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Fantastic Four: Before Quinn, Evans & Underwood, It Was – Bill Murray?

Before Joseph Quinn, Chris Evans, and Jay Underwood, the Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm/Human Torch was brought to life by - Bill Murray?

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Article Summary

  • Bill Murray voiced Johnny Storm in a 1975 Fantastic Four radio show.
  • Chris Evans and Jay Underwood previously played the Human Torch.
  • The radio series included Marvel characters and stayed true to the comics.
  • Stan Lee narrated the series, with an impressive cast voicing the roles.

Before Joseph Quinn was cast in Marvel Studios' upcoming Fantastic Four, we had Chris Evans in 2005's Fantastic Four & 2007's Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. And before Evans, there was Jay Underwood in Roger Corman's 1994 The Fantastic Four. But before Quinn, Evans, and Underwood, there was… Bill Murray? Yup, before he was a not-ready-for-prime-time player, hunting gophers on golf courses, joining the army for all of the wrong reasons, busting ghosts, and getting lost in translation, Murray portrayed Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, in a 1975 radio show that offered an audio adaptation of the team's fantastic adventures. Narrated by none other than comics icon & Fantastic Four co-creator Stan Lee, Murray was joined by Bob Maxwell as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Cynthia Adler as Susan Storm/Invisible Girl, Jim Pappas as Ben Grimm/The Thing, and Jerry Terheyden as Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom.

fantastic four
Image: SNL Screencap; Marvel Comics

With each complete adventure made up of five five-minute segments, the radio show also included such familiar Marvel names as the Hulk, Ant-Man, Namor, Nick Fury, and others. As for the storylines themselves, the show remained pretty faithful to Lee & team co-creator Jack Kirby's comic books. Thankfully, the internet is around to help keep treasures like this from getting lost. You can check out the first episode above – and then you can head on over to Overlord Radio for the additional episodes.

And here's an interesting note. That same year, Murray would join a very different "Saturday Night Live" as a cast member & writer – this one an ABC variety show created as a showcase for sports announcing personality Howard Cosell that ran from September 1975 to January 1976. In fact, NBC wasn't able to add the "Live" to its name until after the ABC show was canceled – and it would be two years later – in 1977 – when Murray would officially join NBC's SNL as a writer & cast member. And two years later, he would end up being "The Man of Steel" (with Margot Kidder):

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Ray FlookAbout Ray Flook

Serving as Television Editor since 2018, Ray began five years earlier as a contributing writer/photographer before being brought onto the core BC team in 2017.
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