person in the world has no reason to tell Wanda about Black Bolt’s abilities. Also, it’s not okay for him to have tried to attack the witch directly when he knew she was too strong to live. We need to look at this story with great care because it is very important. But Krasinski’s death turns out to be silly. It only shows how powerful Wanda is and makes us like her as a bad guy, but it destroys Reed in the process.
There is one difference between Deadpool and Wolverine: that movie is funny. It’s almost a parody movie, one that pokes fun at the genre. It’s full of nods to superhero movies and doesn’t have to follow any rules. The fight between Wolverine and Sabretooth was made to look like the most anticipated fight of all time, and we couldn’t wait for it. Logan kills Sabretooth with one blow, but Deadpool tells us it will be the best fight in the history of the MCU. This should have been a very sad moment, but no one said anything because the scene is meant to make a joke. Important. Chris Evans’s appearance is a joke all the way through. We think it’s Captain America at first, and Deadpool is let down when he finds out it’s the Human Torch.
Comic book Johnny should have been able to easily beat Pyro in the fight, so it should have been an amazing moment. But the mutant just soaks up the fire with no trouble. Johnny falls from the sky and should have died, but he doesn’t because this is a funny take on the superhero genre. This scene is just meant to make you laugh, so don’t think too much about it. The scene works as long as that does.
When Johnny dies, the same thing takes place. Everything about it is funny. Deadpool tells Cassandra that Johnny insulted her in every way you can think of, but Johnny lies to Cassandra so as not to make her mad. Cassandra kills Johnny by cutting off all of his skin because she is sick of hearing him talk. No one thought Johnny would die in that way, so this death is shocking and surprising. It’s also funny. Johnny actually dies because he was rude and Deadpool wanted to draw attention away from the bad guy. This would be a bad thing in any other movie. It’s supposed to be an anticlimax, but it works because the movie is meant to be funny. Even the scene after the credits where Johnny shows up is funny. We hear him calling Cassandra names, which is something that MCU Captain America would never do. But Krasinski looked like he meant business.
Movie Reception Impact
We can’t look at these two scenes as if they were two random TikTok videos we saw on our feed and try to figure out what they mean. People really liked these two turns in two very different movies. The last few Marvel movies have been pretty bad. Doctor Strange 2 wasn’t that good, but Deadpool & Wolverine was. I liked that movie in general, don’t get me wrong. Wanda is a bad person. Strange is getting better. The fights go in the right direction. Sam Raimi does magic in a very unique way, and the movie moves along nicely. Without the hopes you had before it came out, I promise you that you’ll enjoy it a lot more than when it first came out. It wasn’t what was expected, though.
It was still fun to watch No Way Home and the three Spider-Men together. Some people in the know said that we’d see Donald Duck in Doctor Strange 2. The movie was called Multiverse of Madness. To be honest, I didn’t expect much from it. In the end, it was just a story about Strange and Wanda. That, along with how they treated Krasinski, makes it clear. It’s too late to save that surprise because the rest of the movie wasn’t good either.
It’s better with Deadpool and Wolverine. It has more holes in the story than Multiverse of Madness, but it’s a lot more fun overall. As well as better fights and amazing effects, it makes you feel more. In the ads, Deadpool said, “They gave us what we wanted to see.” That’s why a lot of people say Captain America: Winter Soldier is better than Doctor Strange 2. We also forget some things because the story is better. Many people would have been very angry if the movie had been bad and Johnny had been killed in this way, but no one cares because the experience as a whole was good.
But that doesn’t mean fans didn’t have hopes for Deadpool & Wolverine. This is an issue that all Multiverse stories have to deal with, and this movie is no different. This video over here explains why.