Bill Murray’s set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe later next year when he appears in Ant-Man 3. We know Murray’s going to be playing a villain, but we didn’t realise that this is far from his first brush with the superhero genre. In fact, Murray was once a member of Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four.
Yes, Dan Slott – the current writer of the Fantastic Four comic – has shared a fun bit of trivia. Murray once played the Johnny Storm, aka Human Torch, on an old Fantastic Four radio show, and even better news, you can actually still listen to it. We listened to it, and it’s actually quite good. Murray’s characteristic sly delivery really suits the ‘too cool for school’ character.
This may also explain another bit of inexplicable Murray trivia. Ant-Man director Peyton Reed had previously shared a photo of Murray from 1993s Groundhog Day, which the Ghostbusters star which was signed “Flame On! The Human Torch” a reference to his first Marvel role.
The short-lived Fantastic Four radio show adapted early Stan Lee and Jack Kirby stories. Bob Maxwell played the team’s leader Reed Richards, Jim Pappas was The Thing, while Cynthia Adler lent her voice to Sue Storm.
Footnote:
Did you know that a young Bill Murray was the voice of Johnny Storm, The Human Torch, on the Fantastic Four radio show?No.
Really.
Not making this up.
You can listen to some here:https://t.co/B2FMKQ1Wtp
— Dan Slott (@DanSlott) January 17, 2022
The team have gone on to bigger and better (although we’re not sure that applies to Josh Trank’s movie) things since. The Four have appeared in three big-screen action movie adventures, two of which are worth watching if you like cheesy fun and another that should be shot into the Sun (see previous comments on Trank’s movie).
Spider-Man mastermind Jon Watts has been tasked with bringing Marvel’s most fantastic team to the big screen at the end of Phase 4.